Jour J - D Day. Some background information.

September 1939— Germany invades Poland and France and England declare war on Germany

June 1940—Germany invades France and overcomes the French in 6 weeks.  Germany ‘occupies’ the northern part of France, and the French government ‘collaborates’ with Germany so that it can  govern the southern ‘free zone’.  Later in the war, Germany occupies the whole of the country.

Some French people escape France and  join forces with the Allies. Some French join  ‘Resistance’ movements to help the Allies by passing on information through networks or sabotaging German operations.

The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations on 6 June 1944 (termed D-Day or ‘Jour-J) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the invasion of German-occupied western Europe, led to the restoration of the French Republic and contributed to an Allied victory in the war.

Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal, but postponing would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the invasion planners set conditions regarding the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that meant only a few days in each month were deemed suitable. Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.