This is the fourth and final article in the series about the D-Day landings. Sixteen minutes after midnight, on Tuesday, June 6, 1944, six British gliders landed between the Orne and Dives rivers, northeast of the city of Caen. Among the troops who rushed from the planes was a pathfinder company of the First Canadian Parachute Battalion. Their task was to mark the drop zone where more soldiers were expected to jump at 50 minutes past midnight.These first invaders formed part of the British Sixth Airborne. The division’s mission was to capture key sites behind the beaches of the Canadian and English sector and to secure its eastern flank. To this end, the soldiers destroyed the bridges over the Dives River and seized two others over the Orne.At 1:30 a.m., the 13,000 men of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne commenced to come down north of the town of Saint-Lô. Free French paratroopers also participated in the night assault. Their assignment comprised objectives in nearby Brittany. Besides transporting the first infantrymen to Normandy, Allied air forces contributed by carrying out deception tactics. In Operation Titanic, they parachuted 500 mannequins nicknamed Rupert in areas far inland to draw the Germans’ attention away from the beaches. For Operation Glimmer, planes dropped thin strips of metal cut to a length that allowed detection by radar. The effect was to saturate electronic images and so to veil the approaching armada. Pilots also laid smoke screens to help hide the size and destination of the Allied ships.American, British and Canadian air forces also carried out bombing raids at first light. One thousand twelve aircraft dropped over 5,000 tons of munitions between the Contentin Peninsula and the harbour of Ouistreham. The coastal targets included artillery outposts, radar positions and radio stations.Seventeen Canadian squadrons took part in the D-Day operations. Twenty-three Canadian aviators lost their lives on this first day.The navy also went to work near midnight. Some 277 minesweepers led the way and cleared passages for the incoming craft. They completed the task just after dawn. Around 3 a.m., the 2,727 vessels of the invasion fleet began to appear on German coastal radars. At 5:36 a.m., the Allied units fired the first shots of the naval bombardment. Seven battleships, two monitors equipped with 15-inch guns, 23 cruisers and 77 destroyers targeted the enemy defences. The shelling lasted 40 minutes.The Royal Canadian Navy deployed 110 warships to support the attacking force. These vessels included HMCS Algonquin, Chaudière and Sioux. Canadian sailors also manned transports and landing craft.At 6:30 a.m., the first American soldiers waded ashore. The British and Canadians followed one hour later. A total of 4,212 landing craft carried them from ship to shore.The attack zone was divided into two sectors. To the west, at the base of the Contentin Peninsula, United States Army units set foot on beaches code-named Utah and Omaha. In front of Caen, the Canadian Third Division reached Juno beach. The British landed on either side of the Canadians, at Gold beach on their right and Sword on their left.Additional troops followed the first landings. By the end of the day, 156,000 Allied soldiers had established themselves in Normandy. The Canadian units comprised the Régiment de la Chaudière, from Lévis, and the Sherbrooke Fusiliers. Allied casualties on D-Day amounted to about 10,000, including 4,414 confirmed dead. Three thousand French civilians were also killed or injured. Three hundred and fifty-nine Canadians lost their lives. Most of them are buried in the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery. In total the cemetery holds the graves of more than 2,000 Canadians who gave their lives during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy. The cemetery is considered Canadian territory.