<span><span><span>0000: First airborne troops begin to land.0100: First Navy hands ordered to man battle stations. Landing craft begin to be lowered into the water; paratroopers cut phone lines and knock down telephone poles.0200: First bombers take off to attack targets around the beachhead.</span>Troops survey the rise of the Normandy shore as they prepare to land on June 6, 1944. (Courtesy U.S. Army Center for Military History)</span><span>0300: Gliders begin to reinforce paratroops.0309: German radar detects Allied invasion fleet. Adm. Krancke orders shore batteries to prepare for invasion.0348: German E-boat flotillas and two armed trawlers get under way.0430: First P-47s take off.0520: Sunrise. Bombers drop first bombs on German targets.0535: German shore batteries open fire; Allied naval forces return fire.0537: E-boats commanded by Adm. Kranche fire torpedoes at Allied destroyers.0600: LCT launch their DD tanks.0620: Allied landing craft approach the beach.0630: H-Hour on Utah, Omaha Beach; LCT 535 lands the first tanks on Omaha; 116th and 16th Infantry land at Omaha; Higgins boats near the beach; 8th Infantry Regiment lands at Utah Beach.0641: USS Corry forced to abandon ship due to heavy gunfire and mine damage.</span><span>"Evacuating Wounded Soldiers" by Harrison Standley suggest the human toll taken by the Normandy Invasion. (Courtesy U.S. Army Center For Military History)<span>0645: Rangers assault Point-du-Hoc; 70th Tank Battalion begins to land at Utah.0725: H-Hour for Sword Beach; British 3rd Division begins to land.0735: British UDT and Royal Engineers land at Gold Beach, followed by Infantry from the 50th Division.0800: 3rd Canadian Division lands at Juno Beach.</span></span><span>0830: LCM, LCT and LSTs land armor at Omaha.0900: 2nd Ranger Battalion soldiers take Point-du-Hoc and defend it for the rest of the day.0950: Destroyers engage the enemy for at Omaha under orders of Adm. C.F. Bryant; 18th Infantry goes ashore at Omaha.1030: 115th Infantry lands at Omaha.1030: 12th Infantry lands at Utah.1045: Utah fairly secure, reserve battalions coming ashore.1100: 18th Infantry begins to land at Omaha.1110: 101st and 4th divisions linkup on Utah securing the first exit from the beach.1300: Troops at Omaha begin to secure the beach.1600: Hitler finally gives approval to release Panzer divisions.1800: Elements of the 3rd Canadian Div, North Nova Scotia Highlanders reach five kilometers inland. 1st Hussar tanks cross the Caen-Bayeux railway, fifteen kilometers inland. Canadian Scottish link up with the 50th Division at Creully.1900: 1st Division commander, General Huebner sets up command post on Omaha.
