June 6, 1944: Today is D-Day anniversary
June 6, 1944
Today, Sunday, June 6, 2010, is the 66th anniversary of D-Day, the day on which the Allies invaded continental Europe on the beaches of Normandy, France, to free the world of the tyranny of Nazi Germany.
Fewer and fewer people are alive today who remember D-Day, when the fate of the world depended on the success of the Allied landings.
The Normandy landings were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings commenced on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (D-Day), beginning at 6:30 a.m. British Double Summer Time (UTC+2). In planning, D-Day was the term used for the day of actual landing, which was dependent on final approval.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States of America was the Allied Expeditionary Force’s Supreme Commander. The operations under his command were the largest amphibious invasion of all time, with over 160,000 troops landing on 6 June 1944. Almost 200,000 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved. The invasion required the transport of soldiers and materiel from the United Kingdom by troop-laden aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. The landings took place along a 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
The invasion fleet was drawn from eight different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels: 1,213 warships, 4,126 transport vessels (landing ships and landing craft), and 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels. The overall commander of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force, providing close protection and bombardment at the beaches, was Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay who had been responsible for the planning of the invasion of North Africa in 1942 and one of the two fleets carrying troops for the invasion of Sicily in the following year.
The Germans’ first line of defence was the English Channel, a crossing which had confounded the Spanish Armada and Napoleon Bonaparte’s navy. Compounding the invasion efforts was the extensive Atlantic Wall, ordered by Hitler in his Directive 51. Rommel had the entire wall fortified with tank top turrets and extensive barbed wire, and laid hundreds of thousands of mines to deter landing craft. The Allies chose to attack close to the sector boundary between the 7th and 15th German armies, on the extreme eastern flank of the former, to maximize the possible confusion of command responsibility during German reaction. The landings sector which was attacked was occupied by four German divisions.
American cemetery
Canadian cemetery
German cemetery
The beaches at Normandy are still referred to on maps and signposts by their invasion code names. There are several vast cemeteries in the area. The American cemetery, in Colleville-sur-Mer, contains row upon row of identical white crosses and Stars of David, immaculately kept, commemorating the American dead including boys from Maine. Commonwealth graves, in many locations such as the Canadian one, use white headstones engraved with the person’s religious symbol and their unit insignia. The largest cemetery in Normandy is the La Cambe German war cemetery, which features granite stones almost flush with the ground and groups of low-set crosses. There is also a Polish cemetery.
Streets near the beaches are still named after the units that fought there, and occasional markers commemorate notable incidents. At significant points, such as Pointe du Hoc and Pegasus Bridge, there are plaques, memorials or small museums. The Mulberry harbour still sits in the sea at Arromanches. In Sainte-Mère-Église, a dummy paratrooper hangs from the church spire. On Juno Beach, the Canadian government has built the Juno Beach Information Centre, commemorating one of the most significant events in Canadian military history. In Caen is a large Museum for Peace, which is dedicated to peace generally, rather than only to the battle.
Source: Wikipedia
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