Day 120, May 26

The Normandy Landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, in Operation Overlord during World War II The landings commenced on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (D-Day), beginning at 6:30 am British Double Summer Time (GMT+2). In planning, as for most Allied operations, the term D-Day was used for the day of the actual landing.

The landings were conducted in two phases: an airborne assault landing of 24,000 British, American and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing  of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France starting at 6:30 am. Bad weather helped give the Allies the element of surprise. 

A key element was to convince Adolf Hitler that the landings would actually occur to the north at the Pas-de-Calais. There were also decoy operations taking place simultaneously with the landings under the codenames Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable to distract the German forces from the real landing areas.