06-04-2019, 07:55 PM
Hi to everyone!
It is just a couple days away, and a number of countries, I think, should be getting ready for a bit of a celebration! Or at least a ceremony in remembrance of an important date that took place 75 years ago.
June 6, 1944 D-Day
At the time, Hitler was in control of a significant part of Europe, and after trying to negotiate with him, Hitler had announced that he would not surrender, and the war would go on.
The Allies had been preparing a bold major new operation for months, doing drills to try and imitate one of the hardest military tasks that there are -- an amphibious assault on a major land mass.
Operation Fortitude
Due to the vast number of people involved, the length of time troops needed to prepare, and the spy networks, Hitler knew the Allies were planning something, and he was working very hard to figure out what it was, and when and where it would happen. At the same time, the Allied forces mounted another whole operation, Operation Fortitude, the goal of which was to obfuscate their real mission, and feed Germany with false information, and convince them to look for assaults in the wrong places.
An unbelievable number of people took part in this operation, and it really is shocking that it went as well as it did. An assault on a beach where you are expected, is a bloodbath. The Allied plan was to attack in the final hours of darkness. Entire regiments of paratroopers were to deploy simultaneously in flanking positions, here they predicted that 3 out of 4 paratroopers were likely to die. They wanted to pick only a night with a full, or close to full moon so the additional light would help soldiers reach the shore, and illuminate obstacles placed in the surf by the Germans to help prevent such assaults. The weather needed to be suitable, since rough seas would mean that landing craft could not be deployed from the larger amphibious assault ships. Over 1000 ships and supporting ships participated.
Operation Overlord
June 6th, 1944 was D-Day for Operation Overlord. Many people wonder what the 'D' stands for, but it is just military jargon, where the date that any operation commences is 'D-Day', and then other days surrounding it are D-1, D-2, D+1, D+2, etc.
About 150000 troops landed on D-Day, with that number swelling to almost 1 million by the end of June. Five individual beaches were selected as targets, code named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
More than half of the attacking force were American. The USA contributed all troops that landed at Utah and Omaha. Canadian troops landed mostly at Juno. British forces, the remaining Americans and Canadians, plus other smaller groups took on Gold and Sword.
The original planned attack date was to be June 5th, but bad weather kept all the ships sheltering near the British shore, and the Germans believed they had a few days, at least, before an attack would be possible. A number of key commanders of the German forces were absent, which aided the chances of success of the assault. Omaha proved to be the most difficult of these assaults, and more than 2000 Americans were killed there alone. The remaining targets resulted in the deaths of roughly 2400 more Allied soldiers.
However, all told, the invasion was a startling success. All 5 beaches had been captured by sunset on June 6th. More troops arrived in the days that followed, and much ground that the Germans had seized from France was recaptured.
June 6th, "D-Day" is the date chosen to remember this hugely significant military operation, which led to the liberation of France, and the eventual surrender of the Germans.
Thank you for reading this, and perhaps take a moment to reflect on the price of freedom, which most of us enjoy to this date.
I am proud to say that Canada is releasing, just days from now, two special circulation $2 coins to commemorate this day. There is a "coin exchange" being hosted in about a weeks time where I will be able to get my first two such coins.
If anyone else's country is doing something similar to mark this date, I hope you'll let us know here?
It is just a couple days away, and a number of countries, I think, should be getting ready for a bit of a celebration! Or at least a ceremony in remembrance of an important date that took place 75 years ago.
June 6, 1944 D-Day
At the time, Hitler was in control of a significant part of Europe, and after trying to negotiate with him, Hitler had announced that he would not surrender, and the war would go on.
The Allies had been preparing a bold major new operation for months, doing drills to try and imitate one of the hardest military tasks that there are -- an amphibious assault on a major land mass.
Operation Fortitude
Due to the vast number of people involved, the length of time troops needed to prepare, and the spy networks, Hitler knew the Allies were planning something, and he was working very hard to figure out what it was, and when and where it would happen. At the same time, the Allied forces mounted another whole operation, Operation Fortitude, the goal of which was to obfuscate their real mission, and feed Germany with false information, and convince them to look for assaults in the wrong places.
An unbelievable number of people took part in this operation, and it really is shocking that it went as well as it did. An assault on a beach where you are expected, is a bloodbath. The Allied plan was to attack in the final hours of darkness. Entire regiments of paratroopers were to deploy simultaneously in flanking positions, here they predicted that 3 out of 4 paratroopers were likely to die. They wanted to pick only a night with a full, or close to full moon so the additional light would help soldiers reach the shore, and illuminate obstacles placed in the surf by the Germans to help prevent such assaults. The weather needed to be suitable, since rough seas would mean that landing craft could not be deployed from the larger amphibious assault ships. Over 1000 ships and supporting ships participated.
Operation Overlord
June 6th, 1944 was D-Day for Operation Overlord. Many people wonder what the 'D' stands for, but it is just military jargon, where the date that any operation commences is 'D-Day', and then other days surrounding it are D-1, D-2, D+1, D+2, etc.
About 150000 troops landed on D-Day, with that number swelling to almost 1 million by the end of June. Five individual beaches were selected as targets, code named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
More than half of the attacking force were American. The USA contributed all troops that landed at Utah and Omaha. Canadian troops landed mostly at Juno. British forces, the remaining Americans and Canadians, plus other smaller groups took on Gold and Sword.
The original planned attack date was to be June 5th, but bad weather kept all the ships sheltering near the British shore, and the Germans believed they had a few days, at least, before an attack would be possible. A number of key commanders of the German forces were absent, which aided the chances of success of the assault. Omaha proved to be the most difficult of these assaults, and more than 2000 Americans were killed there alone. The remaining targets resulted in the deaths of roughly 2400 more Allied soldiers.
However, all told, the invasion was a startling success. All 5 beaches had been captured by sunset on June 6th. More troops arrived in the days that followed, and much ground that the Germans had seized from France was recaptured.
June 6th, "D-Day" is the date chosen to remember this hugely significant military operation, which led to the liberation of France, and the eventual surrender of the Germans.
Thank you for reading this, and perhaps take a moment to reflect on the price of freedom, which most of us enjoy to this date.
I am proud to say that Canada is releasing, just days from now, two special circulation $2 coins to commemorate this day. There is a "coin exchange" being hosted in about a weeks time where I will be able to get my first two such coins.
If anyone else's country is doing something similar to mark this date, I hope you'll let us know here?
Fight the Good Fight
(Listen with lyrics here!)
Make it worth the price we pay!
All your life you've been waiting for your chance,
Pray you'll fit into the Plan.
But you're the master of your own destiny,
So give and take the best that you can!
(Listen with lyrics here!)
Make it worth the price we pay!
All your life you've been waiting for your chance,
Pray you'll fit into the Plan.
But you're the master of your own destiny,
So give and take the best that you can!
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