Excerpts

What Was D-Day? June 6, 1944 In the dark hours before dawn, a giant war fleet was sailing across the English Channel to France. There were over 5,000 ships and boats of all shapes and sizes. More than 155,000 soldiers were on board--mostly American, British, and Canadian. They were called the Allies. Allies means friends joined together in a cause. Another huge Allied force had just flown over the channel to France, filling 11,000 airplanes. All of these soldiers, on boats and in planes, were risking their lives to invade Europe and end World War II. The Second World War had been raging for five years. It had started in 1939 when Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi (NAHT-see) Germany, invaded Poland. Now more than thirty nations were part of the war. The Germans had overtaken nearly all of mainland Europe. And World War II had become the bloodiest war that ever was. Excerpted from What Was D-Day? by Patricia Brennan Demuth All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.