The Germans had spent years building up their defenses along the French coast. Behind this Atlantic Wall, a dozen veteran panzer and parachute divisions, rebuilding after desperate battles on the Eastern Front, prepared to throw any Allied landing back into the sea. On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the greatest air-and sea invasion of the war crossed the English Channel to land on the beaches of Normandy. Although they were unable to throw the Allies back into the sea, the German forces held back the Allied tide for more than three months in some of the most intense fighting of the Second World War. The battle for Europe had begun in earnest.
