Invasion

GLIDERS AND PARATROOPERS The vanguard of the Allied armies was supposed to swoop in silently behind enemy lines, but little went according to plan. Paratroopers were scattered for miles across the countryside, some coming down directly into towns. Many wood-and-canvas gliders were raked by German fire or crashed into unexpectedly large hedgerows. But by the end of D-day, British commandos had captured key bridges near Caen, and Americans held large pockets inland from Utah Beach

C-47 Transport Workhorse aircraft also carried paratroopers but not while towing gliders

Air Armada Allied bombers and fighters flew more than 14,000 mission on D-day, pounding German troop concentrations and strong points along the beaches

Lost in the flood Many airborne troops found themselves landing in water, miles from the beach. The Germans had flooded many inland fields

U.S. CG-4A Waco Glider Carried 15 soldiers or about 9,000lbs. (4 metric tons) of equipment. Most broke apart on landing

D-day objective line The goal was for the Allied armies to link up and reach this point by the night of June 6

D-day penetration Actual allied positions at midnight on June 6. More than 150,000 soldiers had landed

Stalemate at Caen The Allies hoped to take this key city on D-day, but German resistance stiffened. The town didn't fall for six more weeks

Sea Armada Before the invasion, 200 ships bombarded the landing zones. Then more than 130,000 men streamed ashore along a 50-mile (80 km) front

"BLOODY OMAHA" More than one -third of the first wave of soldiers were killed or wounded fighting to cross an obstacle-strewn beach while heavy fire rained down from the cliffs

Sources: U.S. Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations: Cross-Channel Attack, by Orlando Ward; The Penguin Atlas of D-Day and the Normandy Campaign, by John Man; D-Day Gliders, by Philippe Esvelin; D-Day 1944, Omaha Beach, by Steven J. Zaloga