D-Day: 10 things you might not know about the Normandy invasion.

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▼ On 6 June 1944, British, US and Canadian forces invaded the coast of Normandy in northern France.
The landings were the first stage of Operation Overlord - the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe - and aimed to bring an end to World War Two.
By night-time, around 156,000 Allied troops had arrived in Normandy, despite challenging weather and fierce German defences.
At the end of D-Day, the Allies had established a foothold in France and within 11 months Nazi Germany was defeated.
Here are 10 things you may not have known about the operation:
1. Photography appeal
As early as 1942, the BBC launched a bogus appeal for photographs and postcards from the coast of Europe, from Norway to the Pyrenees.
It was actually a way of gathering  intelligence on suitable landing beachesand Normandy was settled on.
Millions of photos ended up being sent to the War Office and, with the help of the French Resistance and air reconnaissance, military bosses were able to target the best landing spots for D-Day.
2. Phantom army
The Allies put a lot of effort into trying to convince the Germans that the invasion  was going to be near Calais, not Normandy.
They invented phantom field armies based in Kent as part of their D-Day deception plan, named Operation Fortitude.
They built dummy equipment - including inflatable tanks - parachuted dummies, used double agents and released controlled leaks of misinformation which led the Germans to believe the Allies were going to invade via the Pas-de-Calais and Norway.
The Germans took the bait so much that even after D-Day they held many of their best troops in the Calais area expecting a second invasion.
3. Two million troops
By 1944 more than two million troops from more than 12 countrieswere in Britain preparing for the invasion.
On D-Day, Allied forces consisted primarily of US, British and Canadian troops but also included Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Rhodesian [present-day Zimbabwe] and Polish naval, air and ground support.
4. Weather watching
The officers organising the operation were very particular about the timing of D-Day.
They wanted a full moon with a spring tide so they could land at dawn when the tide was about half way in - but those kind of conditions meant there were only a few days that could work.
They chose to invade on 5 June, but ended up delaying by 24 hours because of bad weather.
It was Group Captain James Martin Stagg who made the vital forecast and persuaded General Eisenhower to change the date.
5. Rommel's shoes
In fact, the forecast was so bad that the German commander in Normandy, Erwin Rommel, felt so sure there wouldn't be an invasion he went home to give his wife a  pair of shoes for her 50th birthday.
He was in Germany when the news came of the invasion. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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Jbnast

Great post, with the anniversary just happening in the last two weeks.