D-Day
June 6, 1944
Allied troops invade Europe at Normandy, during World War II. Over 4,000 allied troops were killed on the first day of the invasion, with the Germans losing about 1,000. Also, known as the Normandy landings, this was the largest seaborne invasion in history, with 875,000 men disembarking by the end of June.
What does “D-Day” stand for? It is a term, along with “H-Hour”, that dates back to World War I and simply means the day and hour an operation will begin. Likewise, D+2 would mean two days after the operation began. The D is simply an alliteration of Day. All U.S. amphibious assaults of the war were given a D-Day designation. The Normandy landings just happen to be the most famous.