In 1944, both the European and Pacific theaters came to an end, and the Axis powers lost one after another in various theaters and began to switch from offensive to defensive, while the Allies sounded the horn of **.
On the European battlefield, the Soviet Union asked the United States and Britain and other countries to contain Germany and Italy from 1942, until 1944, when the Allies decided to open a second battlefield in Europe in the direction of Germany's "Atlantic barrier", in order to reduce the pressure on the Eastern Front.
The Normandy area northwest of France became the most ideal landing place for the Allies, because there were so many beaches here that German patrols could not cover this direction, and at the same time, it was also within the coverage of British shore-based fighters, so that the Allied air force could also provide sufficient fire support during the landing.
In addition to the above reasons, another reason why the Allied forces launched a landing operation at this point in time was that the United States did not want to see the situation in which the Soviet Union alone controlled the whole of Europe in the end, and the German Army at that time was almost in a situation of being violently beaten by the Soviet Union, and the Allied landing was also suspected of grabbing the fruits of victory.
In July 1943, before the Normandy landings, the Allies carried out their first landing operation in Sicily, with a total of 470,000 troops, more than 5,000 combat aircraft, and more than 3,000 ships and transports.
In the Sicily landing, the Allies captured more than 200,000 Axis troops at the cost of 20,000 people, and this landing operation provided practical landing experience for the subsequent Normandy landing.
In May 1944, the Allies decided to carry out Operation Overlord, and on June 6, 170,000 Allied advance troops assembled on the beaches of Normandy, France, to start the largest landing in history.
In the pre-landing period, the Allies 130,000 paratroopers landed behind the German positions and exchanged fire with the Germans, then the Allies organized 2,500 bombers to cover the German frontline positions, and finally, 170,000 Allied troops fought through five landing sites.
Of the five landing sites, Omaha Beach was the bloodiest, with more than 2,500 killed in the first wave of the U.S. offensive, and almost all of the amphibious tanks modified by the Allies were wiped out due to the harsh weather conditions at the time.
During the entire landing battle, the Allies mobilized nearly 3 million troops, from the beginning of June, until August, until the liberation of Paris, the entire Normandy campaign was considered to be over.
Although the Battle of Normandy was won, the Allied forces paid a very high price, with more than 200,000 Allied troops and more than 280,000 on the Axis side, and nearly 220,000 soldiers captured by the Allies.
The success of the Battle of Normandy forced Germany to face a two-front battle in the European theater, and at the same time, it was still facing several of the strongest countries in the world at that time, and the huge front pressure accelerated Germany's defeat in the European theater.
At the same time, Germany's defeat left the United States with the ability to refocus its main forces on the Pacific theater, thereby completely changing the overall situation of World War II and hastening the demise of the Axis powers.