D-Day occurred on this day 67 years ago, with the first Allied landings in the Invasion of Normandy beginning at 6.30am British Double Summer Time. The previous day, 5 June 1944, had been selected for the assault that was to lead to the end of the Second World War, but had to be cancelled due to poor weather. The weather remained poor in the lead-up to 6 June, but the Allied forces decided to proceed anyway.
Some 6,900 vessels were ready to be involved in the invasion, including 4,100 landing craft. Some 12,000 aircraft were ready to provide support including bombers to drop 10,000 tons of bombs on German defences and 1,000 transports to drop parachute troops. On D-Day around 130,000 to 150,000 troops successfully landed in Normandy. About half of them were US forces and the other half British Commonwealth forces.
The Normandy landings became the first successful opposed landings across the English Channel in more than eight centuries. As a result of successful counterintelligence operations, the Germans were unprepared for the assault on Normandy, and the Allied forces were soon able to gain control of most of France. However, the German forces were not finally defeated until April of the following year, and the war finally ended with the surrender of Japan in August 1945.