From Norway to Spain, the Germans erected an impassable fortress, the Atlantic Wall. However, the allies decided to cross it, in 1943, in the greatest secrecy, during a meeting in Tehran.
In France, nearly 450,000 workers, volunteers or forced, have built these thousands of Blockhaus at the top of the cliffs, on the beaches, along the ports. The dunes have been trapped by 6 million mines in addition to kilometers of barbed wire. At the top of the beaches, the guns are posted. The hinterland is covered with piles of up to 3 meters, mined, to prevent paratroopers from landing.
They are three to validate the Normandy Landing operation that day: Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt. The French Charles de Gaulle is not in the secret. He will be warned at the last minute of the offense.
England will turn into a real arsenal. The Americans are transferring the fighters and stocks of equipment, their ships tracked by German submarines. 4,300,000 soldiers are grouped, 269 million tons of material are delivered. The factories turn day and night, the population relays itself in the name of the war effort. At the end of May 44, 16,000 aircraft were delivered, 7,000 warships or merchant ships, thousands of tanks, jeeps, hundreds of thousands of weapons and ammunition.
Marshal Rommel knows that a landing is imminent. He reminded himself: "The war will be won or lost on the beaches, the first 24 hours will be decisive, it will be the longest day".
That day, the Allies dubbed it D Day, the day of the impossible, the day they say the beginning of the victory. The biggest secret is knowing where and when it will take place.