Seventy years ago, brave men from the UK, the US, Canada, Poland, and France crossed the English Channel and began the liberation of Western Europe. Supported by elements of the French Resistance, Allied paratroopers who had dropped inland during the night before, and the aircraft and naval ships of the Allied nations, these men and their bravery and determination would make Operation Overlord a success.
In the following weeks, harbors would be built on the beaches and more men and materiel moved into France to make good the gains of 6 June, 1944. In April, 1945 the Americans met their Soviet allies at the River Elbe. In May, the war in Europe was over.