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The battle for Normandy
By the end of D-Day the allies had gained a fragile foothold in Hitler's Europe.
They occupied four separate beachheads, at most a few miles deep, along a 30-mile section of the Normandy coast.
Just getting this far had cost an estimated 2,500 to 4,000 lives - but it was only the beginning.
For a while, the allies were at risk of being pushed back into the sea. They had to race to build up their invasion force faster than German commanders could move up reinforcements.
Sixty years later, historians still ask what would have happened if the bulk of the German 15th Army had arrived on the scene, instead of lying in wait for a second landing they had been led to expect in the Pas de Calais.
Huge losses
The allies won this race - despite the havoc caused by the worst June storm in the region for 40 years, and their lack of a major port - thanks to their domination of air and sea.
It was the subsequent task of pushing the German army out of Normandy, which caused real headaches, including some prolonged, bitter and bloody battles, often for small territorial gains.
The Land Forces commander for Operation Overlord, General Bernard Montgomery, had estimated that it would be possible to cross the Seine 90 days after D-Day.
By the end of D-Day the allies had gained a fragile foothold in Hitler's Europe.
They occupied four separate beachheads, at most a few miles deep, along a 30-mile section of the Normandy coast.
Just getting this far had cost an estimated 2,500 to 4,000 lives - but it was only the beginning.
For a while, the allies were at risk of being pushed back into the sea. They had to race to build up their invasion force faster than German commanders could move up reinforcements.
Sixty years later, historians still ask what would have happened if the bulk of the German 15th Army had arrived on the scene, instead of lying in wait for a second landing they had been led to expect in the Pas de Calais.
Huge losses
The allies won this race - despite the havoc caused by the worst June storm in the region for 40 years, and their lack of a major port - thanks to their domination of air and sea.
It was the subsequent task of pushing the German army out of Normandy, which caused real headaches, including some prolonged, bitter and bloody battles, often for small territorial gains.
The Land Forces commander for Operation Overlord, General Bernard Montgomery, had estimated that it would be possible to cross the Seine 90 days after D-Day.
