Читать книгу Remembering D-day: Personal Histories of Everyday Heroes - Martin Bowman - Страница 65

More than 130,000 men are landed from the sea and over 20,000 men from the air in the first 24 hours. Americans suffer over 6,000 casualties. Casualties in British 2nd Armoured amount to 4,000 from a force of 82,000.

The end of D-Day establishes almost 155,000 Allied troops across nearly 80 square miles of France: 55,000 Americans are ashore, plus 15,500 who have parachuted or glided across the Channel. Anglo–American co-operation had secured a bridgehead in Normandy.

One out of every 11 Americans who has taken part in the cross-Channel invasion is dead, missing or wounded. There are 6,000 American casualties (of whom 700 are airborne troops): more than half the total Allied casualties on the day. By the end of July the Americans are the majority Allied force in France with 980,000 troops compared with 660,000 British. By VE-Day three million US troops are fighting on the continent.

As night falls on D-Day all five beachheads are established and 150,000 Allied troops are on French soil along a 50-mile front. 55,000 American and 75,215 British and Canadian troops come ashore during D-Day. In the first six days over 300,000 men, 54,000 vehicles, and 104,000 tons of stores are unloaded.