HAMLET – Today marks the 74th anniversary of the largest single day military operation in history. Generally referred to as “D-Day” (although this term is technically a relatively common way to reference the date of commencement for any significant military operation), June 6th of 1944 was the day on which Allied forces from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and other nations landed on the beaches of Normandy, France to signal the beginning of this invasion of German-occupied territory.
This single day saw over 6000 landing craft transport 176,000 troops to shore after 822 aircraft had dropped paratroopers behind the German lines to strategically secure vital bridges and roadways. Over 13,000 more aircraft were mobilized as air cover for the 6:30 a.m. assault.
Though the Allies were ultimately victorious, many aspects of the D-Day operation failed to go according to plan. In fact, even the date of the landing itself was a function of the weather – June 5th was the original day that had been planned for the invasion to occur but bad storms and rough seas delayed everything for 24 hours.
Preparations for the invasion of the Normandy coast began early in 1943 when the Allies set up a planning staff under Lt. General Frederick Morgan of Great Britain. The plan of attack received the code name Operation Overlord and was put under the authority of General Dwight D. Eisenhower in January of 1944. Eisenhower had been appointed by Roosevelt and Churchill as the supreme commander of all Allied forces and began to formulate his strategy for invading Europe.
This tremendous undertaking was characterized by deceptive maneuvers on the part of the Allied command. In an attempt to convince the Germans that an attack was imminent at the closest point across the English Channel (a logical choice), a “phantom army” was portrayed to be forming directly across the water from the French port of Pas de Calais north of Normandy, Fake radio broadcasts were sent out periodically with the knowledge that the Germans had broken that particular coded frequency and were monitoring the communications. The Allies went so far as to identify General George Patton as the commander of this fake army. Inflatable tanks, rubber artillery, plastic jeeps, and other “heavy” equipment pieces were set out for the enemy aircraft to photograph as evidence to support this slight-of-hand chicanery.
The deception worked well. In fact, Hitler was so convinced that Pas de Calais was indeed the focal point of the attack that, even after the actual invasion at Normandy had commenced and was well underway, he remained reluctant to send reinforcements away from the Calais area, thinking the Normandy action to be a ruse. Irwin Rommel, the ingenious commander of the German defenses in the area (under Field Marshal Karl Gerd von Rundstedt) happened to be away on leave at the time, so his strategic acumen was not available to the Nazi high command when it was needed most.
Eisenhower and his staff of General George C. Marshall, British General Bernard Montgomery, and others assembled a total force of almost 3 million men and stored 16 million tons of arms, munitions, and supplies in Britain for the great invasion. The Allies had 5000 large ships, 4000 smaller landing craft, and more than 11,000 aircraft. Months before the invasion, Allied bombers pounded the Normandy coast to prevent the Germans from building up their military strength. Allied warships fired 200 tons of shells a minute at the German coastal batteries before landing the troops. Eisenhower told his forces “You are about to embark on a great crusade,” and “The eyes of the world are upon you.”
The D-Day invasion was the beginning of the end of World War II. Within five days, the beaches of Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah, and Omaha had been secured and occupied by 326,000 troops, 50,000 vehicles, and 100,000 tons of equipment.
Over 4000 Americans were killed during the initial wave of the D-Day invasion, with the greatest number of these casualties occurring on Omaha Beach. The Normandy American Cemetery was established on June 8th overlooking that area and serves as the final resting place for more than 9300 U.S. servicemen.
