Thoughts on the Historic Battle of D-Day

[June 6, 2025]  Undoubtedly, one of the greatest battles of World War II on the Western Front is the invasion of Normandy. D-Day, the famous landings on June 6, 1944 was designed to destroy the Nazi occupation of Western Europe. British historian James Holland discusses this battle in an interview with Alex Friman.

When the Americans joined the war in December 1941, there was the Arcadia Conference and meetings with senior British and American staff about the overall strategy. It was agreed that the policy should be to quickly get American troops over to Britain, train them, and move across the channel to start the liberation of Europe.

The reality was that in 1942, the Americans were not ready. Only months before, they had a tiny army that was growing. They had no battlefield experience. The British were recovering from the failed Dunkirk operation in mid-1940. While the Brits had strong naval power, their air force was still inadequate, and they were also rebuilding their army.

Essentially, it was ground zero for America and Britain. It becomes clear that they were not ready in 1943, either. One of the problems was that the Soviet foreign minister was pushing America and Britain to get into the war quickly. Yet, the British were fighting in North Africa. The proposal was for the Americans to join this fight and gain experience, test equipment and tactics, and finish off the Germans who’d occupied that area.

Using an opportunistic strategy, the Allies decided it was time to invade Sicily and Italy to finish off the Mussolini Italians.

Then, the 1943 Trident Conference in Washington occurred, and one year later, it was decided to cross the channel and take on the Germans directly. This is when Operation Overlord was given its name, and the real planning began for the invasion on what would become known as D-Day.

One of the lessons from Sicily was that commanders can’t fight one battle while preparing for the next. This is done with a separate command structure. This worked because now there are enough experienced people to split battlefield command responsibilities.

One of the major prerequisites for Normandy was total control of the airspace, not just over Normandy but also over a large swath of Western Europe. The reason is that as soon as the landings begin in Normandy, everybody knows what the game plan is. Then it’s a race between which side can build up enough men and materiel quickest.

On paper, the Germans had the advantage because they already had huge land forces in Europe, while the Allies had to slowly traverse the English Channel. This meant that the Germans had to be slowed down, and this was done by destroying their means of getting there. So, bridges over major rivers were destroyed, railroad marshaling yards and networks were hit, and anything that kept the Germans from moving to reinforce the allied bridgehead.

Attacks on the German system had to be done by low-level bomber aircraft going in low and fast. This is why the German fighters needed to be thrown back. Air superiority was key to keeping the German armies at a distance. The production of the P51 Mustang with detachable fuel tanks, extending their range, was the solution to range over the entire area to destroy targets of opportunity and for long-range bomber escorts.

By April 1944, air superiority had been achieved. Plus, new ground attack aircraft like the Typhoon and Tempest and Thunderbolt were attacking the German radar stations all along the coastline. Between advances in code breaking and improvements in military Intelligence Services, the various cogs of this gigantic Allied war machine were coming together.

By the time D-Day was about to kick off, the allies were at their zenith of coalition warfare. Multiple nations have different overall aims, different cultures, different attitudes, and different starting points. But they all coalesced into achieving one common goal. Until that common goal was achieved, they would be putting their differences aside.

We saw this gigantic coalition of forces come together best on D-Day, when 6,939 vessels, 1,213 of which were warships, 4,127 assault craft, 12,000 aircraft, and 155,000 men landed and dropped from the air in 24 hours. It was phenomenal.

Often, we see D-Day as primarily an American show. However, all three service commanders were British, two-thirds of the aircraft were British, and two-thirds of the men who landed were British in the Dominion. We can never forget the Canadians who fought well above their weight. The British Royal Navy dominates at D-Day because, of course, it was huge, plus the U.S. Navy was in the Pacific fighting the Japanese.

D-Day was extraordinary, also in part because of the terrible weather, which was a debilitating factor in the whole operation. More were killed on Omaha Beach, in part, because of the weather. Clearly, D-Day was an unqualified success.

The balance of combat power, overall logistics, to experienced command and staff, to the massive mine sweeping operation and beach obstacle clearance, the effort was absolutely uncanny overall that it could achieve the majority of their goals. And all this was done before computers and GPSs.

Once the Allied bridgehead had been firmly established at Normandy, it was game over for Nazi Germany. Between the southern front coming up through Italy and the Eastern Front with the Soviets’ Operation Bagration, the Germans were fighting a three-front war that could not be won, given the massive Allied superiority in manpower and material.

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