2 November
Canadian troops capture Zeebrugge; Belgium is now entirely liberated.
16 December
Hitler launches his Ardennes offensive, the Battle of the Bulge.
1945
7 March
US troops cross the Rhine.
23 April
Soviet troops enter Berlin.
25 April
Soviet and US forces meet at the River Elbe.
30 April
Hitler commits suicide.
4 May
German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and north-west Germany surrender.
7 May
German unconditional surrender to the West.
8 May
German unconditional surrender to the East.
6 August
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
8 August
Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
9 August
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
14 August
Japan agrees to surrender.
2 September
Formal Japanese surrender.
Appendix 3: D-Day and Battle of Normandy Statistics
D-Day numbers killed:
American 2,499;
British 1,641;
Canadian 359;
Norwegian 37;
French 19;
Australian 13;
New Zealand 2;
Belgian 1;
Allied total 4,571
German 4,000 to 9,000
Battle of Normandy casualties
The exact number of casualties sustained during the Battle of Normandy is not known. The intense and chaotic nature of the battle, the length of time and geographical spread have made it impossible to provide numbers with any sense of precision. However, historians have provided estimated numbers of those killed, wounded or missing:
German: 30,000 killed, and 290,000 wounded or missing.
American: 29,000 killed, and 106,000 wounded or missing.
British: 11,000 killed, and 54,000 wounded or missing.
Canadian: 5,000 killed, and 13,000 wounded or missing.
French: 12,000 civilians killed or missing.
Total: 75,000 military personnel killed, and 463,000 wounded or missing, plus 12,000 civilians killed or missing.
The D-Day armada
On D-Day, the Allies landed around 156,115 troops in Normandy:
73,000 American;
61,715 British;
21,400 Canadian.
Number of troops landed per beach:
Utah beach: 23,250
Omaha beach: 34,250
Gold beach: 24,970
Sword beach: 28,845
Juno beach: 21,400
On D-Day, 11,590 aircraft took part. Allied aircraft flew 13,688 sorties, with the loss of 127 aircraft; 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders were used to transport 15,500 US airborne troops and 7,900 British airborne troops across the Channel.
On D-Day, 6,939 Allied ships were included as part of Operation Neptune: 1,213 warships, including seven battleships, 4,126 landing ships and landing craft, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels;
24 warships and 35 merchant ships or auxiliaries were sunk, and 120 vessels damaged.
Assigned to Operation Neptune were 170,701 personnel: USA: 52,889; Britain: 112,824; and 4,988 from other Allied countries.
By the end of 11 June (D + 5), 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies had been landed in France via the five Normandy beaches.
(These figures are estimates only and can vary according to sources. The figures for the D-Day armada are taken from the D-Day Museum website.)
Appendix 4: Normandy Cemeteries
Today, about twenty-seven cemeteries dotted around northern France pay testament to the courage and sacrifice of those who fell on 6 June 1944 and the following weeks. The main cemeteries are as follows:
The Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, situated on a cliff overlooking Omaha beach, contains the graves of 9,387 American servicemen.
The Bayeux War Cemetery contains the graves of 4,648 servicemen, mostly from the Invasion of Normandy.
The Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery contains the graves of 2,782 Canadian servicemen.
La Cambe German Cemetery contains the graves of 21,222 German servicemen.
The Urville Polish Cemetery contains the graves of 696 Polish servicemen.
In addition to the cemeteries of the Battle of Normandy is the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery which contains the graves of 707 Canadian and 234 British servicemen. The cemetery at Dieppe is unique in that it was the only one to be established by Germans stationed in France.
American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, France.
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First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2014
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