In the footsteps BATTLEFIELD TOURS and battlefield-tour.com are please to bring you this free to view website recounting the momentous events that took place on D-Day, 6 June 1944 when the Allied 21st Army Group landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of Northwest Europe from under the yoke of Hitler's Nazi German.

Operation OVERLORD, as the invasion of Northwest Europe is known, was the largest amphibious assault to have ever taken place and involved almost three million Allied troops from twelve participating nations. It took more than two and a half years to plan and prepare and culminated in the capture of Paris 80 days after the Allied forces landed on the coast of France.

It began in the early hours of Tuesday 6 June 1944 when three Allied Airborne Divisions were dropped by parachute and reinforced by gliders to secure the flanks of the invasion area. These airborne landings were followed up by a massive air and naval bombardment of the German coastal defences in preparation for the early morning amphibious assault. At 06.35 hrs the seaborne landings commenced with the amphibious assaults in the American sector at UTAH and OMAHA Beaches, which were followed fifty minutes later by the amphibious assault in the British sector at GOLD, JUNO and SWORD Beaches.

The following 80 days saw the Allies consolidate and breakout from their lodgement area, capture the vital deep-sea port of Cherbourg, fight their way across the Normandy Bocage to capture Saint-Lô and Caen, in what is now called the Battle of Normandy. This finally culminated in the encirclement of the German forces in the Falaise pocket and the liberation of Paris on Wednesday 25 August 1944.

Tuesday 6 June 1944 or D-Day as it is now known marked the beginning of the end of Hitler's Nazi German state. It has gone down in history as one of those days that changed the face of the world.

This website is dedicated to preserving the memory of all who have died in pursuit of freedom. It is through their sacrifice that we are able to enjoy the freedoms we have today. God bless them all!

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

An extract from "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon

This website is also dedicated to the memory of:

Mrs Sylvia Carter

Born: 18th June 1934 - Died: 4th June 2007

My mother and my friend!
Without her encouragement and support In the footsteps would never have come into being.