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Why did Allied planners add Utah Beach to Operation Overlord?
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Utah Beach
Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division wade ashore at Victor sector, Utah Beach, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Amphibious tanks are lined up at the water's edge.
Utah Beach was a late addition to the original plan for Operation Overlord. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, added the landing site to the invasion plan specifically to ensure the early capture of the port of Cherbourg, which was located at the northern tip of the Cotentin Peninsula.1