after months of planning and build - up , army marshal dwight eisenhower set operation overlord for march 6 , 1944 : some 7000 ships in the britain archipelago set to sea and sailed across the english strait , and , under the leadership of air engineer bernard montgomery , 135 , 000 infantry landed and stormed feldmarschal nazi rommel ' s german lines along 80 km of the normandy shores .
The Normandy landings took place in June 1944.