1944
Normandy Landings (D-Day)
The setting
Normandy coast, France (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword beaches)
Roughly 80 km of Channel coastline: open tidal sand beaches backed by seawalls, dunes, bluffs (notably the heights above Omaha), and inland bocage hedgerow country; German Atlantic Wall obstacles, mines and strongpoints studded the foreshore.
Reveal the outcome
Recorded sideAllies (United States, United Kingdom, Canada and other Allied forces)
Recorded resultDecisive victory; all five beachheads established and later linked
Allied forces established beachheads across five sectors (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword), opening the Western Front in France. (Montgomery commanded Allied ground forces; Patton's Third Army became operational later in the campaign.)
How the atlas explains it
Strategic deception (Operation Fortitude) convinced German command the main blow would fall at Pas-de-Calais, holding reserves including armor away from Normandy. Total naval and air supremacy isolated the beachhead, suppressed defenses and interdicted reinforcement, while combined-arms assault forces, airborne flank seizures and specialized armor overcame the strongpoints despite heavy losses at Omaha.
What followed
Opened the Western Front in Northwest Europe and began the liberation of France; the largest amphibious invasion in history and a strategic turning point against Nazi Germany.