Men you are about to take part in a great invasion. Some of you won't come back, some of you will. I want you to fight hard and proud for your country This is what some of our soldiers were told before they went into battle on June 6, 1944. Everyone knows what happened that day, we invaded France, but what happened before? What lead to the attack on the French coast against the Germans? Some important events took place before the invasion of Normandy. To fully understand those events, you must analyze them in; the objects set for D-Day, the preparations that took place, and the bombardment of the Germans around the wall.
Before Operation Overload could take place, objectives for the day had to be set. There were two main goals set by Allied leaders. The first of those was to crush through the Atlantic Wall and retake France. The Atlantic Wall went under construction in December of 1941, under the order of Hitler. The Atlantic Wall was constructed to provide a defense in France against an Allied invasion. The main defense would consist of German troops in concrete bunkers with high-powered guns. Mines and obstacles were to be laid along and in the water to prevent amphibious attacks.
By the day of the invasion, the Atlantic Wall was not complete, but it was operational. 12,000 of the 15,000 planned fortifications were completed. 13 million tons of concrete had been used from Cherbourg to Pas de Calais. 500,000 beach obstacles had been built and 6.5 million mines had been laid. .
The second main objective was to start an offensive against Germany. This offensive hoped to bring about the end of World War II in Europe. This was needed because the Allies were being stretched out on two fronts; one in Europe, the other in the Pacific.
For all the objectives of D-Day to succeed, certain preparations had to be made for the invasion of the French Coast. The first of these preparations was the construction of Operation Fortitude.