People of Western Europe: A landing was made this morning on the coast of France by troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force. This landing is part of the concerted United Nations plan for the liberation of Europe, made in conjunction with our great Russian allies…. I call upon all who love freedom to stand with us now. Together we shall achieve victory.

This is from General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s public announcement on D-Day, 6 June 1944, delivered as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The message was broadcast to audiences in Western Europe immediately after the Normandy landings began, framing the invasion as the opening of the long-awaited Western Front and as part of a coordinated Allied strategy. Eisenhower emphasizes unity among the “United Nations” (the wartime Allied coalition) and explicitly links the operation to cooperation with the Soviet Union, then bearing the brunt of the ground war in the East. The address aimed to inform occupied Europe, encourage resistance and morale, and present the invasion as a liberation campaign.

The passage functions as both news bulletin and moral appeal. By addressing “People of Western Europe,” Eisenhower speaks over the heads of occupying regimes to civilians living under Nazi control, asserting that liberation is underway and that the invasion is not an isolated raid but part of a deliberate, multinational plan. The invocation of the “United Nations” and “great Russian allies” underscores coalition legitimacy and shared sacrifice, countering any notion of a purely Anglo-American venture. The closing call—“all who love freedom”—casts the military operation in universal ethical terms, inviting solidarity and resistance while projecting confidence that collective action will culminate in victory.