To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, two days of events are being held in the UK and France. On Wednesday, King Charles, Queen Camilla, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will attend a ceremony in Portsmouth, while US President Joe Biden has arrived in France for a ceremony honoring the Allied troops who landed on the beaches of German-occupied France.
On June 6, 1944, troops from the UK, US, Canada, and France launched an attack on German forces in Normandy. This operation, known as the D-Day landings or Normandy landings, was the largest combined naval, air, and land military operation ever attempted. It marked the beginning of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-west Europe.
The operation involved up to 7,000 ships and landing craft, delivering 156,000 men to five beaches in Normandy. In the early hours, airborne troops were dropped behind enemy lines to prepare for the main assault. Although German military leaders anticipated an invasion, they mistakenly believed the initial attacks were a diversion.
On D-Day, as many as 4,400 Allied troops died, with around 9,000 wounded or missing. German casualties are estimated between 4,000 and 9,000, and thousands of French civilians also lost their lives.
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