
Publish Date: Jan. 1, 1945
Cover Story: General Dwight Eisenhower, Man of the Year
How TIME Covered the News: Conceived under the codename “Overlord,” the D-Day landing on the beaches of Normandy was the largest sea assault in history, an audacious and extraordinary step in the Allied Powers’ march to victory in World War II. The mission’s success was attributed in large part to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe and future president, who guided over 160,000 Allied soldiers in the effort.
“The purpose of the invasion was not to knock out Germany at one blow. If the mere establishment and holding of Allied beachheads should discourage the Nazis to the point of capitulation, well and good. There were extreme optimists (later developments were to prove how extreme they were) who hoped for that outcome. But in the realistic battle plan, the purpose of the gamble was to bring the forces of the western Allies to grips with Nazi Germany on her western land approaches. When that purpose was completely achieved, affable, incisive, confident “Ike” Eisenhower became the Man of 1944.”