D-Day by the Numbers: Pulling Off the Biggest Amphibious Invasion in History

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The “Grand Old Lady” of the British Navy, H.M.S. Warspite, hurls shells on enemy gun positions.
The “Grand Old Lady” of the British Navy, H.M.S. Warspite, hurls shells on enemy gun positions in the Caen area on June 27, 1944. (AP Photo)

The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, was the largest amphibious invasion in history. The scale of the assault was unlike anything the world had seen before or will most likely ever see again.

By that summer, the Allies had managed to slow the forward march of the powerful German war machine. The invasion was an opportunity to begin driving the Nazis back.

The invasion is unquestionably one of the greatest undertakings in military history. By the numbers, here's what it took to pull this off.

Around 7 million tons of supplies, including 450,000 tons of ammunition, were brought into Britain from the U.S. in preparation for the invasion.

American soldiers and supplies arrive at Normandy.
American soldiers and supplies arrive on the shore of the French coast of German-occupied Normandy during the Allied D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, in World War II. (AP Photo)

Source: The D-Day Center

War Planners Laying Out the Spearhead into Continental Europe Created Around 17 Million Maps to Support the Operation.

This map photo shows a blackened area, at center, on the Normandy beachhead.
This June 1944 file map photo shows a blackened area, at center, on the Normandy beachhead, indicating the approximate area captured by the Allies at the end of four days of battle after D-Day. Continued Allied aerial bombings struck at objectives in the shaded belt. (AP File Photo)

Source: US European Command

Training for D-Day was brutal and, in some cases, deadly. During a live-fire rehearsal exercise in late April 1944, German fast attack craft ambushed Allied forces, killing 749 American troops.

American troops landing on beach in England during Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for the invasion of Nazi-occupied France. (United States Library of Congress)

Source: NBC News

D-Day began just after midnight with Allied air operations. 11,590 Allied aircraft flew 14,674 sorties during the invasion, delivering airborne troops to drop points and bombing enemy positions.

General beachhead area in Normandy, France.
General beachhead area in Normandy, France, showing U.S. troops and equipment on the move, on June 11, 1944. (AP Photo)

Source: Seattle Times

15,500 American and 7,900 British airborne troops jumped into France behind enemy lines before Allied forces stormed the beaches.

U.S. paratroopers fix their static lines before a jump over Normandy on D-Day.
In this photo provided by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, U.S. paratroopers fix their static lines before a jump before dawn over Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in France. (U.S. Army Signal Corps/AP Photo)

Source: The New York Times

6,939 naval vessels, including 1,213 naval combat ships, 4,126 landing ships, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels, manned by 195,700 sailors took part in the beach assault.

U.S. Army medical personnel administer a plasma transfusion to a wounded comrade at Normandy.
U.S. Army medical personnel administer a plasma transfusion to a wounded comrade, who survived when his landing craft went down off the coast of Normandy, France, in the early days of the Allied landing operations in June 1944. (AP Photo)

Source: Department of Defense

132,715 Allied troops, among which were 57,500 Americans and 75,215 British and Canadian forces, landed at five beaches in Normandy.

British troops land on the shore at Normandy on D-Day.
After landing at the shore, these British troops wait for the signal to move forward, during the initial Allied landing operations in Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)

Source: Department of Defense

23,250 US troops fought their way ashore at Utah Beach as 34,250 additional American forces stormed Omaha Beach. 53,815 British troops battled their way onto Gold and Sword beaches while 21,400 Canadian troops took Juno Beach.

Landing craft loaded with assault troops head for the shore of the French coast early on D-Day.
Bouncing about on rough waters, these landing craft loaded with assault troops head for the shore of the French coast early in the dawn of D-Day, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)

Source: The Telegraph

The US casualties for D-Day were 2,499 dead, 3,184 wounded, 1,928 missing and 26 captured. British forces suffered about 2,700 casualties while the Canadian troops had 946.

The American War cemetery of Colleville sur Mer is pictured in Normandy, France.
The American War cemetery of Colleville sur Mer is pictured Tuesday, April 8, 2014, Normandy, France. (David Vincent/AP Photo)

Source: The Telegraph

Total casualties for both sides in the Battle of Normandy (June 6-25, 1944) were approximately 425,000.

Nancy Reagan puts down a bunch of flowers at the grave of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. at the Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach, France, as Pres. Ronald Reagan stands behind her.
Nancy Reagan puts down a bunch of flowers at the grave of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. at the Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach, France, as Pres. Ronald Reagan stands behind her amidst the crosses, June 6, 1984. (Bob Daugherty/AP Photo)

Source: Seattle Times

By the end of June 11 (D+5), 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies had been unloaded in France. By the end of the war, those figures would increase to 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles and 4 million tons of additional supplies.

A U.S. tank unit in England gets ready for D-Day in 1944.
A U.S. tank unit in England gets ready for D-Day in 1944. (AP Photo)

Source: US European Command

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