where did the allied invasion of france take place?
Normandy
entailment
 The assault was ordered by Adolf Hitler , to eliminate the gains made by the First United States Army during Operation Cobra and the subsequent weeks , and by reaching the coast in the region of Avranches at the base of the Cotentin peninsula , cut off the units of the Third United States Army which had advanced into Brittany . 

entailment
 After delays due to both logistical difficulties and poor weather , the D @-@ Day of Overlord , the largest amphibious operation ever , was postponed 24 hours to 6 June 1944 . Eisenhower and Montgomery , commander of 21st Army Group , aimed to capture Caen within the first day , and liberate Paris within 90 days . 

entailment
 The Allies failed to reach their goals for the first day , but gained a tenuous foothold that they gradually expanded as they captured the port at Cherbourg on 26 June and the city of Caen on 21 July . A failed counterattack by German forces on 8 August led to 50 @,@ 000 soldiers of the German 7th Army being trapped in the Falaise pocket . The Allies launched an invasion of southern France ( code @-@ named Operation Dragoon ) on 15 August , and the Liberation of Paris followed on 25 August . German forces retreated across the Seine on 30 August 1944 , marking the close of Operation Overlord . 

contradiction
 The German offensive — named Unternehmen Gelb ( Operation Yellow ) , and also known as the Manstein Plan — began in the West on 10 May 1940 . The central campaign — the Battle of France — ended in Allied defeat and the destruction of the main French Army forces . The British Expeditionary Force escaped during the Battle of Dunkirk , but the Wehrmacht captured Paris on 14 June and overran ⅔ of France . The French surrendered on 25 June 1940 . 

contradiction
 The Normandy landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history , with nearly 5 @,@ 000 landing and assault craft , 289 escort vessels , and 277 minesweepers . They hastened the end of the war in Europe , drawing large forces away from the Eastern Front that might otherwise have slowed the Soviet advance . The opening of another front in western Europe was a tremendous psychological blow for Germany 's military , who feared a repetition of the two @-@ front war of World War I. The Normandy landings also heralded the start of the " race for Europe " between the Soviet forces and the Western powers , which some historians consider to be the start of the Cold War . 
