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Postponed
June 5, 1944: Someone advised General D. Eisenhower to reschedule D-Day -
Landings
on June 6, 1944: The landings of U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five separate beaches in Normandy, France -
Launch
General D. Eisenhower launches Operation overlord -
Period: to
D-Day and Invasion of Normandy
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Breakwater in place
A breakwater of sunken ships for each harbor was in place by June 11. -
Destroyed
Floating piers, designed to rise and fall with the tides, were half-finished by June 19, when a heavy storm destroyed much of the material for the peirs. -
city falls
The heavily fortified city fell on June 28, and clearance of the port began at once. -
Devastating air attack
Operation Cobra, scheduled for July 25, opened with a terrible air attack (some of which fell on the waiting GIs). -
Fighting breaks out
As Model drew the retreating Germans back across northern France at breakneck speed into Belgium, Resistance forces in Paris rose against what remained of the German garrison there on August 19. Fighting broke out, and, Eisenhower reversed his earlier decision to bypass the capital. -
France freed
On August 26, General Charles De Gaulle, head of the Free French, made a triumphal parade down the streets to Notre-Dame Cathedral, where a mass of victory was celebrated.
