Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images
- The scale of the Allied invasion was unlike anything the world had seen before or will most likely ever see again.
- By that summer, the Allies had managed to slow the forward march of the powerful German war machine, which was also struggling against Russian forces on the eastern front.
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The Allied invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 was the largest amphibious invasion in history. The scale of the assault was unlike anything the world had seen before or will most likely ever see again.
By that summer, the Allies had managed to slow the forward march of the powerful German war machine. The invasion was an opportunity to begin driving the Nazis back.
The invasion is unquestionably one of the greatest undertakings in military history. By the numbers, here’s what it took to pull this off.
Around 7 million tons of supplies, including 450,000 tons of ammunition, were brought into Britain from the US in preparation for the invasion.
David E. Scherman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Source: The D-Day Center
War planners laying out the spearhead into continental Europe created around 17 million maps to support the operation.
Getty Images
Source: US European Command
Training for D-Day was brutal and, in some cases, deadly. During a live-fire rehearsal exercise in late April 1944, German fast attack craft ambushed Allied forces, killing 749 American troops.
United States Library of Congress
Source: NBC News
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Source: Business Insider – rpickrell@businessinsider.com (Ryan Pickrell)