![]() The British also believed that such an approach would provide the advantage of creating a barrier to limit the Soviet advance into Europe. Rather than any repetition of the type of head-on frontal assault characteristic of Western Front operations in World War I, the British in general and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in particular favoured attacks on the periphery of German-occupied Europe and allowing the insurgency work of the Special Operations Executive to reach large-scale fruition, while making a main Allied thrust from the Mediterranean to Vienna in Austria and thence into Germany from the south. The Allies therefore decided to bide their time (despite Soviet insistence that a 'second front' be opened against the Germans in the west as a means of easing pressure on the Eastern Front) until they had the right strength of adequately trained and equipped forces, supported by the necessary naval and air forces, to deliver a decisive stroke. The final 'Overlord' plan was accepted in outline at the 'Trident' conference in Washington during 1943 only after the Allied planners had appreciated that any premature effort (such as 'Sledgehammer' in 1942 and 'Round-up' in 1943) stood little real chance of success against an enemy who maintained strong forces in France under an able leadership. Such an invasion had been long wished by the Allies, and although the bulk of the Allied forces were provided by the UK, USA and Canada, there were also contributions from Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland. Thus 'Overlord' was the Allied invasion of North-West Europe, which was started by the 'Neptune' (iii) initial assault phase: 'Neptune' (iii) began on 6 June (D-Day) and ended on 30 June 1944, by which date the Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy and 'Overlord' proper also began on 6 June but continued until the Allied forces had crossed the Seine river on 19 August 1944. The Allies assigned a number of codenames to the various stages of the invasion: among these were 'Overlord' for the establishment of a large-scale and operationally viable lodgement on the continent, and 'Neptune' (iii) for the 'triphibious' first phase to gain and hold the secure initial foothold by means of air, land and sea forces. ![]() Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.'Overlord' was the Allied invasion of Normandy in north-western France up to the time of the break-out and advance to the line of the Seine river (6 June/19 August 1944). Some of these men wear 101st Airborne Division insignia. Army troops onboard an LCT, ready to ride across the English Channel to France. To view Navy Art from the Navy Art Gallery on Operation Overlord, please click here. To read more about Operation Overlord from the NHHC Navy Library, please click here. From that point on, the Allies would begin to drive into Germany that ultimately destroyed the Nazi regime on May 7, 1945. The balance of power on the continent, already weakened by Soviet offensives into Poland was decisively tipped into Allied favor. It called into question the German Army's ability to control western Europe, dramatically increase partisan activity against enemy occupation, and hearten the spirits of those fighting against Nazi tyranny. In a larger strategic sense, the successful Allied landing in France was a psychological blow to the German occupation of Europe. On June 6, 1944, in Operation Overlord, the Allied forces landed troops on Normandy beaches for the largest amphibious assault in history, beginning the march eastward to defeat Germany.
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