Eleven things you might not know about D-Day
Did you know that theatre set designers played a role in D-Day's success? Or that MI5 were worried the whole plan could be brought down by the Daily Telegraph's crossword? Here are some fascinating facts you didn't know about the invasion that changed the course of the Second World War.
Thursday 6 June 2024 06:44, UK
There are a number of things you might already know about D-Day.
That it was the largest amphibious invasion ever executed, involving more than 150,000 Allied troops.
That the invasion of Normandy's beaches happened on 6 June 1944 - 80 years ago.
That it signalled the beginning of the end of the Second World War.
But here are some interesting facts you might not know about the operation.
1. We still may not know exactly how many people died
When a D-Day memorial was being planned in the US in the 1990s, it came to light that estimates for the number of dead Allied troops varied wildly - from 5,000 to 12,000.
With its Necrology Project, the National D-Day Memorial Foundation in America set about establishing the number of troops killed in the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944.
Years of painstaking research identified 4,415 fatalities: 2,502 Americans and 1,913 Allies from seven nations.
While it's the most accurate record, it is still being added to as new evidence comes to light, meaning it may not be a definitive count of the dead.
2. What the D stands for
D-Day was not a unique name for the 6 June operation, but is the general term for the start date of a military operation where the date is not known or is secret.
The 'D' is commonly understood to stand for day - so it's really called Day Day.
But another name for it is "departed date", according to the US Deptartment of Defence.
It quotes the assistant to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who oversaw the invasion and went on to become US president, saying any amphibious operation has a "departed date" - shortened to give us D-Day.
There were a number of D-Days during the Second World War, but Normandy was the biggest and most well-known.
The codename for the Normandy invasion was Operation Overlord - and the name for the naval aspects was Operation Neptune.
3. The weather forced a last-minute date change
The weather, tides and moon all had to be considered when planning a date for D-Day.
The operation needed a long summer's day, clear skies and a full moon for visibility from the air, low winds and calm seas and low tide at landing time.
Nine days in May and June seemed to fit the bill. D-Day was originally planned for 5 June - but it was pushed out by a day at the last minute due to an unfavourable forecast.
The weather still wasn't ideal on 6 June, with rough seas and strong winds, but postponing would have meant a two-week wait for the right conditions. Instead, the Allied troops made the most of a brief break in the weather.
4. Where to invade? Answers on a postcard
Long before the days of pulling up Google Street View, army chiefs needed a way of seeing which beaches would be poorly defended and therefore suited to an invasion.
The answer was crowdsourcing. In 1942, the BBC issued an appeal for postcards and photographs of Europe's coastline.
Millions were sent to the War Office, helping to identify Normandy as a target.
5. Officials worried the game would be given away at the pub
A private bar was installed at London's Norfolk House, the headquarters for D-Day planning, so staff could talk without risk of being overheard in local pubs.
One commander also put his troops' secret-keeping to the test at the pub.
Terence Otway sent 30 women from the Women's Auxiliary Air Force to village pubs, dressed in civilian clothes.
They were charged with chatting up soldiers and seeing if they would spill the beans about the operation - but reportedly none did.
6. As troops landed, Hitler slumbered
Hitler was asleep when Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy.
He had to personally authorise the release of reserves, but no one dared wake him.
Even when he woke up late in the morning, he did not immediately send reinforcements, believing D-Day was a diversionary tactic.
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Tap here7. Dummies, inflatables and deception
Inflatable tanks and a dummy army were crucial to the success of the D-Day as they helped shift German attention from Normandy.
Operation Fortitude was an elaborate decoy mission to make the Germans think the D-Day landings would take place in Calais or Norway.
Theatre set designers and camouflage experts were brought to Kent, where they set about creating a dummy army - which the Germans believed to be the fictitious First US Army Group (FUSAG).
Dummy landing craft and plywood aircraft carriers were also part of the deception.
Metal strips - codenamed "window" - were dropped along the French coast to confuse German radar and dummy parachutists made of rubber were dropped over Calais.
8. A double agent's role in D-Day's success
Double agent Juan Pujol - codenamed Garbo - has been described as the greatest double agent of the Second World War and played a key role in Operation Fortitude.
He fabricated a network of 27 agents in Britain who the Germans believed were spying for them.
Garbo convinced the Germans the army massed in Kent was ready to invade Calais - and managed to keep up the ruse even after D-Day, meaning German resources remained stationed there needlessly over the summer.
He was even awarded the Iron Cross by Hitler for his "extraordinary services" to Germany.
9. The secret plan blew out the window
A badly timed gust of wind could have spelled disaster for the Allies when a plan for the D-Day operation blew out the window of Norfolk House.
But it was later handed in by a man who reportedly said his eyesight was so bad he had no idea what it was.
10. 'Funny tanks' had to be specially invented
The D-Day landings were the first of their kind on such a scale - and successfully pulling them off meant creating the right equipment for the job.
Armoured vehicles developed under the command of Major-General Sir Percy Hobart became known as "Hobart's Funnies".
They included the Duplex Drive (DD) "swimming" tank, the "Crocodile" flamethrower tank and the "Bobbin" carpet layer, which laid reinforced matting on the soft sand so armoured vehicles could cross it.
Two floating "Mulberry harbours" were built in secrecy for D-Day, with about 45,000 people in the UK working on the project.
One harbour was destroyed by a storm a few days after D-Day, while the other was operational for 10 months, landing more than 2.5 million troops, 500,000 vehicles and four million tonnes of supplies.
The remains of this harbour can still be seen off the beach at Arromanches.
11. Telegraph crossword writer questioned by MI5
Codenames relating to D-Day - including "Mulberry" and the names of all the landing beaches - appeared in the Daily Telegraph crossword puzzle in the month before the invasion.
Suspecting espionage, MI5 secret service officers questioned the crossword compiler, Leonard Dawe.
Mr Dawe was the headmaster of a school located next door to an army camp, and often got students to come up with crossword solutions.
It was concluded the boys could have overheard the soldiers mentioning the codewords in conversation and MI5 determined the appearance of the words was a coincidence.