World War II began in 1939, but America managed to stay out of the conflict for two years.  It wasn’t until Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that the U.S. joined the war.  Now a member of the Allies, it became evident that Germany was as important of a concern as Japan.  By 1944, Germany had a strong advantage in World War II and Hitler’s forces had already taken Paris. Without a drastic change on the European front, the future of the world was in serious question.

On this day, June 6, in 1944, the Allied forces led the Normandy landings, known as D-Day.  D-Day was one of the largest beach landings in military history and occurred along 50 miles of the Normandy coast. More than 150,000 American, British and Canadian troops participated with the help of air and naval support.  Although there were 12,000 casualties, the allies were victorious.

D-Day proved to be one of the most pivotal, tide-turning victories in the war.  The Allies were able to establish five beach holds and by August, the allies were able to liberate Paris from German control. In the following year the Allies continued to gain key victories against Germany, which, in combination with the U.S. dropping the atom bomb on Japan, eventually led to the end of World War II.