after inches of planning and build - up , supreme commander dwight eisenhower set first overlord for june 6 , 1944 : some 7000 ships in the british isles set to sea and sailed across the english channel , and , under the leadership of field marshall bernard montgomery , 135 , 000 troops landed and stormed feldmarschal erwin suchet ' s german positions around 80 kilometers of the normandy coast .
The Normandy landings took place in June 1944.