German tank flipped over by bombing attack. USAAF fighters shot down this Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 190 when it tried to approach the Normandy beachhead. In late July 1944, concentrated air attacks during OPERATION COBRA shattered enemy forces and started the Normandy breakout.Īviation engineers quickly established airstrips in the Normandy farmland to base fighters closer to the front lines. Constant air attack, however, severely limited the enemy’s mobility and caused devastating losses. The Normandy Campaign and the Cobra BreakoutĪssisted by favorable terrain, German forces bitterly contested the Allied advance. Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr Division commander, after the Cobra air attacks All of my forward tanks were disabled and the roads were practically impassable.” “The aircraft flew over us continuously, passing above us like a conveyor belt…My front positions resembled a scene from the moon, and at least 70% of my troops were out of action-dead, buried, or stunned. To aid in recognition and prevent casualties from friendly fire, Allied aircraft were hastily painted with black and white “invasion stripes” on the night of June 5-6, 1944. About 1/3 of those wounded in Normandy were evacuated by air transport. Reconnaissance photograph of the beachhead on D-Day.Ī flight nurse and a troop carrier pilot prepare to receive wounded from a medic. ![]() Just before the landing, heavy bombers saturated beach defenses, like this 88 mm cannon battery on a cliff at Longues, France. Bad crash-landings destroyed some, causing casualties. Troop carrier C-47 on takeoff with a glider in tow. The original photograph was censored to hide the paratroopers’ unit patches. Paratroopers prepare to board a troop carrier C-47. At daybreak, bombers hammered beach defenses, while fighters protected friendly forces and roamed across Normandy, attacking the enemy at will. The Normandy invasion began with troop carrier units dropping airborne forces early in the morning, surprising and disrupting the German defenders. Photoreconnaissance aircraft captured detailed images, like this one showing anti-landing craft spikes topped with mines. Gathering Intelligence: PhotoreconnaissanceĬamera-equipped aircraft took photographs of the beachhead and enemy positions, providing vital intelligence about German defenses. Here, Liberators bomb the Pas de Calais on June 5, 1944, to further this deception. The Allies successfully tricked the enemy into thinking the invasion would be at the narrowest part of the English Channel. Those trains that did move were attacked by roaming fighter-bombers.Īir attack destroyed bridges to cut off German reinforcement of Normandy. The USAAF prevented Germany from quickly reinforcing Normandy by wrecking the transportation system in northwestern France before D-Day.īombers tore up railroad yards like this one in Epinal, France. ![]() Isolating the Battlefield: Cutting Lifelines Here bombs rain down on the airfield at Chateaudun, France. ![]() USAAF bombers also destroyed airfields that could threaten the invasion and continued to hit them after D-Day. The USAAF strategic bombing campaign achieved this by crippling the Luftwaffe’s fighter force in battles over Germany before D-Day. The Normandy invasion required Allied control of the air. Securing Air Dominance: Breaking the Luftwaffe The landing itself was code-named OPERATION NEPTUNE, while the overall Normandy campaign was code-named OPERATION OVERLORD. “D-Day” was the general Allied code word to describe the first day of an operation, but became known as the most famous “D-Day”-June 6, 1944. Airmen enabled its success by breaking the Luftwaffe, crippling enemy transportation, gathering intelligence, and directly supporting Allied ground forces. D-Day, June 6, 1944-history’s largest amphibious invasion-sparked the liberation of Europe.
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