D-Day: the way it was, and is
Today is the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the Normandy landings in WWII. Here’s a video with a few grainy clips of the Allies wading ashore:
I wonder how many people under forty, either here or in Europe, now know or care what happened there. The dog barks and the caravan moves on, and all that.
The world we now live in seems so vastly different, including the relationship between the US and western Europe. But make no mistake about it; if threatened in a way that finally gets their attention, Europeans would be counting on us again. And I have little doubt that our armed forces would be up to the task; the question is whether our government would.
But back to the D-day landings. About thirty years ago I visited Omaha Beach, site of the worst of the carnage. A quieter place than that beach and those huge cemeteries, with their lines of crosses set down as though with a ruler, you never did see.
But the scene was quite different in 1944. The D-day invasion marked the beginning of the end for the Germans.
The weather was a huge factor, and the Allied commanders had to make the decision knowing that the forecast for the day was iffy and the window of opportunity small. For reasons of visibility and navigation (maximum amount of moonlight and deepest water), the invasion needed to occur during a time of full moon and spring tides, and all the invasion forces had already been assembled and were at the ready. To postpone would have been hugely expensive and frustrating, but to go ahead in bad weather would have been suicidal.
This is how bad the weather looked, how difficult the decision was, and how much we owe to the meteorologists, who:
…were challenged to accurately predict a highly unstable and severe weather pattern. As [Eisenhower] indicated in the message to Marshall, “The weather yesterday which was [the] original date selected was impossible all along the target coast.” Eisenhower therefore was forced to make his decision to proceed with a June 6 invasion in the predawn blackness of June 5, while horizontal sheets of rain and gale force winds shuddered through the tent camp.
The initially bad weather ended up being an advantage in other ways, because the Germans were not expecting the invasion to occur yet for that reason:
Some [German] troops stood down, and many senior officers were away for the weekend. General Erwin Rommel, for example, took a few days’ leave to celebrate his wife’s birthday, while dozens of division, regimental, and battalion commanders were away from their posts at war games.
In addition, there was Hitler’s personality and his reluctance to give autonomy to his military commanders:
Hitler reserved to himself the authority to move the divisions in OKW Reserve, or commit them to action. On 6 June, many Panzer division commanders were unable to move because Hitler had not given the necessary authorization, and his staff refused to wake him upon news of the invasion..
This didn’t mean that the beaches were not heavily fortified and manned, especially Omaha:
[The Germans] had large bunkers, sometimes intricate concrete ones containing machine guns and high caliber weapons. Their defense also integrated the cliffs and hills overlooking the beach. The defenses were all built and honed over a four year period.
The number of Allied casualties was enormous. Reading about it today makes one appreciate anew what these men faced, and how courageously they pressed on despite enormous difficulties. This is just a small sampler of what occurred on Omaha Beach at the outset; there was much more to come:
Despite these preparations, very little went according to plan. Ten landing craft were lost before they even reached the beach, swamped by the rough seas. Several other craft stayed afloat only because their passengers quickly bailed water with their helmets. Seasickness was also prevalent among the troops waiting offshore. On the 16th RCT front, the landing boats found themselves passing struggling men in life preservers, and on rafts, survivors of the DD tanks which had sunk. Navigation of the assault craft was made more difficult by the smoke and mist obscuring the landmarks they were to use in guiding themselves in, while a heavy current pushed them continually eastward.
As the boats approached within a few hundred yards of the shore, they came under increasingly heavy fire from automatic weapons and artillery. The force discovered only then the ineffectiveness of the pre-landing bombardment. Delayed by the weather, and attempting to avoid the landing craft as they ran in, the bombers had laid their ordnance too far inland, having no real effect on the coastal defenses.
These obstacles and unforeseen circumstances were extraordinarily costly in terms of the human sacrifice that occurred that day. Note that I use the word “obstacles and unforeseen circumstances” rather than “mistakes.” Today, if the same things had occurred (particularly if under the aegis of the Bush administration), they would be labeled unforgivable errors rather than the inevitable difficulties inherent in waging war, in which no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
Another historical footnote is the following passage from Eisenhower’s message to the Allied Expeditionary Forces: You are about to embark upon the great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. It’s another sign of how times have changed; the word “crusade” has become verboten.
In his pocket, Eisenhower also kept another statement, one to activate in case the invasion failed. It read: Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.
The note was written in pencil on a simple piece of paper, and is housed in a special vault at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library & Museum in Abilene, Kansas, a bit of thought-provoking fodder for an alternate history that never occurred—fortunately for all of us.
Neo–
Thank you for commemorating D-Day with this post. My dad was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne on “the longest day,” and I will never forget that anniversary (and yes, that marks me as over 40).
One small note about those lines of crosses– some of those markers are Stars of David: see a photo here:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=103&article=37443. As a Christian, I am glad that the faith of Jewish servicemen and women is remembered too.
To all those who served or will serve, man and woman alike, know this: I am profoundly humbled by your deeds. I am grateful that your sacrifices have given me the priviledge to live as a free man in a free country. Without shame or embarrasment, I say that you are my betters. You continue to be in my prayers. Thank you.
P.S.: Ike’s D-Day speech http://www.kansasheritage.org/abilene/ikespeech.html
google decided (and wiki) to forget it
[i think this is my shortest post]
I’m simply in awe of what those men did on that day. Thanks for the tribute Neo.
Thank you for such a fine tribute. My late father had a small part in D-Day as a gunner on a B-17. He continued to fly many combat missions after that, including the harshly criticized raid on Dresden. When I meet so many civilized and intelligent Germans in business today, I wonder how civilized they would be if the Allied invasion at Normandy had failed.
Young people don’t know much about D-Day or any other storied battles like the Battle of the Bulge, Midway, or Iwo Jima because it is not taught very well if at all. Years ago I looked at my daughter’s college American History book. The only coverage of MacArthur was his routing of the bonus marchers early in the Depression and his firing by Truman. There was no coverage of the Bataan death march, the worst atrocity against U.S. troops in history. There were two pages on the Mai Lai massacre. Our use of the atomic bombs was also well covered.
The argument that young people don’t know any history because it happened before they were born is without merit. Most educated older people know something about the Civil War or WWI. Many of us know about the Barbary pirates. Instead of traditional history we now get the litany of sins of the evil United States.
If young people had any understanding of our history, they would know that the casualties in Iraq over five years were about what the allies suffered in Normandy on one day. The battle of Normandy is estimated to have killed at least 15,000 French civilians. Imagine how today’s media would cover that.
Obama voting Libtards these days are brazenly pushing the notion that WWII couldn’t have been won without the heroic sacrifice of the Bolchevic soldiers and civilians…
D-Day was a side show … Churchill was a warmonger …
As a matter of fact WWII was a civil war among Statist ideologies. Germans and Soviets were in it together before turning on each others.
This; 1922: German/Bolchevic pact:
… The new special relationship between Germany and Soviet Russia was based on their purely negative common affinity – a hatred for the West and the victors of Versailles” – and would have terrible unforeseen consequenses. Its secret codicils would allow the German Army to illegally train on Russian territory throughout the twenties and thirties. Tens of thousands of German “work commandos” would come to Russia in 1923 and begin experimenting in the new, still theoretical technique of the blitzkrieg, the idea that small, high-quality, mobile forces backed by airpower would overcome a country before it could react. Under the treaty, the German built aircraft outside Moscow and manufactured poison gas in a plant in the Russian provinces. Red and German armies trained their aviators and tank officers together at a series of new schools throughout the Soviet Union. Thus, the armies that would slaughter each other in the most massive mechanized battles in history trained together in the 1920s…
Book: The Orientalist, page183. Tom Reiss. http://tinyurl.com/qqpboc
This: 1939: The Molotov—Ribbentrop Pact, colloquially named after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and Germanforeign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and signed in Moscow …
In addition to stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence, anticipating potential “territorial and political rearrangements” of these countries. Thereafter, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded their respective portions of Poland, followed by Soviet annexations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and northern Romania. Part of eastern Finland was annexed by the Soviet Union after an attempted invasion.
… It remained in effect until June 22, 1941 when Germany executed Operation Barbarossaand invaded the Soviet Union… Only then would US leftists turn against the German Socialists for the love of “uncle Joe”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov-Ribbentrop_Pact
Thank you Neo for yet another fabulous piece.
Ken Burns did an excellent work in his “The War” documentary as well.
My only regret for this year’s commemoration is that BHO being there. Anyone remember what he said about that invasion during his campaign? I will refresh your memory here:
“Even knowing what we know today, I would never commit to Operation Overlord. It should have been obvious from the debacles at Kasserine Pass and the Anzio landings, not to mention the unending quagmire of the Italian campaign as a whole, that simply putting more troops into the European theater was never going to bring the violence to an end.”
Wonder if any one in the media reminded him of that today.
Manneocon, I am stunned. Do you have a link to that quote? It should have been published far and wide on this day.
NeoNeocon, every time I look at that picture of the landing craft, I get a chill thinking of those kids stepping into the hell on that beach.
Jim, my older cousin who later inspired me to fly, was also a gunner in B-17s. Consequently, I have always been fascinated by the story of the 8th AF. I have often marveled that those men could bring themselves to go back day after day knowing what awaited them. I wonder if I could measure up.
My Dad was a crewman on landing craft in the Pacific. At the time he was a chubby fellow with three children at home. To me he has always personified the ordinary men who became extraordinary when destiny called.
D-Day survivor and Dachau liberator speaks.
http://www.thefoxnation.com/culture/2009/06/05/longest-day-my-life-d-day-survivor-recalls-tragic-day
My father was a member of the 4th Marine Division, and won a battlefield commission on Iwo Jima. Shortly before he died a few years ago, he and I were going through his war photographs when we came upon one of perhaps 40 guys on football-type bleachers.
I asked my father if they were the battalion football team.
He replied, “No. They were the B company survivors of Iwo Jima.”
I asked, “How many had been in the company?”
“240.”
Oldflyer: the Obama D-Day quote was a spoof.
There is a very impressive 8th Air Force museum just outside Savannah, Georgia.
I see Neo beat me to the quote “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy” I heard a version of that more than once in the Battalion TOC I was in the Texas National Guard- but still you must make plans they always emphasized.
You can tell many are ignorant of the massive losses of Allied troops in WW2 when you here people say Iraq is the “worst war ever”. I am not downplaying the losses of the people in Iraq or their families, as those are very real, but still many seem to operate without any historical reference.
My grandpa, who turned 91 recently, served on Iwo Jima in WW2. When he got off the island he weighed 95 lbs at 5 foot 6 inches.
When Katrina hit South Mississippi, he was in his late 80’s. He was up on the roof of his house with us cutting off fallen trees. He still raises vegetables to sale- though he has slowed down a bit. What a generation.
“hear” not “here”
They were the Greatest Generation.
We boomers were the Worst Generation. By far. narcissistic, communist-infected, self-absorbed, and worthless, with significant overlap between those characterizations.
You can also tell many are ignorant of the history of Islam. I suspect many hear of the Crusades, but never hear of the centuries of Muslim expansion by the sword prior to the crusades.
An especially annoying aspect of Marxists is their tendency to ascribe every phenomenon to economics. While economics is important, how does it account for the spread of Islam, or the existence of the kamikazes?
Comrades, philosophical conviction matters too. You of all people should realize that.
Thanks Neo. I was suspicious, and was trying to discretely probe for clarification.
Nice thread. It is intesting to see accunts of family experiences during the war.
“Today, if the same things had occurred (particularly if under the aegis of the Bush administration), they would be labeled unforgivable errors rather than the inevitable difficulties inherent in waging war”….prior to D-Day, there was a dry-run invasion, and it was indeed a catastrophere:
Before D-Day, there was Dieppe.
Oldflyer,
Here you go:
http://bluecrabboulevard.com/2008/07/22/obama-denounces-d-day-landings/
I have heard about it soon after that speech.
I think the boomers had the great advantage and simultaneous disadvantage of having these heros as our parents. My dad served in WW2. So did almost all the parents of my friends, and our teachers, and the mailman, and the milkman, and the pharmacist. They didn’t brag about what they did. But they all contributed to preserving our freedom and our very lives. They may not have looked like John Wayne, but that quiet little guy that lived across the street and sold suits may have won a Purple Heart for all you knew. The disadvantage was, we took it for granted too much.
“You can also tell many are ignorant of the history of Islam. I suspect many hear of the Crusades, but never hear of the centuries of Muslim expansion by the sword prior to the crusades.” by jon baker
This is exactly part of the problem. History is compressed into stylized, short versions to fit certain templates that are politically expedient and convenient. In fact, this is encouraged by the Muslims themselves and assisted by their Western enablers. Many of whom are strategically placed and compromised.
And if you challenge these false views of history and Islamic theology, the same tactics the Left use to marginalize you are deployed. Name calling, straw man, cannard, etc.
Judging by the evidence we have before us, it works and they are winning.
They did this for me, yet to be born.
Thanks, neo.
Hello all
I just wanted to pass along that in Canada, we have the Royal Canadian Air, Army and Sea Cadets as do Britain, Australia, and Taiwan.
http://www.cadets.ca/home-accueil.aspx
watch the video posted on the home page
These are kids between 12 and 19 years old who learn about many aspects of the military and our history, travel the country and the world, learn skills from public speaking to marksmanship, drill, and even how to fly a plane (full pilots license for deserving Air Cadets).
My daughters are both Air Cadets and their Squadron was involved in a ceremony and laid a wreath at our local cenotaph for the D-Day remembrance. That’s over 80 cadets from only 1 of the three groups in our small town, so I do have a small amount of hope that our children will be able to keep knowledge of these events and respect for those involved alive. After the ceremony my older daughter was approached by an elderly gentleman who told her he was an Air Cadet in 1948, congratulated her on the state of her uniform and the polish of her boots, and wished her the best in her life.
Canada may have a disappointing government history after WW2, but there is still a large segment of our population who will never forget and takes pride in our involvement in WW2.
Have any of you folks seen the photo making the rounds? It’s a picture of Mrs. Sarkozy of France looking very intently at what is happening at the D-Day Commemoration in Normandy, while The First Lady Gorilla is looking sideways at Mrs. Sarkozy giving her the stink-eye. It’s really very revealing. Once again, Michelle Obama looking like her angry self…
The more one reads, the more impressed one becomes. Most readers here probably know the role the USN’s destroyers played: when it was clear that the invaders didn’t have the heavy guns needed to destroy the German gun positions, one commander, on his own authority, ordered his ship to close toward shore and use its guns. Other followed and soon the whole line was hugging the shore at the risk of grounding, throwing their weight into the fight. As naval guns went, the destroyers were firing derringers, but compared to land-based artillery, they were quite respectable–and quite effective.
A bit of personal history: somewhere around 1970, Time Life advertised a series of books on WWII. The featured volume was The Battle of Britain. It matched them, as I recall, with what we would today call a mini-series on television. I was too young to really appreciate this, but the name “Battle of Britain” caught my attention. To name a battle after a river, a plan, a city, that I understood. But to declare, as Churchill did, that a single battle engulfed a whole country touched a chord in me.
The Battle of Britain shared more with the campaigns of U. S. Grant in the east than with the classical battles of Alexander or Caesar. It was a matter of unrelenting pressure punctuated by punishing attacks, intended to force an eventual collapse somewhere, followed by rapid exploitation. Grant made it work. Hitler could not, for various reasons. (Large among them was the character and skill of the leaders.)
In 1978/79 I had a history teacher for whom the twentieth century was his life’s history. He was a replacement of a replacement, and I’m sure he didn’t look very promising on paper. He declared that he’d gotten into World War I by adding two years to his age, and into World War II by taking a few years off, and managed to stay in for Korea. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. But after a couple of days of confusion, we came to respect him for two things. First, in the late summer heat, without air conditioning, he wore his suit every day and never showed an ounce of sweat–or discomfort. Second, he began each class by copying out a part of the bafflegab that was the NY State History Syllabus, complete with typos. Then he told the story of the period as one who lived it, in plain language.
That’s when I realized that history and the present are a continuum, and that the contents of the history books are as relevant as what I lived myself.
And so I began to take history seriously, not as an object of study but as a part of living, and to question the judgement of news media, who were injecting opinion at an ever-increasing rate.
I don’t even recall that teacher’s name now, but I owe him a lot. And I also owe a lot to Churchill, and to the “old” Time-Life for running those books when they did.
And between Dieppe and D-Day was Slapton Sands.
Blame?
Look up “Sherman Tank”. On Wiki, it confirms what my father told me (he was an Infantry vet of the ETO).
The Germans called the Sherman the “Ronson”, after a cigarette lighter advertised to light first time, every time. When the Brits had Shermans, the Krauts called them “Tommycookers”.
Considering how much crap Bush got over underarmored Hummvees, it would be interesting to see what crap FDR got for the Sherman. All BDS, but the people who don’t know history don’t even know they’re spouting BDS, and those who do can be confident those they’re trying to convince don’t.
I remember when the movie “The Longest Day” came out. We were stationed near Verdun. Thw movie was 3 hours long so the Armed Forces movie theater at Sidi Brahim offered a 15 minute intermission. Almost all of the senior Officers and NCOs had served in WW2, my dad as a sniper in the Pacific. , Anyway, to the point , All these Giants were quietly smoking ,not looking at anything except their own thoughts, not a damn word was said, none were needed, they lived it. I thank God daily I was allowed to stand close to them.
I know that those rumbles we feel are those Giants turning,, waiting for us ..to embark on saving their Great Crusade.