D-day: the great invasion: sixty years ago this spring, Allied troops stormed the beaches of France in a heroic effort to free Europe from Germany's grip.

• Author: Whitney, Craig R.
• Position: Times Past

On Tuesday, June 6, 1944, 156,000 American, British, and Canadian troops, along with Polish, French, and other Allied soldiers, landed on the beaches of Normandy, on the northern coast of France, and changed the world.

A few years earlier, in 1939 and 1940, Adolf Hitler's armies had over run Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, France, and North Africa. The Nazis installed Fascist regimes, put their enemies in concentration camps, and tried to exterminate Europe's Jews, whom Hitler blamed for Germany's ills, including its defeat in World War I.

Hitler created alliances with Italy and Japan to form what was known as the Axis. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the British and Soviets were left to fight Germany alone, until Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, on December 7. The U.S. then entered the war ha both Asia and Europe, fighting alongside Allied forces to liberate Europe, North Africa, and Asia from the grip of the Axis powers.

Defeating Hitler's vast military machine required an invasion of epic proportions, and on D-Day, 60 years ago this spring, Allied troops threw themselves against the German defenses and began the campaign that--with Soviet forces pressing in from the east--would result in Germany's surrender.

OPERATION OVERLOAD

Some 73,000 young Americans, mostly draftees, were among those who hit the beaches or parachuted or flew in on gliders on D-Day as part of the vast Allied operation called "Overlord." It was one of the great military feats of all time, a gripping human drama that newspapers, books, and movies like Saving Private Ryan have been telling ever since.

"At daybreak, Anglo-American forces dropped from the skies in Normandy, swarmed up on the beaches from thousands of landing craft, and renewed the battle for France and for Europe," The New York Times reported on June 6.

The risks were enormous. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, had already delayed the start of the operation by 24 hours because of a fierce storm. German defenses on the beaches with Allied code names like Utah, Omaha, and Sword--were so formidable that Eisenhower prepared a note before the operation started to use if the plan failed. "lf any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone," read the scrap of paper, which stayed in "Ike's" wallet unused and can be seen today at his presidential library in Abilene, Kan., his childhood home.

A few journalists went...