Hitler slept through the D-Day invasion, believing it to be a diversion. He partied until 3 a.m. and was not woken up until 10 a.m. when the attack was confirmed. He had delayed sending troops to Normandy, and by the end of June 6, the Allies had established a foothold.
How did Adolf Hitler react to the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, as American, British and Canadian troops established a foothold in Western Europe? He slept through it, having convinced his Nazi cohorts that the alleged Allied attack would be a diversion designed to fool the Nazis into deploying considerable military assets in the wrong place. At the Berghof, Hitler’s residence in the Bavarian Alps, the Führer and his entourage stayed up late, watching the latest newsreels and partying until 3 a.m., according to Nazi associate Joseph Goebbels. By 6 a.m. the widespread attack was confirmed, but the Führer’s aides hesitated to wake him up. “The news couldn’t be better,” Hitler allegedly said when he woke up around 10 in the morning
Catching up on sleep on D-Day:
D-Day was scheduled for 5 June 1944, but bad weather prevented ships from safely crossing the English Channel to Normandy. The Allied commanders decided to wait a day.
In response to rumors of an invasion, a trusted Nazi field marshal requested that two tank divisions be swiftly moved 120 miles (193 km) from Paris to Normandy. Fearing a trap, Hitler put off making that call until the next day, too late to make a difference.
By the end of June 6, some 156,000 Allied troops had established bridgeheads from which to begin their liberation march towards Berlin. Two weeks later, the fighting force had grown to 650,000.
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