Following the Fall of France, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill vowed to return to continental Europe and liberate the Nazi German-occupied nations.

However, with resources for an invasion lacking, it was postponed[15] but planning was undertaken that in the event of the German position in western Europe becoming critically weakened or the Soviet Union's situation becoming dire, forces could be landed in France; Operation Sledgehammer.

[16] In August 1942, Canadian and British forces attempted an abortive landing—Operation Jubilee—at the Calais port-town of Dieppe; the landing was designed to test the feasibility of a cross-channel invasion.

[17] The decision to prosecute the Battle of the Atlantic to its closure, the lack of landing craft,[18] invading Sicily in July 1943, and Italy in September following the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa in May 1943[19] resulted in the postponement of any assault on northern Europe till 1944.

[18] Having succeeded in opening up an offensive front in southern Europe, gaining valuable experience in amphibious assaults and inland fighting, Allied planners returned to the plans to invade Northern France.

To Major General Tom Rennie's 3rd Infantry Division fell the task of assaulting the beaches and seizing the main British objective on D-Day, the historic Norman city of Caen.

[33] Two infantry battalions supported by DD tanks would lead the assault followed up by the commandos and the rest of the division;[34] the landing was due to start at 07:25 hours.

[35] On 23 March 1942, Führer Directive Number 40 called for the official creation of the Atlantic Wall—a line of concrete gun emplacements, machine-gun nests, minefields and beach obstacles stretching along the French coast.

[36] While the German Army had seen its strength and morale heavily depleted by campaigns in Russia, North Africa and Italy, it remained a powerful fighting force.

[40][41] The beachfront itself, being generally flat and exposed, was guarded by a few scattered bunkers, with machine gun and sniper posts in some of the holiday homes and tourist facilities lining the shore.

[4] In addition, positioned east of the River Orne was the Merville Gun Battery, containing four Czechoslovakian 100 mm howitzers which were within range of Sword and the invasion fleet.

[42][43] Between Cherbourg and the River Seine there were a total of 32 batteries capable of firing on to the five invasion beaches; half of them were positioned in casemates of 6-foot (1.8 m) reinforced concrete.

[44] In March 1942, the 352nd Infantry Division assumed control of the western Calvados coast, leaving the 716th in position north of Caen covering an 8-mile (13 km) stretch of coastline.

[4] Further inland, Generalleutnant's Edgar Feuchtinger's 16,297 strong 21st Panzer Division had been positioned on both sides of the River Orne around Caen to provide an immediate counter-attack force should a landing take place.

These were the amphibious DD tanks of the 13th/18th Hussars; they were followed closely by the 8th Infantry Brigade, and by Royal Engineers in AVREs and the various odd-looking, specialized vehicles that had been nicknamed 'Hobart's funnies'.

[61] British and French commandos encountered tough resistance in the seaside town of Ouistreham, on Sword's eastern extremity, but were able to clear it of enemy strongpoints.

[60] On the western flank of Sword, commandos of the 4th Special Service Brigade advanced to secure Lion-sur-Mer and meet Canadian forces at Juno Beach but encountered strong resistance and were pinned down by heavy fire for several hours.

Around the main landing area, the men of the 3rd Infantry Division had secured Hermanville-sur-Mer by 10:00, but were finding tougher going as they slowly fought their way up Périers Ridge and moved inland.

Troops of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry continued down the Hermanville-Caen road, reaching Biéville-Beuville, close to Caen, but were supported by only a few self-propelled guns, their flanks exposed.

When 250 gliders of the British 6th Airlanding Brigade overflew their positions, on their way to reinforce the Orne bridgehead in Operation Mallard, the Germans, believing they were about to be cut off, retired.

[69][70] On 7 June, Operation Perch, a pincer attack by the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division and XXX Corps was launched to encircle Caen from the east and west flanks.