Axis countries were Germany, Japan, and Italy (Xl). In preparation, the Allied forces brought nearly 200,000 seamen and merchant marines, 59 convoys carrying 130,000 soldiers, 2,000 tanks, 12,000 vehicles, and over 3,000 planes to the beaches of Normandy in order to defeat the German Axis army who had gained control of France (53). The Axis were stationed “On many of the beaches, the sand between high and low tide was completely covered with girders that had teller mines which were there to blow the tracks off panzers if any tried to come ashore, and also the Belgian gates” (Eckhertz 98). The Axis was enormously prepared with bunkers and obstructions on the beaches to make it harder for the allied soldiers to capture the Atlantic wall. One German soldier stated, “[p]ersonally, I couldn’t see how an invader could come ashore and move off the beach in any kind of strength, and so I was not greatly worried by the thoughts of an allied landing” (113). “It is raining iron. The windows are exploding, the floor is shaking, and we are choking in the smell of gunpowder” wrote a French woman (98). By the end of the invasion, nearly 156,000 allied soldiers were on the ground in …show more content…
Before this the Axis powers were on offense conquering and successful, while the allies were on defense just waiting for this long war to end. German soldiers were confident and expecting the invasion on the beaches of France, but they didn’t expect the unending waves of young soldiers that arrived. On this day in which the Allied soldiers finally breached the German lines the war drastically changed for everyone. Germany knew this along with every other Axis and Allied power. “When the breakout occurred in August, there was no holding the Allies back.”(Jennys) One soldier stated, “The world just changed like that, like throwing a switch.”(Eckhertz 2081) “From that point, Nazi Germany had only nine months more to live.”(Jennys) Over the next nine months the Allies spread across Europe into German territory freeing countries of Hitler’s power. Once the allies began the offensive on D-Day they continued to push the Germans back. In May of 1945 the war in Europe ended with the invasion of Germany by the Allies. For the Germans, D-Day signaled the beginning of the end of the German