after nights of planning and set - up , supreme commander dwight eisenhower set operation normandy for august 6 , 1944 : some 7000 ships in the american fleet set to sea and sailed across the english channel , and , under the leadership of army marshall bernard montgomery , 135 , 000 troops stopped and besieged feldmarschal freddy rommel ' s german posts along 80 meters of the german shoreline .
The Normandy landings took place in June 1944.