From the aforementioned date at 06:30 Central European Summer Time to mid-July of 1944, Western Allied forces fought in Normandy, the Provisional Government of the French Republic (modern-day France, officially the French Republic), against the Axis Powers (also known as the Axis Alliance, Axis Nations, Axis Countries, or just the Axis) after Nazi Germany (modern-day Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany) had occupied Western Europe, which led to the restoration of the French Republic.
D-Day
An estimate total of 206,350 soldiers fought in the early morning hours of D-Day, 156,000 were the Western Allied forces and more than 50,350 were the Axis Powers, whilst an approximate total of 20,000 to 29,000 lost their lives, 12,000 (with an official total of 4,414 confirmed dead) were the Western Allied forces, 6,603 were American soldiers, 2,700 were British soldiers, and 946 were Canadian soldiers, and, albeit the number of the Axis Powers killed are unknown, an estimate total of 4,000 to 9,000 were the Axis Powers.
An estimate total of American soldiers killed is 1,465, wounded is 3,184, reported missing is 1,928, and captured is 26.
An estimate total of 2,000 American soldiers from the US 1st Division and the US 29th Division were killed at Omaha Beach, whilst 197 Americans were killed and 60 reported missing at Utah Beach.
The US D-Day Memorial Foundation have released newer details after achieving a more accurate - and much higher - figure; they released that the component of the operation, code named Operation Overlord, had a total of 4,413 Western Allied forces killed in the early morning hours of D-Day, 2,499, were American and 1,914 were other Western Allied nations; these numbers are much higher than the traditional figure of 2,500 killed and will highly likely rise every now and then.
An estimate total of 2,000 British soldiers were killed at Gold Beach and Sword Beach, 1,000 each were killed at both beaches, whilst an estimate total of 600 British airborne troops from the Royal Air Force (acronymically known as RAF) were killed or wounded and another 600 or more were reported missing, whilst 100 glider pilots were killed.
An estimate total of 340 Canadian soldiers from the 3rd Canadian Division at Juno Beach were killed, whilst 574 were wounded, and 47 were taken prisoner.
An estimate total of 425,000 troops from both sides were killed, wounded, or went missing during the Battle of Normandy, 209,000 were the Western Allied forces, 37,000 amongst the Western Allied ground forces, and 16,714 amongst the Western Allied air forces, whilst 125,847 of those 209,000 killed, wounded, or missing were from the United States ground forces and 83,045 of them were from the 21st Army Group (British, Canadian, and Polish ground forces).
A rough estimate of the Axis Powers killed or wounded in the Battle of Normandy is 200,000 and another 200,000 were Prisoners of War (abbreviated as POW), omitting the 425,000 that were killed, wounded or went missing, whilst a rough estimate of 90,000 Axis Powers were killed at the Falaise Pocket (officially known as the Battle of the Falaise Pocket, also refereed to as Falaise Gap).
70 years after D-Day, there is an estimate total of 27 war cemeteries that hold the remains of over the 110,000 that were killed from both sides, 77,866 are German troops, 17,769 are British troops, 9,386 are American troops, 5,002 are Canadian troops, and 650 are Polish troops.
Not only did an approximate total of 20,000 to 29,000 troops from both sides lose their lives, but so did between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians. Most of those 15,000 and 20,000 were killed mainly as a result of Allied bombing, whilst thousands of more French civilians fled their homes to escape the fighting.
The Western Allied forces provided a total of 4,126 amphibious craft, including a variety specialised landing craft, such as LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank), LCIs (Landing Craft, Infantry), and LCTs (Landing Craft, Tank [Rocket]), 3,500 of those 4,126 amphibious craft were used, whilst 1,213 Western Allied warships, auxiliaries and landing craft were supplied. These amphibious craft would provide the crucial troop-carrying capacity to land the thousands of troops, vehicles, and artillery along the 80.46 kilometre (50.00 mile) wide target area in the Baie de la Seine, (or Baie de Seine, French for Bay of the Seine [River]).
Invasion of Normandy
An estimate total of
1,712,000 fought in the Invasion of Normandy, 1,332,000 were the Western Allied
forces and 380,000 were the Axis Powers, whilst an approximate total of 233,059 soldiers lost their lives, 120,000 were the Western Allied forces and
113,059 were the Axis Powers.
Websites and Sources
This content of this blogspot post, “Normandy Landings”, is taken from websites that I consider both informative and reliable. The objective of this blogspot post is not to provide information, but to help those informative and reliable websites to be noticed. Some, if not all, of those informative and reliable websites are already noticed, but I still find it best to post their content due to both copyright and educational purposes.
D Day and the Battle of Normandy Your Questions Answered
D-Day, the Normandy Invasion, 6 - 25 June 1944
Category: Operation Neptune
