June 6, 1944: UK's last day as a superpower [D-Day related]

[edesignuk]

Sixty-five years after the event, the 1944 campaign in Normandy remains a battle of awe-inspiring proportions. The simple facts of D-Day itself still conjure visions of wonder in an era used to telephone-number salaries, international travel and lightning-speed communication, and represented an unprecedented feat of military planning.

Two-hundred thousand seamen manned 6,939 ships, including 1,213 warships. One astonished German described the off-shore scene as "a city on the water". Putting troops ashore involved 4,126 landing vessels of all types, including 1,073 tank landing craft, as well as 864 merchant ship.
Utah Beach

By the day's end had deposited 132,715 troops and 20,000 vehicles directly on to the beaches, with another 23,490 parachutists and glider-borne troops dropped by the allied air forces. The aerial armada supported the landings with 11,590 aircraft, which flew 14,674 sorties.

...continued...

BBC.

Really good little article.

The scale of the operation and the bravery of everyone involved is just phenomenal.

209,672 allied soldiers and 16,714 allied aircrew gave their lives over 77 days. With other deaths added to the mix, 6,600 on average died each day.

In these "tough times" it's kind of sobering (for me at least) to read about these things.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

What's even more remarkable is that these huge quantities of men, vehicles, aircraft and ships were gathered and deployed without the Germans accurately getting wind of what was going on.

An interesting article indeed.

 

[BoyBach]

What's even more remarkable is that these huge quantities of men, vehicles, aircraft and ships were gathered and deployed without the Germans accurately getting wind of what was going on.

The little known Operation Bodyguard.

 

[themoonisdown09]

The scale of the operation and the bravery of everyone involved is just phenomenal.

I completely agree. I would have been so scared landing on Utah beach, I probably would have cried and tried to stay in the boat.

 

[bigandy]

I completely agree. I would have been so scared landing on Utah beach, I probably would have cried and tried to stay in the boat.

Would you have demanded your blanket too?


I think it's a shame how few of our generation appreciate what our relatives went through to keep us speaking English and driving on the left.

 

[steve2112]

The little known Operation Bodyguard.

This was quite the little deception operation. Cardboard and inflatable vehicles, official memos, etc. Patton was "in charge" of this operation, which drove him crazy, of course. Hitler was utterly convinced that the main invasion was going to come at Pas De Calais that he held reserves there even after the invasion at Normandy had started. He was convinced that the Normandy landings were merely a feint, and the real invasion was coming at Calais.

The logistics side of D-Day is mind boggling. Even with all the advances in communications and transportation, I doubt any modern military could duplicate that effort.

The scary thing is that D-Day could have been much bloodier. The Germans had a huge amount of their forces committed to the Eastern Front. Had they not been taking such a pounding from the USSR, they could have had double the amount of troops defending the invasion. Also, Rommel had repeatedly requested more resources to improve the defenses of the Atlantic Wall, but got denied. Either one of these scenarios could have made the invasion much more costly.

 

[bigandy]

^-- Definitely.

I can see one problem with Britain trying to mount a similar attack nowadays - we'd leave all the plans on a bloody train.

 

[miles01110]

I recently went to Normandy and took two battlefield tours. Very interesting to get a sense of scale of what they were up against; Omaha beach at low tide was particularly interesting since the beach literally extends about a half kilometer. When you imagine walking across that in the face of some of the heaviest defenses on the Atlantic Wall, it gives you a better appreciation.

 

[edesignuk]

I think it's a shame how few of our generation appreciate what our relatives went through to keep us speaking English and driving on the left.

Definitely.

I wish so much I had shown more interest as a kid when my mums dad was still alive. He fought in WWII and was a child for WWI. Can't imagine what he went through, along with many millions of others.

 

[kdum8]

BBC.

Really good little article.

The scale of the operation and the bravery of everyone involved is just phenomenal.

209,672 allied soldiers and 16,714 allied aircrew gave their lives over 77 days. With other deaths added to the mix, 6,600 on average died each day.

In these "tough times" it's kind of sobering (for me at least) to read about these things.

That was a great read. D-Day was quite something else. And important to remember that 60% of all men there were British or Commonwealth, although watching Saving Private Ryan you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise...

 

[Demosthenes X]

Thanks for sharing, edesignuk. I think it's very sad that, before long, there will be no one around who remembers WW2. They say those who forget history are doomed to repeat it - that means we must work all the more diligently to ensure we do not forget.

That was a great read. D-Day was quite something else. And important to remember that 60% of all men there were British or Commonwealth, although watching Saving Private Ryan you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise...

Kevin Myers made a very astute comment about that in a column written for the Sunday Telegraph way back in 2002:

Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated -- a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality -- unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer, British. It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

 

[edesignuk]

Thanks for sharing, edesignuk. I think it's very sad that, before long, there will be no one around who remembers WW2. They say those who forget history are doomed to repeat it - that means we must work all the more diligently to ensure we do not forget.

One thing that as a species we are consistent in: we will never learn.

 

[jecapaga]

That was a great read. D-Day was quite something else. And important to remember that 60% of all men there were British or Commonwealth, although watching Saving Private Ryan you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise...

Great article, thanks for sharing. ^agree, D-Day does get a rather American slant for sure, at least over here.

 

[jzuena]

That was a great read. D-Day was quite something else. And important to remember that 60% of all men there were British or Commonwealth, although watching Saving Private Ryan you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise...

I'm not sure how accurate the 60% Commonwealth number is, since in the very next sentence they say "even the landing craft taking the Americans to Omaha Beach were manned by British seamen". At least some of the US landing craft were piloted by the US Coast Guard (another fact that most don't realize). British and Canadian forces landed at 3 beaches to the American's 2 (which you could try to work into the 60% number), but all the numbers I've seen show roughly 75,000 Commonwealth and 75,000 Americans landed, which to my untrained eye looks like 50/50.

 

[Keebler]

I'm not sure how accurate the 60% Commonwealth number is, since in the very next sentence they say "even the landing craft taking the Americans to Omaha Beach were manned by British seamen". At least some of the US landing craft were piloted by the US Coast Guard (another fact that most don't realize). British and Canadian forces landed at 3 beaches to the American's 2 (which you could try to work into the 60% number), but all the numbers I've seen show roughly 75,000 Commonwealth and 75,000 Americans landed, which to my untrained eye looks like 50/50.

in the end, it's just numbers. I think what was important is that each country sacrificed quite a bit to work as a team to get that invasion started and successfully underway. The Canadians advanced the furthest, the Americans suffered the most casualties and the British secured some of the toughest bridges.

To me, Normandy is a place of awe. I've yet to put my own physical feet there, but I plan to one day. I was just tickled pink flying over the Cherbourge peninsula from Lisbon to London 2 years ago on a clear sunny day being able to pick out so many landmarks at 30000 ft. That was almost the hilight of my trip!

It's intriguing b/c of the sheer size of the force and what they encountered. And to think they couldn't even wake Hitler up that morning b/c he had a rule to wait until 9 AM (I think?) or something silly. This meant strong Panzer divisions had to wait before being deployed, thus allowing the Allie to land more troops and advance further. Another good example of how his arrogance cost him the war (re: the Eastern front meets winter).

I was turkey hunting on the weekend and the grass in some of the farmer's fields is really tall. I said to my buddy as we were walking with shotguns in hand and full camo, "Why do I feel like i'm in Saving Private Ryan?"

I will be playing Band of Brothers on the weekend for a bit in honour.

And I take what Tom Hanks says at the end of SPR: "Earn this."

Cheers,
Keebler

 

[miles01110]

I'm not sure how accurate the 60% Commonwealth number is, since in the very next sentence they say "even the landing craft taking the Americans to Omaha Beach were manned by British seamen". At least some of the US landing craft were piloted by the US Coast Guard (another fact that most don't realize). British and Canadian forces landed at 3 beaches to the American's 2 (which you could try to work into the 60% number), but all the numbers I've seen show roughly 75,000 Commonwealth and 75,000 Americans landed, which to my untrained eye looks like 50/50.

Add in the 2 divisions of American Airborne troops to the British 1 (and Canadian 0), the larger number of planes and crew from the US Army Air Corps, and the larger contingent of the US Navy at D-Day and I find the 60% number very questionable.

 

[kdum8]

Add in the 2 divisions of American Airborne troops to the British 1 (and Canadian 0), the larger number of planes and crew from the US Army Air Corps, and the larger contingent of the US Navy at D-Day and I find the 60% number very questionable.

Although it is not particularly important since anyone who was there should be remembered I am curious now to find the actual numbers on all sides.

Without doing some more detailed research it is hard to be sure, but a look at the wikipedia page on the Normandy landings reveals the following:

Sword & Juno Beach: Brits & Commonwealth.

Overall, the 2nd Army contingent consisted of 83,115 troops (61,715 of them British).[7] In addition to the British and Canadian combat units, two troops of No. 10 Commando were employed, manned by Frenchmen, and eight Australian officers were attached to the British forces as observers.[10] The nominally British air and naval support units included a large number of crew from Allied nations, including several RAF squadrons manned almost exclusively by foreign flight crew.

Omaha & Utah Beach: Americans.

In total, the First Army contingent totalled approximately 73,000 men, including 15,500 from the airborne division

This is just the landing forces on the day of course. There were RAF and Royal Naval Units in the channel not included in this count. In the ensuing days many more men were put ashore.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Definitely.

I wish so much I had shown more interest as a kid when my mums dad was still alive. He fought in WWII and was a child for WWI. Can't imagine what he went through, along with many millions of others.

Imagine being born late 19th century....
Being a teenager and probably fought during WW I, then the roaring Twenties, crisis of the Thirties, maybe fought again in WW II, witnessed the Cold War, think a wall right through Berlin is normal, maybe fight again in Korea, Vietnam.... and then you die.

In those 80 years orso, you would have learned that hating others is what people do best.

And, TBO, mankind will never stop fighting each other. There is always somewhere, sometime a reason to kill someone. It's because you're a Taliban warrior, part of the Tutsies Tribe, a North Korean agent, a Rangers or Celtic fan, or in dire need of money...