page_title: Normandy landings
section_title: British and Canadian zones
hierarchical_section_title: Normandy landings / Allied order of battle / British and Canadian zones
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Marine Commandos attached to 3rd Division move inland from Sword Beach on the Normandy coast, 6 June 1944. Royal Marine Commandos attached to 3rd Division for the assault on Sword Beach move inland, 6 June 1944. A Churchill bridgelayer can be seen in the background.
context_page_description: The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
  Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal, and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that meant only a few days each month were deemed suitable. Adolf Hitler placed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.
context_section_description: Commander, Second Army (Britain and Canada): Lieutenant General Sir Miles Dempsey
  Overall, the Second Army contingent consisted of 83,115 men, 61,715 of them British. The nominally British air and naval support units included a large number of personnel from Allied nations, including several RAF squadrons manned almost exclusively by overseas air crew. For example, the Australian contribution to the operation included a regular Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron, nine Article XV squadrons, and hundreds of personnel posted to RAF units and RN warships. The RAF supplied two-thirds of the aircraft involved in the invasion.
  Gold Beach
   XXX Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Gerard Bucknall
   50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division: Major General D.A.H. Graham
  Juno Beach
   British I Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General John Crocker
   3rd Canadian Division: Major General Rod Keller
  Sword Beach
   British I Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General John Crocker
   3rd Infantry Division: Major General Tom Rennie
   6th Airborne Division: Major General R.N. Gale
   79th Armoured Division: Major General Percy Hobart provided specialised armoured vehicles which supported the landings on all beaches in Second Army's sector.
caption: Royal Marine Commandos attached to 3rd Infantry Division move inland from Sword Beach, 6 June 1944
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