D-Day 70 Years Ago: Eisenhower’s Address to the Troops

It was June 6th, 1944, and more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily fortified French coast, attacking the German stranglehold on Europe.

Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 more troops to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s Nazi army.