On June5 a fleet of 3,000landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vessels began to leave ports in England headed forFrance. That nightthousands of men were dropped by parachute into the landing zone. Their task was to captureimportant towns, roads, and bridges in Normandy so that the soldiers from the beaches could maketheir way inland.
Early on the morning of June 6 the fleet of ships arrived at the Normandy coast. The landing craft were boats that could carry soldiers and tanks. These ships could land on the beaches, drop off their soldiers and tanks, and then return to the larger ships to bring back more men.
The five beaches chosen as the sites of the landings were spread along a 30-mile(48-kilometer) stretch of coastline. British and Canadian soldiers landed on Sword, Juno, and Goldbeaches. American soldiers landed on Omaha and Utah beaches.
Before the first soldiers landed on the beaches, Allied ships and planes fired at German forts. They hoped to destroy them, but some of the forts were so well built that the Germans were protected and were able to attack the Allies.
On the three British beaches the soldiers made good progress. They pushed inland. The Americans faced strong defenses on one of their beaches and took longer than they had planned to move off the beach. By the end of the day, though, all five beaches were in the hands of the Allies.
