1944 D-Day
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Today 6th June marks the 61th anniversary of D-Day. brief history below.
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On june 4, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, the Allied invasion of northern France.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
By daybreak, 18,000 British and American parachutists were already on the ground. At 6:30 a.m., American troops came ashore at Utah and Omaha beaches. At Omaha, the U.S. First Division battled high seas, mist, mines, burning vehicles-and German coastal batteries, including an elite infantry division, which spewed heavy fire. Many wounded Americans ultimately drowned in the high tide. British divisions, which landed at Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches, and Canadian troops also met with heavy German fire, but by the end of the day they were able to push inland.
Despite the German resistance, Allied casualties overall were relatively light. The United States and Britain each lost about 1,000 men, and Canada 355. Before the day was over, 155,000 Allied troops would be in Normandy. However, the United States managed to get only half of the 14,000 vehicles and a quarter of the 14,500 tons of supplies they intended on shore.
Three factors were decisive in the success of the Allied invasion. First, German counterattacks were firm but sparse, enabling the Allies to create a broad bridgehead, or advanced position, from which they were able to build up enormous troop strength. Second, Allied air cover, which destroyed bridges over the Seine, forced the Germans to suffer long detours, and naval gunfire proved decisive in protecting the invasion troops. And third, division and confusion within the German ranks as to where the invasion would start and how best to defend their position helped the Allies. (Hitler, convinced another invasion was coming the next day east of the Seine River, refused to allow reserves to be pulled from that area.)
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commander of Britain's Twenty-first Army Group (but under the overall command of General Eisenhower, for whom Montgomery, and his ego, proved a perennial thorn in the side), often claimed later that the invasion had come off exactly as planned. That was a boast, as evidenced by the failure to take Caen on the first day, as scheduled. While the operation was a decided success, considering the number of troops put ashore and light casualties, improvisation by courageous and quick-witted commanders also played an enormous role. -
[quote]Originally posted by Gordonator:
[b]On june 4, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, the Allied invasion of northern France.
i think it's actually code name: Operation Overlord. D-day is just to mark the day of the start of said operation. -
in addition there was a H hour within D-day to depict the exacct start of operation of the invasion.
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Quite Sad watching movie Saving Pte Ryan during da first scene which is located at Omaha. Dats da Bloodiest war ever.
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Band of brothers rockz!!!
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The bloody success of Op Overlord came from the pain taking planning
and executions of 'wrong intelligences feeding'.The Allied had deceived
Hilter that the main force would landed in other locations.
One of the ops was:
Remember the poor deceased gentleman who was dressed up as a
high ranking military officer as a courier to a Allied leader.
He was chosen for he dead from a disease looked like he was drowned.
The letter he carried indicated the locations of main force.
After calculating tides info,the Allied released the corpse from sub/ ship
,and as predicted ,the poor man was discovered by the Germans.
This letter reinforced Hilter's predictions!!!
The success or failure of war come from intelligence---correct or feed. -
I thought that the 'Officer-carrying-top-secret-document-die-by-drowning' deception is for Operation Husky, the Allied landing in Sicily.....
Anyway, these are some of the deceptions carried by the Allies:
1. Bogus radio traffic implying large troop formations in East Anglia
2. Bogus camps and inflatable dummy vehicles, also in East Anglia...while German recon planes are allowed to photograph them
3. Leaking 'secrets' that the Allies are going to land in either Norway or Pas-de-Calais.
4. Heavy bombardment in Pas-de-Calais area (these bombings not only reinforce the Germans' perception that thy are preparatory bombings prior to invasion, it also wrecks communications that the German 15th Army would be hard-pressed to reinforce the 7th Army in Normandy. -
oh. someone cares.
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The Man who Never Was - Major Martin, was Operation Mincemeat, and yes you are right, it was to help steer Operation Husky.Originally posted by khyron1:I thought that the 'Officer-carrying-top-secret-document-die-by-drowning' deception is for Operation Husky, the Allied landing in Sicily.....
Anyway, these are some of the deceptions carried by the Allies:
1. Bogus radio traffic implying large troop formations in East Anglia
2. Bogus camps and inflatable dummy vehicles, also in East Anglia...while German recon planes are allowed to photograph them
3. Leaking 'secrets' that the Allies are going to land in either Norway or Pas-de-Calais.
4. Heavy bombardment in Pas-de-Calais area (these bombings not only reinforce the Germans' perception that thy are preparatory bombings prior to invasion, it also wrecks communications that the German 15th Army would be hard-pressed to reinforce the 7th Army in Normandy. -
Originally posted by lionnoisy:The bloody success of Op Overlord came from the pain taking planning
and executions of 'wrong intelligences feeding'.The Allied had deceived
Hilter that the main force would landed in other locations.
One of the ops was:
Remember the poor deceased gentleman who was dressed up as a
high ranking military officer as a courier to a Allied leader.
He was chosen for he dead from a disease looked like he was drowned.
The letter he carried indicated the locations of main force.
After calculating tides info,the Allied released the corpse from sub/ ship
,and as predicted ,the poor man was discovered by the Germans.
This letter reinforced Hilter's predictions!!!
The success or failure of war come from intelligence---correct or feed.
LOL no that was for Operation Husky in general.