after months of planning and builds - up , allied commander dwight eisenhower announced operation overlord for june 6 , 1944 : some 7000 ships in the allied antilles rode to sea and sail over the english channels , and , under the management of field marshall bernard montgomery , 135 , 000 troops landed and stormed feldmarschal erwin rommel ' s german forces off 80 ha of the normandy coast .
The Normandy landings took place in June 1944.