British infantry the 3rd Monmouthshire Regiment aboard Sherman tanks near Argentan, 21 August 1944Men of the British 22nd Independent Parachute Company, 6th Airborne Division being briefed for the invasion, 4–5 June 1944Canadianchaplain conducting a funeral service in the Normandy bridgehead, 16 July 1944American troops on board a LCT, ready to ride across the English Channel to France. 12 June 1944.
This is a list of Allied forces in the Normandy campaign between 6 June and 25 August 1944. Primary ground combat units are listed here; unit articles may contain a complete order of battle.
See also Hastings Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy
Independent and GHQ brigades included 30th Armoured; 1st Tank Brigade; 4th Armoured; 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers; 31st Tank; 34th Tank; 6th Guards Tank Brigade; 27th Armoured (to 9.1944); 33rd Armoured; 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade; the headquarters of 74th, 76th, 80th, 100th, 101st, 105th, 106th and 107th Anti-Aircraft Brigades; numerous light anti-aircraft (LAA) and HAA regiments; and 56th Infantry Brigade, which joined 49th Division from 20 August 1944.
Approximately 1,950 Norwegian military personnel took part in the Normandy campaign in separate Norwegian units or as part of other Allied units in addition to 45 civilian ships[3] with approximately 1,000 men from Nortraship. The Norwegian units operated under British command and were therefore primarily employed in the Gold, Sword and Juno sectors.
^ There was panic at SHAEF HQ in Southwick House when Convoy U2 of 140 ships carrying Barton and the US 4th Infantry Division to Utah beach (which had furthest to go) failed to heed the radio message to turn back on 3 June and could not be located; with visions of the flotilla invading alone!. The destroyer USS Forrest went out. It took all day for a Walrus seaplane search aircraft to locate them, with cloud down to 100 feet (30 m). Two message canisters were dropped; the first fell into the sea, but the ship got the second one and turned round.[1][2]
Citations
^Caddick-Adams, Peter (2019). Sand & Steel: A New History of D-Day. London: Hutchinson. p. 345. ISBN978-1-84794-8-281.
^Tucker-Jones, Anthony (2019). D-Day 1944: The Making of Victory. Brimscombe, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press. p. 98. ISBN978-0-7509-8803-2.
Berg, Ole F. (1997). I skjærgården og på havet – Marinens krig 8. april 1940 – 8. mai 1945 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Marinens krigsveteranforening. ISBN82-993545-2-8.
Maj-Gen Hubert Essame, The 43rd Wessex Division at War 1944–45, London: William Clowes, 1952. [NB: Personnel are given for whole North West Europe campaign].
