Operation Overlord

 We move into the next section, which examines the Normandy campaign in detail.

Before D-Day could even happen, there were enormous preparations. This included working with spies, resistance groups, and operatives throughout occupied Europe, especially France, to pave the way for the invasion. Some tools of the spy are found here.

D-Day would be a combined assault, using army, navy, and air assets together. It would be the biggest seaborne invasion in history.

The post orders of General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, are overhead the entrance. He would later write his memoirs, Crusade In Europe, a compelling read. Inside, footage of the D-Day landings are projected.

Allied forces landed at five beaches on the Normandy coast on June 6th, 1944. Omaha and Utah were taken by the Americans. Sword and Gold were taken by the British. And the Canadians landed at Juno Beach.

Two extraordinary paintings are exhibited together, one showing that day from the air, Invasion Pattern Normandy. It is by Eric Aldwinkle.

The second is D-Day, The Assault, by Orville Fisher, a commissioned war artist who has the distinction of being the only war artist to land on the beaches that day. While all hell was breaking out around him, he took out his pencils and sketch pads and went to work. His finished painting is a vivid one.

Here are both of them.

You may remember this. Canadian actor James Doohan landed on Juno Beach as a lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Artillery that day, taking wounds. Later on he would become best known as Scotty in the Star Trek series and movies.

A medal set for Private Harry Wellington Blakely, who was another who landed on D-Day.