Operation Overlord Essay

Operation Overlord was the codename of the battle of Normandy where the Allied soldiers invaded German-controlled Europe which began with the Normandy landings also known as D-Day. This was a large scale operation involving 1200 planes, 5000 ships and 160000 troops assaulting Omaha Beach. Operation Overlord was the turning point of WWII where the Allies begun obtaining victories against Nazi Germany and resulted in the Allies retaking most of Europe from the Germans. George S. Patton was a Senior Officer in the United States Army who achieved multiple military victories before and during WWII. This caused him to be widely known both among the Allies and the Axis powers. There were many factors contributing to the success of the Allies in Operation

In June 1941, more than 4.5 million german troops from German controlled Poland, Finland and Romania invaded Soviet Russia in a surprise Blitzkreig attack. The soviets suffered heavy losses and the Nazis managed to enter 200 miles into the Soviet Union’s territory within only a week. By December, Moscow was already in the sights of the Germans. However, that was the end of the Germans’ successes in the Soviet Union. The harsh Russian winter had come and the Nazi soldiers could not fight under such harsh conditions. In the end, the Germans were forced to retreat after suffering casualties that numbered 775 000. This would impact the success of Operation Overlord greatly as this means that the Germans would have much less soldiers they could use to counter the Allies’ invasion. If all these troops had been used during the Battle of Normandy or used to defend German occupied territory, the Allies could not have possibly invaded Europe so easily as they only numbered 130 000 to 156 000 troops. Just the casualties of Operation Barbarossa numbered 775 000, not counting soldiers that remained in Europe, which greatly outnumbers the Allies. No matter how much of a surprise Operation Overlord took the Nazis by due to the large difference in manpower and fighting force, Operation Overlord would never have led to the Allies victory. Therefore the Germans’ invasion of the soviet Union that caused them so many lives led to their defeat and the success of Operation