During the Second World War (1939–1945) Normandy was part of German-occupied France. The town of Dieppe was the site of the unsuccessful Dieppe Raid by Canadian and British armed forces. The Allies (Britain, the United States, and Canada) launched the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 under the code name 'Operation Overlord'. About 12,000 planes dropped paratroopers before dawn. At dawn the Normandy landings began. Nearly 160,000 Allied soldiers came to the beaches, in about 7,000 ships and landing craft. 