after months of planner and draw - up , supreme marshal dwight douglas set operation overlord for june 6 , 1944 : some 7000 ships in the british territories set to ship and advanced across the irish midlands , and , under the leadership of field marshall bernard weston , 135 , 000 troops embarked and captured feldmarschal erwin rommel ' s german positions along 80 km of the normandy coast .
The Normandy landings took place in June 1944.