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The military history thread
GarandMarine:
0000 Universal Coordinated Time - 6 June 1944. Men of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions, the British 6th Airborne division, Canadian 1st Parachute division, and other allied forces began their aerial drops across Europe spearheading one of the largest military operations in human history with other 17,000 paratroopers and glider troopers. They were badly scattered, hampered by mis drops in the dark and harsh weather, but their valiant efforts disrupted German command and control across Normandy, threw their forces into disarray and made possible the landings on the beaches that would come just a few short hours later.
Now. Play this on loud while reading the rest of this post.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrJAwCBbnuc
On this day, 6 June, 1947, men of a host of Allied nations, united in Resistance to evil and tryanny in pre-dawn light and rough seas crossed the English channel towards the coast of France in what was to be the largest Amphibious invasion our world has ever seen. The British 1 Corps was assigned Juno and Sword beaches, with the 3rd Canadian Infantry, the loss of their brothers in the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, were assigned the assault on Juno, and the British 3rd Infantry Division assigned Sword. 30 Corps was assigned Gold beach, lead in by 50th Infantry Division. The American beaches, Utah and Omaha were divided between VII Corps, spearheaded by the 4th Infantry Division, and V Corps, led by the famous Big Red One (1st Infantry Division) and the 29th Infantry Division. Over 160,000 Allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy, 6 June, 1944. Many would not return, with over four thousand men KIA, and at least six thousand more wounded on D-Day alone. They died to machine gun fire and to shelling, in vicious hand to hand, many not even making it out of their landing crafts. Still others drowned in the cold waters of the English Channels when their boats came up short, dragged down into the darkness by the weights of the packs they wore and the rifles they carried. By the end of the Battle of Normandy the Allies would sustain over 200,000 casualties, including 37,000 men killed in action. By their deeds and their blood, sacrificed upon the alter of combat, so began the first steps of freeing Europe from the Nazi jackboot. The road to victory in Europe was long and bloody, but in the end we must look back and consider, that so much of what we have today as a free world came down to a single day of fighting over six miles of beach in France. On this day, in silent memory, it is only right that we be grateful to the sacrifices that have been made so that we can live as we do.
"They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate." — President Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio broadcast, June 6, 1944
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world... I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
-Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHvqS2kk1rs
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMs9obmTEtw
And I shall end, once again, with the Green Fields of France.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7M3OalT-H8
GarandMarine:
Seemingly Inspired by Akima's WW1 battlefield photo post earlier.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/d-day-landing-sites-then-now-normandy-beaches-1944-70-years-later-1450286
Today, as many around the world prepare to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the landings, pictures of tourists soaking up the sun on Normandy's beaches stand in stark contrast to images taken around the time of the invasion.
Reuters photographer Chris Helgren compiled archive pictures taken during the invasion and went back to the same places to photograph them as they appear today.
(Pictures in spoilers, so I don't kill the mobile users)
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GarandMarine:
Good article here about Obscure facts about the Landings.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/10874340/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-D-Day-landings.html
--- Quote ---1. Lieutenant James Doohan of the Winnipeg Rifles was shot in the hand and chest on D-Day. A silver cigarette case stopped the bullet to the chest, but the shot to his hand caused him to lose a finger.
Doohan later became known to generations of TV viewers as the actor who played Scottie in Star Trek. While on camera, he always tried to hide his injured hand.
2. Celebrated war photographer Robert Capa was in the second wave of troops to land at Omaha Beach. His pictures of the event are known as The Magnificent Eleven – a title that reflects their number. Despite taking two reels of film, totalling 106 pictures, only 11 survived after 16-year-old darkroom assistant Dennis Banks dried them at too high a temperature.
3. Juan Pujol was a double agent working for MI5, who helped convince the Germans that D-Day wouldn’t be in June. Bizarrely, his first code name was BOVRIL – but that was soon changed to GARBO as he was such a good actor. GARBO fooled the Germans so completely, Hitler awarded him the Iron Cross. As he was living in Hendon at the time, Pujol asked if they could post it to him.
4. On the morning of D-Day, J.D. Salinger landed on Omaha Beach with six chapters of his unfinished novel Catcher in the Rye in his backpack. In the afternoon, Evelyn Waugh, recuperating in Devon after injuring his leg in paratrooper training, finished the final chapter of his novel Brideshead Revisited.
5. The giant wall map used by General Eisenhower and General Montgomery at their HQ Southwick House was made by toy maker Chad Valley.
6. Lord Lovat led the British 1st Special Service Brigade. An inspiring but eccentric figure, he landed on Sword Beach wearing hunting brogues and carrying a wading stick used for salmon fishing.
Working as an adviser on the film The Longest Day, Lovat woke up in a taxi surrounded by German troops and instinctively dived out of the car, but then realised they were just extras.
7. On the morning of D-Day, the House of Commons debated whether office cleaners should no longer be called ‘charladies.’
8. News of D-Day reached POW camp Colditz via an illegal radio hidden in an attic. To avoid detection, the POWs used shoes with no tread that left no mark in the attic’s dust.
On hearing the news, POW Cenek Chaloupka vowed that if the war wasn’t over by December he’d run round the courtyard naked. On Christmas Eve 1944, Chaloupka ran round it twice. It was -7 degrees Celsius.
9. Like many troops, Lieutenant Herbert Jalland of the Durham Light Infantry ran onto Gold Beach wearing pyjamas underneath his battledress, in order to prevent chafing from his backpack.
10. General Montgomery helped mastermind D-Day, the largest invasion the world had ever seen. His diary entry for the day read: ‘Invaded Normandy; left Portsmouth 10.30.
--- End quote ---
’
Grognard:
My maternal grandfather was involved in D-Day, but never even made it to the beach.
the culprit?
The Sherman Dual Drive "Swimming" Tank, that didn't.
check out the 741st Tank Btln at Omaha Beach.
27 of 29 never made it ashore, most of which sank without ever taking fire.
Grandpa finally set foot on France about three days later with a brand new Sherman.
Kugai:
Probably the only place where the DD's were a total failure if memory serves.
I think they worked out there were two reasons they failed at Omaha
1) They wound up being launched too far out - more than 1000 yards sooner than they should have been
2) They got caught in a series of cross current waves which caused them to be swamped.
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