Ten fascinating facts on the 70th anniversary of D-Day

U.S. troops storm Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944
On June 6, 1944, about 150,000 troops stormed the beaches of France in the epic D-Day invasion that
proved pivotal to the Allied war effort. But how did the idea originate and how did the Allies pull off such a huge task?
The numbers involved in the Normandy landings are still staggering today, and unlikely to be seen again in a modern age of combat. Here are a few of the numbers, and some fascinating facts about this historic event.

1. What does D-Day mean anyway? That remains a topic of debate today, since the operation was cloaked in secrecy. One prominent theory is that the word D-Day originated in a World War I tradition of assigning generic words like D-Day and H-Hour to events with unassigned dates. Another is that the “D” stands for the word “departed,” as in “departed date.”

2. The invading force by sea and air was staggering. The D-Day attack consisted or more than 150,000 personnel coming across the English Channel by sea and air, and about 100,000 troops were involved in the invasion on June 6.

3. The cost of the invasion was high. Of the 100,000 or so fighters in the invading force, about 9,000 were killed or wounded on June 6, 1944.

4. How rare is a major amphibious attack? Throughout history, attacks over water were a feature of many wars and campaigns, but not on the scale of the D-Day invasion. The Spanish Armada in 1588 that failed to invade England had about 130 ships and a potential 55,000 fighters. The D-Day force had about 5,000 vessels involved in various roles.