page_title: Military career of Dwight D. Eisenhower
section_title: Operation Overlord
hierarchical_section_title: Military career of Dwight D. Eisenhower / World War II / Operations in Western Europe, 1944–1945 / Operation Overlord
caption_attribution_description: English: General Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses American paratroopers prior to D-Day. "Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the Day. 'Full victory-nothing else' to paratroopers in England, just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe." Eisenhower is meeting with US Co. E, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (Strike) of the 101st Airborne Division, photo taken at Greenham Common Airfield in England about 8:30 p.m. on June 5, 1944. The General was talking about fly fishing with his men as he always did before a stressful operation. Memoir by Lt Wallace C. Strobel about this photo (seen wearing the number 23 around his neck): http://www.historyaddict.com/Ike502nd.html
context_page_description: The military career of Dwight D. Eisenhower began in June 1911, when Eisenhower took the oath as a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from West Point and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in June 1915, in the same class as Omar Bradley. He rose through the ranks over the next thirty years and became one of the most important Allied generals of World War II, being promoted to General of the Army in 1944. Eisenhower retired from the military after winning the 1952 presidential election, though his rank as General of the Army was restored by an act of Congress in March 1961.
  After graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1915, Eisenhower was assigned to the 19th Infantry Regiment at Fort Sam Houston. He served in the continental United States throughout World War I, ending the war as the commander of a battalion that trained tank crews. After the war, he served as part of a Transcontinental Motor Convoy that traveled across the continental United States. In 1922, he was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone, where he served under General Fox Conner.
context_section_description: In December 1943, President Roosevelt decided that Eisenhower—not Marshall—would lead Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Western Europe. Roosevelt believed that Eisenhower's experience leading multinational and amphibious operations made him well qualified for the position, and he was unwilling to lose Marshall as chief of staff. Eisenhower retained Smith as his chief of staff, chose Air Chief Marshal Tedder as his deputy, and made Admiral Bertram Ramsay and General John C. H. Lee the respective heads of naval operations and logistics in the theater. At the insistence of Churchill and the Combined Chiefs of Staff, he selected General Montgomery as commander of ground forces and Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory as the commander of air forces in the theater. Prioritizing individuals with recent battle experience, he selected Bradley as the senior American field commander and General Spaatz as the head of the American strategic air force. Despite the earlier slapping incidents, Patton was chosen to command the Third Army.
  Eisenhower, as well as the officers and troops under him, had learned valuable lessons in their previous operations, preparing them for the most difficult campaign against the Germans—a beach landing assault in northern France. The starting point for the operation had been developed by a planning group led by General Frederick E. Morgan; the plan called for a landing in Normandy rather than at Pas-de-Calais, which was closer to Britain but was more heavily defended. Eisenhower and Montgomery jointly agreed to alter the plan in several ways, placing a greater emphasis on air superiority, increasing the number of soldiers committed to the operation, and establishing separate American and British landing zones across a wider area than had been originally envisioned. Eisenhower also helped secure de Gaulle's participation in the landing, partly by avoiding a diplomatic incident stemming from the arrest of several former Vichy officials who had assisted the Allies. Eisenhower believed that de Gaulle's cooperation was critical, not only for military operations but also for providing a government in France.
  Drawing on the experience of Operation Avalanche, Eisenhower noted that it was "vital that the entire sum of our assault power, including the two Strategic Air Forces, be available for use during the critical stages of the attack." The final landing plan, largely devised by Montgomery, called for nine divisions to land at five zones. Three divisions of airborne infantry would land behind the enemy lines in order to seize vital roads and bridges. Originally scheduled for May 1944, Operation Overlord was pushed back a month, largely due to landing craft shortages. For the same reason, Operation Dragoon, the Allied landing in Southern France, would take place in August 1944 rather than contemporaneously with Overlord, as had originally been planned. Eisenhower insisted that the British give him exclusive command over all strategic air forces to facilitate the landing, to the point of threatening to resign unless Churchill relented, which he did.
  High winds delayed Operation Overlord by a day, but Eisenhower chose to take advantage of a break in the weather and ordered the Normandy landings to take place on June 6, 1944. The timing and location of the landings surprised the Germans, and they failed to reinforce the beachheads in a timely manner. Allied forces quickly secured four of the five landing zones, though the Germans put up a strong defense of Omaha Beach. The Allies consolidated control of the landing zones and launched the next phase of the operation, capturing the port of Cherbourg by the end of June. By the end of July, over 1.5 million Allied soldiers and over 300,000 vehicles had landed in Normandy. The Allies repulsed a German counter-attack at the Battle of the Falaise Pocket, bringing a close to the fighting in Normandy. Meanwhile, the Operation Dragoon landings were successful, as the Allies captured Marseille and began moving north. On the Eastern Front, the Soviet Union launched
caption: Eisenhower speaks with men of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division, on June 5, 1944, the day before the D-Day invasion.
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