PREPARATIONS FOR THE LANDINGS It was in 1943, at the Quebec Conference that the decision was taken to attempt a large-scale invasion, code-named Overlord, against the continent of Europe in the spring of 1944. However, instead of aiming their operation at the coast of northern France close to Britain, as the Germans had expected, the Allies chose to come ashore in the Bay of the Seine. Landing in lower Normandy, on shores less heavily fortified than those in the Pas de Calais, gave the Allies the advantage of surprise. In the absence of a large port in the area to unload the heavy equipment, it had been arranged for two artificia