Eighty years ago
On June 3, 1944, after intensive preparation during the spring, the landing force for the Normandy Invasion was mostly assembled along the southern coast of England for the nearly one-hundred mile journey across the English Channel to liberate France. However, on the morning of June 4, meteorologists predicted foul weather over the English Channel on the 5th, leading General Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours.
Although the general had not witnessed combat first-hand yet, his 27 years of knowledge and expertise stood out to General Marshall. He thus chose Eisenhower as Supreme Commander on June 25, 1942. After Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander, he and General Montgomery modified the initial invasion plan for Continental Europe, expanding the size of the beachhead and the number of divisions in the initial assault. This, led Allied leaders to set June 5, 1944, as the invasion's D-Day.
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The beaches themselves were given the code names UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO, and SWORD. The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries.
On 12th June Churchill sailed across the Channel to the coast of France aboard HMS Kelvin and visited the beaches at Normandy surveying the destruction. General Montgomery met him and they later lunched together at Montgomery's headquarters just three miles from the front. On 14th June, General De Gaulle himself landed in Normandy and went straight to Bayeux where he gave his first speech on French soil. The enthusiastic reception from the crowd of citizens served to demonstrate De Gaulle's legitimacy in the eyes of the Allies as the leader of liberated France.
Thanks to the actions of the Resistance and private individuals, the Allies were informed that the Germans had left Bayeux, and that there was no point in bombing: the town was thus unharmed. With its proximity to the Landings beaches, Bayeux became a transit hub for both soldiers and civilians. Resistance workers carried out thousands of acts of sabotage against the German occupiers. More than 90,000 French people were either killed, tortured or deported by the Germans.
By June 30, already over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the Normandy shores. Soldiers participating in the liberation of Western Europe came from the United States, Britain, Canada, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Luxembourg, Greece, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Australia and France. The Belgian 1st Infantry Brigade led by Colonel Piron landed in Arromanches on 8 August 1944. It operated under the command of the 6th British Airborne Division and later under the 49th West Reading Infantry Division (The Polar Bears).
[media=https://youtu.be/CVg-hT8FdK4]
Although the general had not witnessed combat first-hand yet, his 27 years of knowledge and expertise stood out to General Marshall. He thus chose Eisenhower as Supreme Commander on June 25, 1942. After Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander, he and General Montgomery modified the initial invasion plan for Continental Europe, expanding the size of the beachhead and the number of divisions in the initial assault. This, led Allied leaders to set June 5, 1944, as the invasion's D-Day.
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The beaches themselves were given the code names UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO, and SWORD. The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries.
On 12th June Churchill sailed across the Channel to the coast of France aboard HMS Kelvin and visited the beaches at Normandy surveying the destruction. General Montgomery met him and they later lunched together at Montgomery's headquarters just three miles from the front. On 14th June, General De Gaulle himself landed in Normandy and went straight to Bayeux where he gave his first speech on French soil. The enthusiastic reception from the crowd of citizens served to demonstrate De Gaulle's legitimacy in the eyes of the Allies as the leader of liberated France.
Thanks to the actions of the Resistance and private individuals, the Allies were informed that the Germans had left Bayeux, and that there was no point in bombing: the town was thus unharmed. With its proximity to the Landings beaches, Bayeux became a transit hub for both soldiers and civilians. Resistance workers carried out thousands of acts of sabotage against the German occupiers. More than 90,000 French people were either killed, tortured or deported by the Germans.
By June 30, already over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the Normandy shores. Soldiers participating in the liberation of Western Europe came from the United States, Britain, Canada, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Luxembourg, Greece, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Australia and France. The Belgian 1st Infantry Brigade led by Colonel Piron landed in Arromanches on 8 August 1944. It operated under the command of the 6th British Airborne Division and later under the 49th West Reading Infantry Division (The Polar Bears).
[media=https://youtu.be/CVg-hT8FdK4]
