--- title: "Operation Overlord" description: "D-Day, Normandy and Beyond WW2 Map of the Operation Overlord (D-Day)" url: "https://www.normandy1944.info/home/maps/operation-overlord" date: "2026-07-28T19:05:26+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- # Operation Overlord [![Map of Operation Overlord](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/maps/normandy/D-Day-normandy-beyond-map-overlord-bomber-1944.jpg)](#js-0) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/maps/normandy/D-Day-normandy-beyond-map-overlord-bomber-1944.jpg) --- **Note: Click on the map for an enlargement!** - Battle location: Normandy - Country affected: France - Duration: June 6 1944 – August 30 1944 --- [This map provides an overview of the battlefield. Visit the full battle page to explore the complete history, key events, commanders and historical photographs. Explore the full battle ](https://www.normandy1944.info/home/battles/battle-of-normandy) ### Total Allied casualties - Killed: 4.414 - Wounded: not known - Captured: not known - Total: 209.000 ### Total Axis casualties - Killed: not known - Wounded: not known - Captured: 41.000 - Total: 200.000 --- Please keep in mind that 100% accurate figures about the number of casualties cannot be given with complete certainty. ##### "We'll start the war from right here." Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. landed with his troops in the wrong place on Utah Beach ## History and facts about Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings. A 1.200 plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5.500 vessels. Nearly 160.000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August. The Normandy beaches were chosen by planners because they lay within range of air cover, and were less heavily defended than the obvious objective of the Pas de Calais, the shortest distance between Great Britain and the Continent. Airborne drops at both ends of the beachheads were to protect the flanks, as well as open up roadways to the interior. Six divisions were to land on the first day, three U.S. two British and one Canadian. Two more British and one U.S. division were to follow up after the assault division had cleared the way through the beach defenses. The Allies failed to accomplish their objectives for the first day, but gained a tenuous foothold that they gradually expanded when they captured the port at Cherbourg on 26 June and the city of Caen on 21 July. A failed counterattack by German forces on 8 August left 50.000 soldiers of the 7th Army trapped in the Falaise pocket. The Allies launched a second invasion from the Mediterranean Sea of southern France (code-named Operation Dragoon) on 15 August, and the Liberation of Paris followed on 25 August. German forces retreated east across the Seine on 30 August 1944, marking the close of Operation Overlord. ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/74/SHAEF-Allied-US-746d7625.png?src=images/patches/SHAEF-Allied-US.png&thumbnail=196,270,&hash=6b77b543)#### Battle outcome: Allied victory [](#) [](#) --- ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/patches/German-Wehrmacht-eagle-cloth.png)#### Insignia of the defeated forces [](#) [](#) ### Discover other epic battles of the Second World War ![Battle of Midway](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/battles/midway/Battle-of-Midway-June-3-1942.jpg) ### Battle of Midway 3 June 1942 What was the Battle of Midway? 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The Attack on Pearl Harbor took place on the morning of 7 December 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise military st… [](#) [](#) ## Schema ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.normandy1944.info/home/maps/operation-overlord" }, "headline": "Operation Overlord", "description": "D-Day, Normandy and Beyond WW2 Map of the Operation Overlord (D-Day)", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.normandy1944.info/images/maps/normandy/D-Day-normandy-beyond-map-overlord-bomber-1944.jpg" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Normandy1944.info – D-Day, Normandy and Beyond", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.normandy1944.info/images/logo/D-Day-Normandy-1944-WW2-logo.png" } }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Frank C. Everards", "url": "https://www.normandy1944.info/blog/how-it-started" }, "datePublished": "2021-03-19T19:18:53+01:00", "dateCreated": "2021-03-19T19:18:53+01:00", "dateModified": "2026-07-10T13:55:08+02:00" } ```