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Thursday, June 06, 2013

This Day In History Jun 6, 1944: D-Day

Although the term D-Day is used routinely as military lingo for the day an operation or event will take place, for many it is also synonymous with June 6, 1944, the day the Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II. Within three months, the northern part of France would be freed and the invasion force would be preparing to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet forces moving in from the east.

With Hitler's armies in control of most of mainland Europe, the Allies knew that a successful invasion of the continent was central to winning the war. Hitler knew this too, and was expecting an assault on northwestern Europe in the spring of 1944. He hoped to repel the Allies from the coast with a strong counterattack that would delay future invasion attempts, giving him time to throw the majority of his forces into defeating the Soviet Union in the east. Once that was accomplished, he believed an all-out victory would soon be his.

On the morning of June 5, 1944, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history. On his orders, 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night, 822 aircraft filled with parachutists headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

once again, the Daily Crimes had no mention of D-Day.

Anonymous said...

Our brave soldiers didn't sacafrice their lives for food stamps and welfare and amnesty.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for mentioning this.

I admit, sometimes I forget, and I don't want to ever, ever forget.

All day, I was thinking "there's something about today" and I couldn't put my finger on it.

Thanks for doing it for me.

Anonymous said...

The greatest generation...

Anonymous said...

My flag was flying at dawn, but the bugle po'd some neighbors.

lmclain said...

Good thing they hadn't come up with "PSTD" back then. All those guys did was storm beaches (with no body armour) under artillery and machine gun fire, and stay in the war "for the duration". No computers and cell phone to "stay in touch". They didn't deploy in the daytime and run back into fortified compounds at night. They didn't get one year deployments because it was so tough on them. And they didn't come back and demand that people be quiet because loud noises scared them. They raised large families who grew up with respect and morals, went to work everyday, and built this country into the worlds greatest ecomonic and military power. Few single mothers, no welfare, no disability, no help. Just hard solid work without complaint about what someone else "owes" them or how bad it was for them over there.. They deserve everything we can give them. Without THEM there wouldn't be so much free stuff to be passing out today....SALUTE!!

Anonymous said...

It is so tragic that our brave men and women fought and died for our freedoms that have been systematically taken away from each of us by this administration. May the brave soldiers rest in peace. I'm sorry we have let all of you down.

Anonymous said...

The Normandy Invasion was small in comparison to the Battle of Kurst -- about 1 Million on each side (German & Russian). Face it -
Stalin and his commie troops won WWII.