Commemorations started in Portsmouth in the UK yesterday, the departure point for much of the invasion fleet. Events will continue today in Normandy with world leaders, veterans and thousands of members of the public expected to honor the allied soldiers who risked and lost their lives during the invasion.
Considering the scale of the operation, Statista has created a special infographic to show some of the key facts behind Operation Overlord 75 years on.
You will find more infographics at Statista
More than 150,000 allied troops landed by sea and air in Normandy and while precise casualty figures are controversial, the U.S. National D-Day Memorial Foundation puts the number killed on June 6th at 4,414. Total German casualty numbers are unknown but are thought to be between 4,000 and 9,000 killed, wounded or missing.
On the morning of June 6, 1944, Allied forces staged an enormous assault on German positions on the beaches of Normandy, France. The invasion is often known by the famous nickname “D-Day,” yet few people know the origin of the term or what, if anything, the “D” stood for. Most argue it was merely a redundancy that also meant “day,” but others have proposed everything from “departure” to “decision” to “doomsday.”
According to the U.S. military, “D-Day” was an Army designation used to indicate the start date for specific field operations. In this case, the “D” in D-Day doesn’t actually stand for anything—it’s merely an alliterative placeholder used to designate a particular day on the calendar.
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