) as I may want to submit this to an essay contest someday.At 0000hrs June 6th, 64 years ago, the curtain went up on the largest manmade drama of the Twentieth Century. At that moment an event which would involve hundreds of thousands of young men by the end of the day started with only a few hundred. They were the Pathfinders, the men charged with jumping feet first over enemy-held territory with no support and only their weapon and the massive lights or radar beacons required to mark off the Drop Zones(DZ) for the massive incoming Airborne Armies. They were widely scattered and yet most managed to assemble well enough to light the DZ. It was on those few, courageous (some may say crazy) souls that the fates of the massive Allied Airborne Army depended. About the time the Pathfinders were landing, the transports carrying the Airborne Troopers were passing over the massive invasion fleet, rank upon endless rank of transport craft passed over the fleet. The last plain in the formation flashed out a simple, yet poignant signal to the assault forces in the boats below: three dots and a dash, the Morse Code letter "V"---for Victory.
At 0100 hours, the invasion began. Paratroops and Glider Troops began their assault behind the German Coastal fortifications. The success of the entire operation hinged on them, for it was their responsibility to secure the vital causeways across the flooded areas leading off the invasion beaches and to prevent the Germans from amassing a counterattack. Due to high winds and low visibility the drops were widely scattered. Enlisted men of the American 82nd Airborne found themselves being led by officers of the 101st and vice versa. Maj. Gen. Maxwell Taylor of the 101st division found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many." There were three Airborne Divisions in the initial assault on Fortress Europe, the British 6th Airborne, and the American 82nd Airborne (veterans by this point) and 101st Airborne Divisions (on their first Combat Jump). It is from the 101st Airborne we have the stories of the "Band of Brothers", Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
These divisions were dropped in complete and utter chaos, but maintained their good humor as they moved out toward their destinations. The remarkable thing is just what they managed to accomplish in five hours. Most of their objectives were completed in the time required.
0600 Began the Invasion. At that moment the assault fleets opened fire on the German beach fortifications. "They came, rank after relentless rank, ten lanes wide, twenty miles across, five thousand ships of every description," wrote one reporter: "Coast Guard cutters, buoy-layers and motor launches," and "a formidable array of 702 warships."
It was through this hail of heavy artillery the assault forces traveled in their floundering Higgins Boats and LCTs (Landing Craft, Tanks). At 0630 the first assault boats ramp touched down, and the Germans heavy artillery opened fire as the troops rushed headlong in to fortifications designed by the Desert Fox himself, Field Marshal Irwin Rommel.
It was H-Hour.
On the beaches of Sword, Juno and Gold, the English and Canadian Commonwealth forces had an easy time of it, partly due to a bombardment a half-hour longer than the American Sectors. One soldier was heard to remark it was "no different than many of the practice invasions back in England," in fact maybe easier.
The American assault on Utah Beach faced moderate resistance, but they managed to get organized and move off the beach in good order. The assault on Omaha Beach was Hell. The assault on Omaha Beach would go down in the annals of the 1st Infantry Divisions History (the division that had led the invasions of Africa and Sicily and was proudly known as the "Big Red One"), as "Bloody Omaha". The troops they faced on the beach was not the relatively young un-bled German Infantry Division they had anticipated, but the seasoned, highly disciplined troops of the 352nd Infantry Division. Men and boats disintegrated under the heavy fire. Men overloaded with ammunition didn't have a chance, they were either drowned when their boat was hit, or died of a lucky gunshot. As wave after wave of infantry was stranded on Omaha Beach, thought was given to withdrawing them and re-landing them somewhere else; but Brig. Gen. Norman Cota of the 1st Division wouldn't have it. He felt it would be disrespectful to the hundreds who had already died on the beach and went around motivating men to get a-move on. "Only two kinds of people are going to stay on this beach, the dead, and those that are going to die! Now Get moving!" were his words of encouragement. Slowly, as squads and platoons, men began to make it off Omaha Beach. By 1500 (3:00pm) troops had finally made it off the beaches and were begin to occupy for German positions. All that remained was the clean-up.
War Correspondent Ernie Pyle wrote of the aftermath of the invasion, "We have seen the mechanical wreckage of war, but there is another form of wreckage left on the beach. We see personal effects, papers, pictures etc. scattered along the beach as if a high water mark, waiting for owners who will never return to retrieve them. Letter-writing paper is by far the most popular, these boys intended to do a lot of writing from France, and now they never will. We are sorry for them, and also for their families and sweethearts who will never get those letters. For the legacies those family's will be denied, for the children they won't have. The sea has her own ways of treating the bodies. She will move in and when she retreats, she will take the bodies with her. Sometimes returning them at another location. I was walking through the water and felt what I thought to be two pieces of driftwood brush by me. When I investigated I found it was not driftwood, but the feet of a GI, his body completely covered by sand save his feet."
The above quote was paraphrased as best I could remember from an article by Ernie Pyle at the Reading Airports "World War Two Weekend" today. I encourage anyone with even the slightest interest in the topic to check it out.
The Allied assault on Hitler's Fortress Europe was a success. But only at massive human cost. Estimated Allied causalities for the day are around 10,000 including 2500 dead. British casualties are estimated at approximately 2700, casualties on their beaches include (roughly) 1000 on Gold and Sword Beaches, some 600 killed or wounded plus 600 missing airborne troops, 100 glider pilots. The Canadians lost 340 killed, 574 wounded, and 47 taken prisoner from their 3rd Division's assault on Juno Beach.
US Casualties include 1465 dead, 3184 wounded, 1928 missing and 26 captured, of which 2499 casualties were suffered by airborne troops. 238 of the Airborne casualties were death. On Utah Beach the US Suffered about 197 casualties, including 60 missing. On Omaha Beach the 1st and 29th Divisions suffered about 2000 casualties.
German Casualties are not known.
Now I know some of you are wondering "why is he telling us all this." To be perfectly honest I'm not sure myself. I think it's primarily to remind us all that what to us merely seem to be dates in a history class really did happen and real men were involved. Seeing a war movie is one thing, it's another to realize that they were real people and those were real events. That's why I recommend anyone who's interested to Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day (if you can find a copy) or Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, they tell the story of the war through the eyes of the people who were there. We all know the Generals and the dates and who won or lost, those books tell the story of the average foot soldier who was on the front lines doing the fighting and wasn't sure one way or another how the battle would go. When reading them I almost find myself worried about the outcomes of the battles even though I already know what happened! Every year the number of members of the Greatest Generation gets smaller, and as their numbers decrease it becomes more important for their stories to be continued.
We must remember that whatever our thoughts on the justification for a war, or the action of its inception, war is a human endeavor. We must remember the foot soldier, the sailor, the airmen who despite any personal misgivings, did his duty to his country when his country called. We can do no less.
