D-Day (June 6, 1944) troops, the invasion fleet approached Above the warships, transports, and landing craft many hundreds of barrage balloons were anchored by cable to disrupt lowflying strafing runs by Luftwaffe aircraft Only a handful of squadrons were available to Luftflotte at forward airfields in Normandy, most of which were heavily bombed over the prior weeks and days Other aircraft and forward air bases, including hurried reinforcements flying to Normandy directly from Germany, were destroyed before dark closed out “the longest day” in the West, as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel once called D-Day Neither the Luftwaffe nor the Kriegsmarine seriously disrupted the invasion, despite fanatical orders to spare no air assets or U-boat crews in the effort to so Facing the Western Allies along the shore was a mainly infantry German defense force of just three divisions, including several battalions of demoralized or forcibly conscripted Osttruppen who surrendered as soon as feasible The defense was supported by a paltry 169 aircraft There were a total of 50 German divisions nearby to reinforce and stiffen resistance The main question was: could German reinforcements arrive fast enough to block and defeat the invasion before the Western Allies put enough men ashore to hold the beachhead, then expand it into a lodgement to provide operational room to move inland? Advice from senior officers experienced in amphibious assaults in the Pacific theater of operations, notably Major General Charles Cortlett, had been brushed away in the planning phase by Generals Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, and other overseers of the OVERLORD landings Contrary to experience that showed the critical role of protracted naval fire, the D-Day bombardment was too short as well as imprecise: the beach assaults thus began with quick naval bombardments that proved mostly ineffective, as huge shells overflew defenses to kill trees and cows well behind the coast It was not a mistake that would be repeated in later landings in France during DRAGOON But on that terrible day in Normandy, insufficient naval support meant that most German defenses were intact when the infantry climbed out of their landing craft and headed ashore British and Canadian troops were able to quickly overcome German obstacles and defenses in part through use of the excellent collection of specialized armor and other vehicles known as “Hobart’s Funnies.” These specialized armored vehicles included “swimming” tanks fitted with rubber floats and canvas screens; “crab” tanks, equipped with thrashers and flails for clearing mines; “bobbin” tanks that rolled out mesh as a temporary road over sand or clay; armored bulldozers; “Crocodile” flame-throwing tanks; “Armored Ramp Carriers” to bridge gullies and ditches; and other specialty tools such as demolition frames or fascine layers One modified Churchill tank sported a petard spigot mortar that fired a 40 lb bomb for demolishing pillboxes Earlier X craft advance reconnaissance made of the British and Canadian beaches proved extremely valuable, ensuring that engineers had real success clearing obstacles and mines on D-Day The Canadians were additionally fortunate that the OKW had just transferred to the Eastern Front a crack German division that had been defending the JUNO position, replacing it with a much weaker division Canadian 3rd Division moved off JUNO while taking casualties of 340 killed, 574 wounded, and 47 taken prisoner British 3rd Infantry Division suffered just over 288