In June 1944, the Cromwell saw action during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. It had a mixed reception by crews, being faster, with a lower profile and thicker frontal armour plate than the Sherman tank, but also being smaller and more cramped. Cromwell had of frontal armour compared with on the glacis of the early Shermans, though it was unsloped and hence less effective in head-on combat. On later Cromwells this was further increased, first to , then to .