Normandy landings

The Normandy landings, known as D-Day, were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, during the Second World War. (PROSE: Trace Memory)

Background
Nazi Germany's Blitzkrieg campaign in May 1940 swept aside all resistance posed by the United Kingdom, France and smaller Western European states. An eleventh hour evacuation was able to rescue the British Army from destruction by the Wehrmacht at Dunkirk, and Adolf Hitler was also persuaded not to follow up the victory with the planned invasion of England. However, in the short term, the Western Front was brought to close, with the Germans achieving mastery of occupied Europe which they proceeded to build into a fortress, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus) which included coastal defences. (PROSE: Just War)

Preparations
After the United States of America entered the war, US Army soldiers began arriving in Britain. (PROSE: Amorality Tale) Some of them were diverted to other theatres, to aid in the fighting in North Africa and the subsequent campaign in Italy. (PROSE: Autumn Mist)

As a result of security concerns on the island of Guernsey, following the failure of the Hartung Project on 6 March 1941, the Germans committed significant time and resources to fortifying the Channel Islands at the cost of the mainland in France. The latter was left relatively undefended and was vulnerable to invasion. The Seventh Doctor hypothesised that without such a diversion of the Germans' efforts and resources, the Allied invasion may not have been as successful as it ultimately was. (PROSE: Just War)

By May 1944, preparations were proceeding apace for the planned landings in Normandy. An Allied disinformation campaign aimed to trick the Germans into believing that the invasion would fall on the Pas de Calais, in order to divert the German 15th Army away from Normandy. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)

In the same month, the Americans, under the overall command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, were stationed in various military bases ahead of the invasion. One base, commanded by General Michael Heyman, was infiltrated by the shapeshifting Valbrects, led by Reginta, who began replacing all the soldiers. The Valbrects sought to use the war as an opportunity to take control of the Earth, with it vast amounts of resources and slaves. The Twelfth Doctor exposed the infiltration and Colonel Preston helped lead a defence of the base. The Valbrects were eventually forced to leave Earth when the Doctor threatened to blow up their ship with an American bridge-buster bomb. (PROSE: Base of Operations)

When the Free France Army arrived in Britain in preparation for the Normandy landings, the first thing that they did was hold a memorial service for Joan of Arc. (AUDIO: State of Emergency)

On 17 May, Flight Lieutenant Carl Smithson of the Royal Air Force shot down a Vvormak ship over the village of Turelhampton in Dorset. The craft was unidentified, and the RAF feared that it could be a new German weapon which threatened the deception campaign with less than a month to go before the critical invasion. Turelhampton was evacuated and the British Army locked the village under heavy guard and hushed up the incident, although a few of the soldiers gathered unauthorised "souvenirs" for themselves. Gerrard Lassiter acquired the Scrying Glass. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)

The landings
The landings commenced on 6 June, with minesweepers clearing out potential hazards in the sea lanes. They were followed by submarines and then three British battleships. The landing took place across numerous beaches along the coast. (PROSE: The Taint)

Stephen Mulryne, who later became the British Minister of Defence, participated in the Normandy landings, (AUDIO: 1963: The Assassination Games) as did Paul Reynish, the experimental ageless British soldier. (HOMEVID: When to Die) Gerrard Lassiter landed on the beach with the Scrying Glass still in his possession. He believed it to be a good luck charm which showed him the future. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)

At the age of 15, Kenneth James Valentine of the Royal Dragoon Guards landed at Sword Beach with the Twenty Seventh Armoured Brigade. He was wounded in combat and was sent back to Britain where he spent the rest of the war. (PROSE: Trace Memory)

John Benton's father was killed during the landings. (HOMEVID: Wartime) He was among the 9,000 allied troops killed or wounded by the time the fighting ended. (PROSE: The Taint)

The success of the landings earned the Allies a foothold in France once more after the dark days of 1940. (AUDIO: Scorched Earth) The Allies continued to fight off the Germans and advance further inland. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass) By 5 July ("D-Day Plus 21"), British and American troops and vehicles were still coming into France. The landings instilled a sense that the end of the war was now in sight and the Allies became intent on pushing onward to Paris, and to Berlin. (AUDIO: Scorched Earth)

Legacy
The Third Doctor mockingly asked Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart if he was planning to re-run the D-Day landings, in response to UNIT's military HQ set up in the private parlour of The Devil's Footprint at Hob's Haven. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion)

Saving Private Ryan was a film which took place during the landings. (AUDIO: Scorched Earth)

In the late 22nd century, members of the 101st Airborne on Farside Station experienced a simulacrum of the Normandy landings as part of a training scenario. (PROSE: Fear Itself)

Behind the scenes

 * Richard Todd, who played Sanders in the television story Kinda, was one of the first Allied troops to arrive in Normandy on D-Day. Before his work on Doctor Who, he played in , the war epic dramatisating the events of the Normandy landings.