after months of planning and draw - up , supreme commander harold eisenhower set operations overlord for january 6 , 1944 : some 7000 ships in the united isles set to sea and sailed across the spanish channel , and , under the leadership of field marshall ira montgomery , 135 , 000 troops landing and besieged feldmarschal erwin rommel ' s allied forts along 80 km of the normandy coast .
The Normandy landings took place in June 1944.