Almost exactly 64 years ago... June 6, 1944

[Adept Havelock]

This may strike some as a little silly, but I had a thought I wanted to share.

Sitting at the computer just now, I checked the time on my desktop. I realized it was just about now, 64 years ago, that several hundred thousand American, British, French, and a number of other nations soldiers were launching one of the greatest military efforts in human history.

Several thousand American and British paratroopers were already engaged in one of the great clusterfucks of military history. Scattered units, many without their commanders, were fighting confused actions in the dark. With the odds against them, they never stopped fighting to achieve their objectives. They knew tens of thousands of their countrymen that would be landing shortly depended on them. The courage of those men turned a potential disaster into a great success.

It was just about now that elements of the 1st and 29th Divisions landed on a strip of Hell on Earth known as OMAHA. Their courage will be marked in history with the heroes of Thermopylae, Tours, Gettysburg, Verdun, and other great turning points. US Rangers were assaulting the Pointe Du Hoc, and countless other allied troops were fighting for a beachhead at GOLD, JUNO, SWORD, and UTAH.

At the end of the day, 2,500 Allied Soldiers from the invasion wave would lie dead. Another 10,000 wounded.

They paved the way for a force of over 2 million men that helped to vanquish one of the greatest evils mankind has ever inflicted on itself.

If you have the inclination as your day passes, please take a moment and honor these brave folks. If you are fortunate enough to know anyone who participated in that day, give them a call and thank them.




SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes 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.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Order of the Day
June 6, 1944

[tomahawk kid]

Originally Posted by Otter

I have the honor of living only an hour away from the one and only Cpt.Richard Winters and had the honor to shake his hand at a veterans club a couple years ago.

I've never server but they let turds in like me as guests. There is really nothing you can say except thanks and wonder in awe.

That's awesome man.

[mcan]

Saying that the soldiers who fought at Normandy were brave is like saying that the Beatles were a pretty good band. I just can't imagine throwing myself towards a machine gun in the name of my country and the greater good. I don't think I'd have it in me. TRULY they were amazing, and today we're all the better for what they did for Europe, and consequently the entire world that day.


On the other hand, however, you'ld think that the Allied Forces could have come up with a better plan than just lining everybody up in front of a bunch of firmly entrenched machine guns and yelling "charge!" I would think that an air attack, or some kind of diversion would have been in order, to help those boys on the ground.

[Adept Havelock]

Originally Posted by mcan

Saying that the soldiers who fought at Normandy were brave is like saying that the Beatles were a pretty good band. I just can't imagine throwing myself towards a machine gun in the name of my country and the greater good. I don't think I'd have it in me. TRULY they were amazing, and today we're all the better for what they did for Europe, and consequently the entire world that day.


On the other hand, however, you'ld think that the Allied Forces could have come up with a better plan than just lining everybody up in front of a bunch of firmly entrenched machine guns and yelling "charge!" I would think that an air attack, or some kind of diversion would have been in order, to help those boys on the ground.

They did. That's why there were about 10K casualties, when Allied projections were much higher.

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by mcan

Saying that the soldiers who fought at Normandy were brave is like saying that the Beatles were a pretty good band. I just can't imagine throwing myself towards a machine gun in the name of my country and the greater good. I don't think I'd have it in me. TRULY they were amazing, and today we're all the better for what they did for Europe, and consequently the entire world that day.


On the other hand, however, you'ld think that the Allied Forces could have come up with a better plan than just lining everybody up in front of a bunch of firmly entrenched machine guns and yelling "charge!" I would think that an air attack, or some kind of diversion would have been in order, to help those boys on the ground.

They did they bombed the shit out of the beach before hand, and dropped the paratroopers in ahead of time to take the roads and basically raise as much hell as possible to create a diverison from what I've read.

Also if you think about it there really weren't many other options rather than going at them head on with the amount of men and material they had to unload there was no way they could have done it discreetly. Imop it was a amazing feat espicially considering the technology they had. Even by todays standards it would not be easy to pull off I dont think.

[InChiefsHeaven]

Originally Posted by crispystl420

They did they bombed the shit out of the beach before hand, and dropped the paratroopers in ahead of time to take the roads and basically raise as much hell as possible to create a diverison from what I've read.

Also if you think about it there really want many other options rather than going at them head on with the amount of men and material they had to unload there was no way they could hav edone it discreetly. Imop it was a amazing feat espicially considering the technology they had. Even by todays standards it would not be easy to pull off I dont think.

I think clearing the beach would have been totally easier today, hell, we can bomb the shit out of anybody with precision from hundreds of miles away...but what they had to work with then was just what they used, sheer force and balls the size of watermelons...God Bless them all...

[Gonzo]

Omaha beach suffered the most casualties due to several factors beyond their control. The weather had a huge effect on the beach head, (more than any other because of it's location inland) this caused the Dual Drive tanks (DD Tanks) to sink. The troops there did not have tank support on the beach head like Utah, Juno etc. had.
Also, because of the weather, the troop boats could not land on the beach according to plan and they had to take a head-on approach as opposed to the flanking maneuver the other beaches had. Another issue at Omaha, (and Utah) was that several of the troop boats were swept away from their original landing target so the troops that were already there could not advance because of lacking support.
The winds were also sweeping allied artillery past their target for the first half-hour or so at Omaha. This of course meant that the landing parties did not have the luxury of enemy pre-decimation that the other beaches had.

All of these factors in play and the troops still took the beach and moved inland before dinner.

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by InChiefsHell

I think clearing the beach would have been totally easier today, hell, we can bomb the shit out of anybody with precision from hundreds of miles away...but what they had to work with then was just what they used, sheer force and balls the size of watermelons...God Bless them all...

I agree prepping the beach would be much easier with precision giuded weapons. I was talking more in sheer terms of mobilizing, organizing, and transporting that magnitude of men and material.

[Buehler445]

Thanks for this thread AH. I Wouldn't have thought of it if I hadn't read this today.

I read Ike: An American Hero, and it was a fantastic book. It did a very nice job of displaying the times. It would have been so tough to even say "OK, we're doing it." Much less run out of the boats into solid machinegun fire. Rediculous.

D-Day is a day to be proud of American resolve courage and strength.

[Skip Towne]

I'll bet the Germans couldn't believe it when they saw all those ships. And all those boys running straight into their machine gun fire.

[Adept Havelock]

Originally Posted by Skip Towne

I'll bet the Germans couldn't believe it when they saw all those ships.

Major Werner Pluskat: There must be at least 5,000 ships out there.

HQ: Nonsense. The Allies don't have nearly that many. What's that noise?

Pluskat: Those ships you say they don't have? They are shelling us!

HQ: Where are they headed?

Pluskat: Straight for me!


The scene in the film The Longest Day really happened that way, according to C. Ryan who interviewed Pluskat for the book. Probably my favorite scene in the film.

In a related story, months later Major Pluskat had survived D-Day and the subsequent retreat through France. In Spring of '45, the Allies launched a huge river crossing operation along the Northern part of the Rhine River. Right in the middle of it, on the front lines, was Major Pluskat.

According to C. Ryan who mentioned this in The Last Battle, he was quite relieved to be taken prisoner.

[DTLB58]

"They came of age during the Great Depression and the second world war and went on to build modern America-men and women whose everyday lives of duty,honor,achievement and courage gave us the world we have today."
-Tom Brokaw Author, The Greatest Generation.

The Band of Brothers 10 part mini series is in my opinion the single most powerful thing ever filmed.

God bless the men and women of WWII they are my heroes!

[DTLB58]

Originally Posted by Adept Havelock

Major Werner Pluskat: There must be at least 5,000 ships out there.

HQ: Nonsense. The Allies don't have nearly that many. What's that noise?

Pluskat: Those ships you say they don't have? They are shelling us!

HQ: Where are they headed?

Pluskat: Straight for me!


The scene in the film The Longest Day really happened that way, according to C. Ryan who interviewed Pluskat for the book. Probably my favorite scene in the film.

In a related story, months later Major Pluskat had survived D-Day and the subsequent retreat through France. In Spring of '45, the Allies launched a huge river crossing operation along the Northern part of the Rhine River. Right in the middle of it, on the front lines, was Major Pluskat.

According to C. Ryan who mentioned this in The Last Battle, he was quite relieved to be taken prisoner.

I have read C Ryan's, A bridge to far,The Longest day and The Last battle.

Absolutely phenominal books.

[Adept Havelock]

Originally Posted by DTLB58

I have read C Ryan's, A bridge to far,The Longest day and The Last battle.

Absolutely phenominal books.

If you liked those, I also would suggest Studs Terkel's "The Good War".