Normandy D Day Invasion Beaches

There were five Normandy beaches on which the Allies landed on June 6, 1944 during the Normandy D-Day invasion.

From West to East, these are Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, Gold Beach, Sword Beach, and Juno Beach. Here are some vital statistics related to the five beaches.

Utah Beach: American troops landed here. It is located near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont on the map.

Omaha Beach: American troops landed on this 5 mile long beach. The Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach was located below Vierville-sur-Mer and is where the U.S. Army 29th Division 116th Infantry, and 2nd and 5th Rangers Battalions landed there on D-Day. It stretched to St. Laurent sur Mer which is directly below the American Cemetery. It was important for the Americans to take this area in order to link up with British troops who landed to the east at Gold Beach and with the Americans who landed to the west at Utah Beach.

Gold Beach: British troops landed here. This is in Arromanches where Churchill's Mulberry Harbor was built

Sword Beach: British troops landed here. It is located near Ouistreham.

Juno Beach: Canadian and British troops landed here. It is located near Courseulles-sur-Mer.

Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure includes over 209,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 dead amongst the ground forces and 16,714 deaths among the Allied air forces. Of the Allied casualties, 83,045 were from 21st Army Group (British, Canadian and Polish ground forces), 125,847 from the US ground forces. The losses of the German forces during the Battle of Normandy can only be estimated. Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded. The Allies also captured 200,000 prisoners of war. During the fighting around the Falaise Pocket (August 1944) alone, the Germans suffered losses of around 90,000, including prisoners.

Today, twenty-seven war cemeteries hold the remains of over 110,000 dead from both sides: 77,866 German, 9386 American, 17,769 British, 5002 Canadian, and 650 Poles.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians were killed, mainly as a result of Allied bombing. Thousands more fled their homes to escape the fighting.

A Paris Travel offers group Normandy tours and private Normandy tours to tour the D-Day Landing Beaches.

Source: Wikipedia