after months of plotting and set - up , supreme commander dwight eisenhower set exercise overlord for june 6 , 1944 : some 7000 warships in the british isles decided to war and raced in the french channels , and , under the authority of field marshall harold jordan , 135 , 000 forces found and stormed feldmarschal erwin masséna ' s german posts around 80 m of the normandy coast .
The Normandy landings took place in June 1944.