Along with the airborne operations, the landings on the beaches designated to the British, which were codenamed Sword, Juno and Gold, were significant in the invasion. On Gold Beach, the soldiers were responsible for advancing west and seizing Arromanches to start a British Mulberry harbour there.
Although the weather conditions were difficult and the beach was well defended by German forces, the battle on Gold Beach was won with specialist armour. This had allowed the British soldiers to march inland to link up with Juno, and by afternoon, they had succeeded in capturing Arromanches.
On Sword Beach the British Sector were instructed to meet up with the 6th Airborne Division at the Orne bridgehead. Following heavy bombardment, the British forces made a way through a lightly defended beach. However, the 21st Panzer Division was in the area but they were easily defeated. By afternoon, the Commandos from Sword had linked up with Howard’s forces at Pegasus Bridge.
Juno Beach was assigned to the Canadians, whose aim was to cut the Caen-Bayeux road, to link up with Sword Beach and to capture Caen airport. Due to the beach obstacles on Juno and heavy opposition from German forces, the Canadians suffered heavy casualties at first; nevertheless, they had succeeded in securing a solid bridgehead by evening, which linked the Canadians with the British Corps from Gold. However, the Canadian 3rd Division had failed to link up with Sword Beach, and allowed German forces to break through the gap created, though were not strong enough to cause problems for the Allies. The Canadians had also failed to capture the airfield, but had linked up with Gold, and had cut the Caen-Bayeux road.
D-Day was an overall success in the British sector as many of the objectives set for 6th June were achieved with the aid of the infantry assaults on the beaches of Normandy. By evening on D-Day, 130,000 soldiers were landed on the beaches, and there were 8600 casualties. This was a sign of their success, but there were other achievements showing this as well; the paratroopers of the Airborne Division had captured the bridges over the Orne to secure exit routes for Sword Beach, and Arromanches was seized. However, D-Day was clearly not a complete success as some objectives had not been achieved. The biggest failure included the 3rd Division failing to capture Caen, and the Canadians not succeeding in taking the airfield. A relatively secure foothold was achieved in the coastal region on the first day which would allow the Allies to advance through Normandy successfully, meaning that the assaults on D-Day can be thought as a great accomplishment, despite its failures and difficulties.
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