What does Normandy mean?

English name: Normandie

(1) the ancient name. At the beginning of the 9th century, Normans from northern Europe invaded modern France from the sea and established a principality in the10th century. Occupy Normandy Peninsula, south of the lower reaches of the Seine River and east of Paris. 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, crossed the sea to conquer Britain and was crowned king of England. From then on, Normandy became a vassal of Britain in France. From the end of 12 century to the beginning of 13 century, France and Britain fought for a long time. 1204, King Philip II of France announced that he would deprive Britain of all its territory in France, Normandy and other areas, and then merge it into France.

(2) the name of the old province in northwest France. It is bordered by the Lamanche Channel (English Channel) in the north. Include Meng Qi, Calva, Earl, seine-maritime and Orn. It covers an area of 30 thousand square kilometers. The population is about 3 million (1982). There are many plains along the coast and in the north, and the hills in the south fluctuate; The coastline is flat and sandy. The climate is mild and humid. Grow grains and vegetables. Dairy products and meat animal husbandry are developed, and orchard industry is also very important. There are ports such as le havre, Rouen and Cherbourg. The Cotan Peninsula, which protrudes between the Gulf of Seine and the Gulf of Saint Malo, is the place where 1944 allied forces landed during World War II.

Normandy is located between Paris, France and the seaside, with convenient road and rail transportation, less than 2 hours away from Paris International Airport. Normandy people are good at architecture, so castles, churches and monasteries of various styles can be seen everywhere in Normandy.

In A.D. 1944, the allied landing on Normandy beach made it famous. Normandy landing was the largest amphibious landing campaign in the history of the world, which laid the foundation for opening up the second battlefield in Europe and played an important role in accelerating the collapse of fascist Germany and the post-war situation in Europe.

Within a month, the Allies established a solid front in the western European continent, extending from Caen to Saint Laurent, and all allied landing troops had landed in Normandy. The Normandy landing was the most crucial battle in World War II, which was of decisive significance for opening up the second battlefield in Western Europe.

1944 1 year1October 2 1 day, Eisenhower held the first meeting of the Allied Supreme Command in London, and formally determined the Normandy landing operation plan named "Overlord".

The allied forces involved in the landing were 39 divisions with about 2.88 million people. There are more than 0/5700 planes/KLOC-and more than 6000 ships, including landing ships, warships and merchant ships. At that time, the Germans deployed in the western front were 58 divisions, more than 500 planes, 100 submarines and more than 500 light ships. However, the German high command was deceived by the allied action codenamed "Resolute Plan", thinking that the allied forces would land along the coast of the Calais Strait, so the main force 15 Army was deployed along the coast of the Calais Strait, while the Seventh Army had only six infantry divisions stationed in Normandy and nearby areas, with less than 90,000 troops.

The only problem Eisenhower needed to solve was the choice of D-Day. According to the advice of meteorologists, the number of days that basically met the requirements of landing operations of the three armed forces in early June was only 5, 6 and 7 days. He initially chose June 5 as the landing day. However, the wind and waves were quite strong in early June, and the weather continued to be cruel on the 3 rd and 4 th. Eisenhower decided to postpone the attack for 24 hours, that is, on June 6. On the evening of June 4, Colonel Steiger, the meteorological director, reported that the weather might suddenly improve briefly from the night of June 5, and it would soon get worse by the night of June 6. Shall we take action on June 6, or continue to postpone it? Eisenhower also difficult to decide at the moment. Chief of Staff Smith said: "This is a gamble, but it may be the best gamble"; Montgomery, commander of the ground forces, said firmly, "Do as I say!" Finally, Eisenhower finally made up his mind and made the most important decision in his life. Operation Overlord will be implemented as planned on June 6th. Eisenhower later wrote in his memoirs that after the landing operation was ordered, he drafted two telegrams at the same time, one to congratulate the successful landing and the other to make an announcement to the press who was once forced to retreat. In the second telegram, Eisenhower took all the responsibility for the failure on himself. Fortunately, however, he finally won the gamble.

1in the early morning of June 6, 944, the weather was unexpectedly good, but the Germans did not expect that the allies would choose to land here and now. Rommel, who was in charge of the western defense, even left the front line to celebrate his wife's birthday. On the evening of the 6th, 35,000 troops of the 5th Army of the United States successfully landed on Omaha Beach, and then the allied forces of Utah, Juneau, Gold and Sod successfully consolidated the beachhead position with the support of the navy and air force and developed in depth.

By June of 12, Montgomery's 2 1 army group had established a continuous landing site in the area 80km ahead and13km ~19km in depth, and transported 500,000 allied troops, 330,000 vehicles and 6,543,800 tons of combat materials ashore. On June 25th, American troops captured the port fortress Cherbourg.1On July 8th, 8, British troops captured the port city and American troops occupied San-Los Angeles. In this way, within a month, the Allies established a solid front extending from Caen to St. Los in the western European continent, and all the Allied landing troops had landed in Normandy. The Normandy landing was the most crucial battle in the Second World War, which was of decisive significance for opening up the second battlefield in Western Europe. Stalin praised, "According to its careful planning, grand scale and ingenious implementation, there is no such precedent in the history of war."