On 6 June 1944 Operation Overlord, the Normandy landings began, opening the Western Front again. JG 1 was among those wings that formed the reinforcement from Luftflotte Reich to Luftflotte 3. II. "Gruppe" moved to Le Mans with 25 Fw 190s that afternoon and the following day flew three "gruppe"-sized patrols southeast of the beachheads, remarkably without encountering any Allied aircraft. On 8 June the "gruppe" fighters were armed with 550 lb bombs and ordered to attack shipping in the English Channel. The German pilots were fortunate to avoid Allied fighters but ran into heavy anti-aircraft fire over the ships; they dropped their bombs and fled at low altitude. Allied records show no ship was hit, but several Fw 190s were damaged though none were lost. A repeat operation on the 9 June had similar results, but the group was lucky once more to suffer no casualties. Le Mans was targeted on 10 June over 100 Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax bombers struck Le Mans destroying the landing ground, operations room, three hangars, and several buildings. The Fw 190s were dispersed and camouflaged at least 500 yards away and suffered no damage, but it would be six days before the airfield was usable. On 16 June it moved to Essay and flew patrols for four days. It moved to Semalle, near Alencon. Here, the airfield was subjected to a low-level attack by P-51 Mustangs which destroyed everything in sight in a series of coordinated strafing runs. In the space of 15 minutes, fifteen Fw 190s were destroyed and II. "Gruppe" were out of the battle. III "Gruppe" was sent to France in the initial wave but was in such poor condition it did not become operational over Normandy and returned to Germany on 14 June.