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    D-Day
    D-Day
    D-Day
    Ebook131 pages42 minutes

    D-Day

    By Francis Crosby

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    About this ebook

    Personal accounts of D-Day drawn from newly available WWII archives share the experiences of aerial, land, and naval troops—includes photos.
     
    On June 6, 1944, an Allied force of American, British, and Canadian troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, and turned the tide against the occupying Nazi army. Harrowing and heroic, the events of D-Day were recorded in the personal writings of those who were there. Here, Francis Crosby has compiled a comprehensive collection of previously unpublished letters, diaries, photographs, and reminiscences that tell the story of D-Day as it has never been told before.
     
    With the use of new international archives, Crosby has culled vivid and detailed eye-witness accounts from each beach, as well as perspectives from land, sea, and air. This fascinating collection includes entries from American, British, and Canadian troops, the Merchant Navy and the Royal Air Force, and newly available German materials. Also included are contemporary and retrospective reactions of women “in the know” and those whom knew from “unofficial sources” of the immediate imminence of the assault.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJun 19, 2004
    ISBN9781473813427
    D-Day

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      Book preview

      D-Day - Francis Crosby

      Introduction

      Had it not been for stormy weather in the Channel area, June 5 would have gone down in history as D-Day, the day that Britain and the Allies returned to France in force with the aim of liberating not only France but the rest of Europe from Nazi domination.

      Although the weather was not predicted to improve dramatically, Allied ‘met’ experts anticipated a brief improvement on the 6th. Just as invaders through the ages have relied on the most elemental factors to improve their chances of success, Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, was aware that the moon and tides would not be so favourable again for some time. With that in mind ‘like’ gave the go signal for the biggest seaborne invasion in human history.

      Planning for the invasion had been underway since the Americans joined World War II and by Spring 1944, everything was in place. Almost exactly four years earlier the British Expeditionary Force had been forced back by a blistering German advance to Dunkirk. This time the Allies had to hit the Germans hard and with the element of surprise while enjoying air superiority over the invasion areas. The planners decided to attack France where the Germans were not expecting it, on the Cotentin Caen stretch of the French coast. Although it was a longer and more hazardous journey than that to the expected landing area of the Pas de Calais, the beaches of Normandy were considered more suitable and the German defences were known the be lighter.

      During the first six months of 1944, the Allies concentrated naval, land, and air forces in Britain to prepare for Operation OVERLORD, the assault on Hitler’s Fortress Europe. Allied troops trained separately and jointly for the operation while the planners honed the plan to perfection to make maximum use of the massive force and resources at their disposal. Nine army divisions (three airborne and six infantry) from the United States, Britain and Canada trained and rehearsed their roles in the meticulously planned operation.

      As D-Day dawned, while more than 5,000 ships from battleships to landing craft, headed for France, more than 1,000 transport aircraft dropped paratroopers to secure the flanks and beach exits of the assault area. Amphibious craft landed troops on five beaches along fifty miles of Normandy coast. In the eastern sector the British and Canadians landed on what were codenamed Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches while the Americans landed on two beaches in the west, Utah and Omaha.

      By the end of D-Day, the Allies had landed as many as 155,000 troops in France by sea and air; several thousand vehicles including tanks, hundreds of artillery pieces and about 4,000 tons of supplies and, astonishingly, had achieved complete surprise in doing it. Hitler’s Atlantic Wall had been breached but the battle was far from over. The bridgehead had to be secured and expanded to prevent the Wehrmacht from driving the Allies back into the sea. As those brave men fought their way up the beaches of Normandy, their steps were the first on the road to victory in Europe. This book, featuring images from the Imperial War Museum’s outstanding Photographic Archive and the United States Military Archives, is dedicated to those who fought to free the world of tyranny.

      Part 1

      Preparation

      A woman hangs out her laundry in a south coast (possibly Southampton) garden on 5 June 1944; the road behind is full of parked vehicles and armour. Much of the south coast became a huge car park for Allied armies. (IWM CL19)

      US Ninth Air Force Army Air Force, Martin B-26 Marauder medium-bombers setting out across the North Sea from UK bases on a mission against enemy E-boat pens at Ijmuiden, Holland, on 26 March 1944. This mission was part of the prelude to D-Day as the Allies tried to eliminate the German Navy and render it ineffective or at least keep it in its bases.

      The later variants of the B-26 could carry a bomb load in excess of 3,000 lb and had an effective range of 1,100 miles. The aircraft was heavily armed and, by 1944, Marauders of the US 9th Air Force were returning the lowest loss rate on operational missions of any aircraft in the European theatre. (IWM EA 19186)

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