Landing on Normandy

The biggest battle in WW2 has to be my favoret. The U.S. used all elements, aireal attacks, land invation, and from the water. Lasting more than 30 hours, and most importantly the U.S. had the upper hand for most of this epic battle more tha 30,000,000 troops stormed the beach and began the attack. On June 4 1944, the thousands of ships and craft taking part in Operation NEPTUNE put to sea and began gathering in assembly areas southeast of the Isle of Wight. From there, many passed through the channels swept through the German defensive minefields and moved into their respective waiting areas before dawn on 6 June. Hundreds of antisubmarine escorts and patrol planes protected the flanks of these assault convoys. Between 0530 and 0550, the Allied gunfire support task groups began bombarding prearranged targets along the beaches.

American sector
In the American sector, the landing at Utah beach began at 0630 and--despite occurring slightly south of the target area--proceeded according to plan as the U.S. 4th division advanced rapidly toward its initial objectives. At Omaha beach, where the landings began at 0635, underwater obstacles bottled up many of the amphibious craft and the congestion provided easy targets for German gunners. The landing bogged down and it took a combination of short-range destroyer gunnery support, aerial bombardment and desperate infantry assaults to break the German defenses. It was not until noon that the U.S. 1st and 29th divisions crossed the beach line in force.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings

www.eden.rutgers.edu/~tomshi/425/mid/dday_br.htm

British sector
The British sector proceeded more smoothly. Despite rougher seas and higher-than-expected tides, which hindered the clearance of beach obstacles, excellent naval gunfire support kept German defensive fire suppressed at Sword and Juno beaches. The landings there, which began at 0730 and 0735 respectively, proceeded apace and the British 3d and Canadian 3d divisions moved inland by early afternoon. At Gold beach, where the 50th division landed at 0725, the beach obstacles were more numerous than expected and many landing craft were lost. This hindered the buildup of forces ashore and it wasn't until nightfall that the beach was secured.

www.dday.co.uk/

www.travels.com/destinations/europe/juno-beach/