Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded a team of many of the best Allied military leaders of WW2 among them were...

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder (1890-1967), Ike’s Deputy Supreme Commander of the AEF (Allied Expeditionary Force). Tedder, a senior Royal Air Force officer was a loyal and trusted subordinate ensuring Gen. Eisenhower’s instructions were fully understood and carried out.

General Omar Bradley (1893-1981), the ‘soldiers general’, had a distinguished career even before D.Day having successfully commanded U.S. troops in North Africa and Sicily. He was chosen to command the First United States Army during the Invasion of Normandy and was responsible for both of the American landings at OMAHA and UTAH beaches. Later he took over the Twelfth United States Army Group which ultimately comprised 43 Divisions and over 1.3million men.

After WW2 he was promoted to become the 1st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) was Commander of Allied Ground Forces for the invasion and made major contributions to the original planning of ‘Overlord’. Although popular with soldiers and civilians, he could frequently be tactless and arrogant causing unnecessary conflict with his American allies and others.

After D.Day he was a key figure during the campaign in north west Europe and received the surrender of all German Forces in North Germany, Holland and Denmark in May 1945.

Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay (1883-1945), Commander in Chief of All Allied Naval Forces for ‘NEPTUNE’, the naval part of D.Day. Previously he had overseen and been responsible for the successful evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk in 1940.

Ramsay’s long experience and naval skills greatly contributed to the Invasion’s success.

Sadly, he was killed in a plane crash on his way to meet Field Marshal Montgomery on 2 January 1945.

D.DAY MAP BOARD

Here is the large Map Board showing one of the many planning maps for D.Day complete with seaborne routes for the invasion fleet and the individual landing beaches for the American, British and Canadian forces.