The Allies, led by the United States coordinated a massive build-up of troops and supplies to support a large-scale invasion of Normandy in the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 under the code name Operation Overlord.

The aim of Gift Horse was to waste the enemy's time, and was deployed prior to D-Day, when code traffic increased dramatically.

Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944.

Gold Beach was the code name of one of the D-Day landing beaches that Allied forces used to invade German-occupied France on 6 June 1944, during World War II.

Exercise Tiger, or Operation Tiger, was the code name for one in a series of large-scale rehearsals for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, which took place on Slapton Sands or Slapton Beach in Devon.

The Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, named after Bény-sur-Mer even though it is closer to Reviers, commemorates Canadian losses suffered on D-Day 1944 and subsequent battles early in World War II.

Plastic explosive is commonly used for the demolition of obstacles and fortifications by engineers and combat engineers, an early use being the warhead of the British Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers's ( AVRE )' s ' Petard ' demolition mortar, used to destroy concrete fortifications encountered during Operation Overlord ( D-Day ).

This was Operation Overlord, and Pujol played a leading role in the deception and misinformation campaign Operation Fortitude, sending over 500 radio messages between January 1944 and D-Day, at times more than twenty messages per day.

* June 6 – WWII – Battle of Normandy: Operation Overlord, commonly known as D-Day, commences with the landing of 155, 000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France.

Pas-de-Calais was also the target of Operation Fortitude during World War II, which was an Allied plan to deceive the Germans that the invasion of Europe at D-Day was to occur here, rather than in Normandy.

Strategic bombers have also been used to support major military ground operations, such as the isolation of Normandy through the bombing of transportation hubs throughout northern France in support of the D-Day invasion, or the carpet bombing of the Axis front lines west of Saint-Lô in support of Operation Cobra.

* Levine, Joshua, Operation Fortitude: the Story of the Spy Operation that Saved D-Day, London: Collins, 2011, ISBN 978-0-00-731353-2

The third and final phase started on June 6, 1944 with the invasion of Normandy on the D-Day of Operation Overlord, when an Allied force consisting of American British and Canadian Army Groups ( with units from many other nations ), successfully gained a beach head in Normandy in northern France.

These and other dedicated assault vehicles were organised into the specialised 79th Armoured Division and deployed during Operation Overlord-' D-Day '.

The system played a major part in the massive campaign of deception which preceded the D-Day landings, designed to give the Germans a false impression of the location and timings of the landings ( see Operation Fortitude ).

As an example, before D-Day, Operation Quicksilver, one element of Operation Fortitude, which itself was part of a larger deception strategy ( Operation Bodyguard ), created a fictional " First United States Army Group " ( FUSAG ) commanded by General George Patton that supposedly would invade France at the Pas-de-Calais.

The Free French Navy — commanded by Admiral Emile Muselier — played a role in the occupation of French colonies in Africa, in supporting the French Resistance, in D-Day ( Operation Neptune ), and the Pacific War.

On 6 June 1944, as a captain, he participated in the British Airborne Operation Tonga during the D-Day landings.

In preparation for Operation Overlord, the BBC had signaled to the French Resistance that the opening lines of the 1866 Verlaine poem " Chanson d ' Automne " were to indicate the start of D-Day operations.

Around the world Dutch naval units were responsible for transporting troop, for example during Operation Dynamo in Dunkirk and on D-Day, they escorted convoys and attacked enemy targets.

Brigadier General McAuliffe was serving as Commander of Division Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division when he parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and when he entered by glider into Holland during Operation Market Garden.

Operation Fall Rot would not be able to be reversed without a major landing from across the English Channel which would come on June 6, 1944 with the D-Day landings of Operation Overlord at Normandy.

During World War II, a rail transfer yard was constructed for the United States Army, probably as part of Operation Bolero to assist the build up of troops and stores before D-Day.

Following several intelligence coups, including a capture of an intact Hs 293 at Anzio and recovery of important components of the Kehl transmitter from a crashed Heinkel He 177 on Corsica, the Allies were able to develop far more effective countermeasures, all in time for the Invasion of Normandy ( starting with Operation Neptune, D-Day ) and Operation Dragoon in Southern France.

After delays due to both logistical difficulties and poor weather, the D-Day of Overlord, the largest amphibious operation ever, was postponed 24 hours to 6 June 1944.

The D-Day museum ( which holds the Overlord embroidery ) is located on the seafront in Southsea, very close to Southsea castle.

* Overlord embroidery description at the D-Day Museum site

Its first return to continental Europe took place on D-Day in 1944, as one of the two assault corps for US First Army during Operation Overlord, targeting Utah Beach with its amphibious assault.

The release was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the D-Day: Operation Overlord invasion of Normandy.

On D + 1 they advanced and captured their D-Day objectives, the first Allied unit to achieve that in Operation Overlord.

Two of its formations, I Corps ( also containing Canadian units ) and XXX Corps took part in the D-Day landings of Operation Overlord, with its remaining units coming ashore during the remainder of the Normandy Campaign.

Bény-sur-Mer was liberated on D-Day by Le Régiment de la Chaudière, the only French-speaking unit to take part in Operation Overlord.

In 1944, Le Régiment de la Chaudière, a French Canadian infantry unit, came ashore at Bernières-sur-Mer as a part of Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings which began the liberation of France in World War II.

In 1944 Penarth dock and the dock beach as far as the Penarth Headland was full of invasion barges that departed for the " Operation Overlord " D-Day landings.

As part of the 1st Special Service Brigade the Commando participated in Operation Overlord, the D-Day Normandy landings, going on to move through Europe into Germany, including Montforterbeek on 23 January 1945.

Airborne and pathfinder forces did not see combat again until June 6, 1944, at the commencement of the D-Day landings of Operation Overlord.

The Dieppe Raid was largely a failure but it helped influence planning for Operation Overlord, the landings at D-Day.

The Operations Room was also responsible for providing air support during the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940 ( Operation Dynamo ) and the D-Day landings ( Operation Overlord ).

The air operations section of Operation Overlord, the 6 June 1944 Normandy landings ( D-Day ), was also controlled from RAF Uxbridge.

On 6 June 1944, D-Day, the British 50th Infantry division landed at Ver-sur-Mer as part of the Normandy Landings invasion, Operation Overlord.

; D-Day: is the unnamed day on which an operation commences or is due to commence.