Pembridge Parish D-Day 80th Anniversary Celebration

1944 was a crucial year in the story of
the Second World War, and one in which
millions of allied personnel from dozens
of modern-day nations were engaged
across the globe.

On the 6th June, on the French coast, the long-awaited ‘D-Day’ invasion would come. 

Carried by an Armada of 7,000 ships, 130,000 personnel
would storm five Normandy beaches, supported by thousands of allied aircraft and airborne troops. In a fight that would last until the end of
August, almost 2 million servicemen would play a role in ‘Operation Overlord’. Yet 72,000 of them would never return.

Early on 6th June 1944 o the coast of
German-occupied France, lay an armada
of more than 7,000 naval vessels.

Above them in the skies that day would pass thousands of aircraft on more than 14,000 sorties, bombing targets and dropping or landing
some 24,000 airborne personnel behind enemy lines. Their mission: to capture key bridges, neutralise coastal batteries and secure vital
roads ahead of the main landings.

Shortly after dawn, and under cover of a massive naval bombardment, the first waves of assaulting infantry made for five designated beaches, codenamed Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah, along a 50-mile stretch of Normandy coastline. In many places the defenders were waiting, and exacted a horrific toll on the allies as they came ashore.
But, backed by years of meticulous planning and with great determination, they fought on. They ultimately breached Hitler’s famed ‘Atlantic Wall’ and gained a foothold in ‘Fortress Europe’.