HFOTD: 6 June 1944

On this day in history in 1944, the world woke up to discover that the Allied forces had invaded the beaches of Normandy, France in an attempt to push back the German forces and to take the first step in defeating them. The fighting took place on 5 separate beaches (Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword) that the Allies had split up.

For those BAND OF BROTHERS buffs, you know that the Airborne was dropped the night before the invasion to secure the beach. The invasion started at 0630 and though they would secure the beach by the end of the day, the battle of Normandy would last the full month of June as they slowly advanced towards Berlin.


For a U.S. Government newsreel on D-Day, click here.

For a brief German perspective on D-Day, click here.

For a summary of D-Day, click here.

For current news articles about the anniversary, click here, here, here, or here.

HFOTD: 5 June 1944

On this day in history in 1944 was the original date of the invasion of Normandy (D-Day), but due to bad weather it was postponed until the 6th. However, in preparation for the invasion, nearly 1,000 RAF planes dropped about 5,000 tons of bombs on German locations throughout the intended assault area (which included Omaha, Utah, Juno, Gold, and Sword beaches). While this was happening a good majority of the invasion force was sailing across the English Channel on their way to attack the beaches.

HFOTD: 25 May 1944

On 25 May 1944, Operation Knight was launched.

What was Operation Knight? It was a German operation that intended to remove Josep Broz (Tito), the anti-Nazi partisan leader, from the village where he was believed to be camped out in in Yugoslavia. The village where Broz and his comrades were staying was completely annihilated by the German troops searching for Broz, who had escaped prior to the attack on the village.

For more information try the following:

The History Channel

Biography