June 6, 1944: A day that changed the world
Robert Capa documented World War II from the bombing of London to fronts in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany. He captured this arresting image of American troops landing at Omaha Beach on D-day, June 6, 1944. “D-Day,” 1944. Robert Capa. Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
The images of D-Day are compelling: grainy black-and-white photos of soldiers on the beaches of Normandy, France, give us an idea of the pitched battle they fought, and the photos evoke “the fog of war.” We get a glimpse of the seemingly insurmountable task they faced (we can also gain more insight from objects in our National Museum of American History collections).
On June 6, 1944, the biggest military seaborne invasion in history occurred, and it was brutal; Operation Neptune saw the landing of the troops on the beaches of Normandy. These beaches were hard won; the German defenses were formidable and the hazards numerous. Soldiers drowned before they reached the beach. Transport boats killed and injured troops. Mines were embedded in the beaches. Machine guns relentlessly fired upon the troops.
The Allied forces did not meet their objectives on the first day of Operation Overlord, the code name for the Battle of Normandy (June 6, 1944–Aug. 30, 1944). Allied casualties on June 6 have been estimated at 10,000 killed, wounded, and missing in action: 6,603 Americans; 2,700 British; and 946 Canadians. French civilian casualties that day were estimated at 3,000.
Yet the Allies prevailed. The troops fought their way from the beaches onward to the eventual liberation of France on August 30, 1944, after more battles and perseverance.
The 80th anniversary of D-Day is an opportunity to remember the importance of what was achieved and to acknowledge those who fought the battles, who served and sacrificed, and, most profoundly, those who gave all. The success of the Allied forces in France and in all the theaters of World War II changed the world.
Frank Blazich, Ph.D., Curator of Military History at the National Museum of American History, discusses the impact and meaning of the day:
The invasion of German-occupied Western Europe is one of the rare moments in history when the world changed. In the aftermath of the invasion and battle, America would thereafter find itself in a position of global dominance and leadership until the surrender of Nazi Germany and into the Cold War.
Without D-Day, the total defeat of Nazi Germany and return of democracy to Western Europe could not be envisioned as inevitable. The forces of the Soviet Union destroyed Nazi offensive capabilities and Hitler’s ambitions for future conquest. But Germany’s defensive abilities continued to inflict losses on the Red Army, and Allied bombing had blunted but not destroyed the Nazi war industries. Joseph Stalin, having carried the burden of the fight with Nazism since 1941, advocated repeatedly for a second front to destroy any future threat to the Soviet Union. If Germany, however, could prevent a two-front war, it had a theoretical chance to force a negotiated settlement with Stalin, thereby freeing all remaining German forces to thwart further military actions by the West and further consolidate its grip on its conquered lands.
Through D-Day, the forces of the western democracies returned to the European continent and commenced the ultimate destruction of the Third Reich. From this one day in June 1944, Americans stepped foot on French soil and what would become the latter half of the 20th century and the foundation of the international world that exists to this present day.
About Frank Blazich Jr.
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Frank Blazich Jr. is a curator of Military History at the National Museum of American History. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he holds a doctorate in modern American history from The Ohio State University (2013). In January 2017, he assumed his current position as curator of modern military history. His first edited book, Bataan Survivor: A POW’s Account of Japanese Captivity in World War II, was published by the University of Missouri Press in February 2017. He most recent book, An Honorable Place in American Air Power: Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrol Operations, 1942–1943, was published by Air University Press in December 2020. Blazich received the Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize in 2022 for his article, “Notre Cher Ami: The Enduring Myth and Memory of a Humble Pigeon.”
