D-Day (mission)

For the historical event, see Normandy landings.

For the war mode, see Operation Neptune.

"June 6, 1944. D-Day. We're invadin' Normandy, 'bout to take France back from the Nazis."

— Mission Briefing

D-Day is the first campaign level in Call of Duty: WWII. From inside a Higgins landing boat, the player's squad will storm Omaha Beach in a visceral audiovisual experience unlike any D-Day landing experienced in a game to date. Ronald "Red" Daniels and his fellow soldiers must overcome the enemy defenses to serve as the tip of the spear for the Allied invasion.

Characters[]

Ronald "Red" Daniels (playable)
William Pierson
Joseph Turner
Robert Zussman (W.I.A.)
Drew Stiles
Frank Aiello
Davis (cutscene only)
German Rifleman (Unknown/W.I.A.)
Paul Thomas Daniels (mentioned only)
Hazel Daniels (photo only)
Kopelson (K.I.A)
James (K.I.A.)
Pvt. Caratelli (Alive/K.I.A.) (player-determined)
Pvt. Wells (Alive/K.I.A.) (player-determined)

Plot[]

On June 6, 1944, the Allies begin the Invasion of Normandy. Daniels, along with the whole 1st Infantry Division is on a landing craft, nearing the heavily defended Omaha beach. At one point, the machine gunner of Daniels's boat is killed by a shot to the head, which prompts everybody on the boat to duck. Turner orders the driver to gain full speed so they can reach the beach as fast as possible and breach the seawall. When the boat reaches the shore, the ramp is dropped, but a destroyed allied boat rams into Daniels' boat, throwing him to the floor. While most of his comrades from the boat are mowed down by machine gun fire, Daniels escapes by tumbling over the side of the boat. Turner guides him to the nearest cover on the beach, where he takes him out of his shell shocked state and orders him to pick up a bangalore from a dismembered soldier and finish his job by taking it to the seawall so they can make a breach.

The US forces suffer heavy casualties on the beach, due to lack of proper cover and constant artillery fire. Daniels reaches the seawall and, despite struggling to connect the pieces of the bangalore, successfully manages to breach the wall with help from Zussman. The explosion destroys part of the wall and the US forces use the passage to make a push to the bunkers. Daniels participates in the clearance of four German bunkers on the beach cliffs. Upon clearing the fourth bunker, Pierson orders Zussman and Daniels to retake the fifth, smallest one. Daniels enters through the door and is attacked by a Wehrmacht soldier, but is saved by Zussman, who tackles the soldier and wrestles him. However, the German soldier stabs Zussman in the abdomen, and attacks Daniels again. Daniels manages to subdue the soldier by smashing his head with his helmet. He then grabs Zussman's pistol and kills the German soldier rushing towards them.

Zussman bleeds heavily from the knife wound, and can't walk. Daniels drags him out of the bunker, through enemy infested trenches and to the nearby field hospital. While Daniels tries to keep him alive, Zussman starts losing consciousness, as all medics are busy with treating other wounded soldiers. After some time a medic finally arrives to assist Zussman, after which Turner brings the rest of the squad to a nearby farm, where they hold off German reinforcements and destroy a GPF cannon shelling the beach. After the cannon is disabled, Daniels returns to Zussman, who was treated successfully. The surviving German soldiers surrender and the beach is secured.