Operation Overlord

I often wonder just what it was like for the men of the allied forces on the day of June 6, 1944. This was the day of the landings on the beaches of Normandy, as part of operation Overlord. Were the soldiers all silent, all burrowed within the sanctum of their own minds thinking of something, home, the upcoming battle, the speech that Eisenhower delivered to them (Speech is in the video above), or friends and family? The soldiers were mostly young, inexperienced men, a collection of draftees (men who were drafted into the military) and volunteer soldiers.  However the allied force that was heading towards the beaches of Normandy was not just composed of American forces, and not all were heading towards Omaha beach.

                The Allied force that took part in the Normandy Invasion was composed of multiple nations, primarily American, British and Canadian forces. As for their landing points Americans landed at the infamous Omaha beach, as well as Utah beach and Point du Hoc. Meanwhile the Canadian and British forces landed at the beaches of Gold, Juno, and Sword. The battle wasn’t fought on beaches alone but also miles into France itself, paratroopers from the American and British airborne forces were being dropped in behind enemy lines. “[These airborne forces launched from England as early as] 12am on June 6^th, 1944 [and would arrive over France around] 2am”. –(WWII database) The number of planes taking part in the offensive were so numerous that one writer from the New York Times wrote “we saw tracers arching through the air in a parade of Allied planes.”  The fighting at some locations were at a high intensity, in one reported case, German soldiers inside a bunker defending the beaches of Normandy reportedly “… fired 12,000 rounds at the Americans and were running out of ammunition.” –(WWII Database). In fact by the end of the day Allied forces would suffer over 10,000 casualties but the beaches of Normandy would be in the hands of the Allies, and from that a foothold into Fortress Europe.

Source Information:

 “Parade of Planes Carries Invader” The New York Times. 1944. Print.

(WWII Database) worldwar2database. MFA Productions LLC. Web. 4/22/11. 

 http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/normandy.htm

Image Source:

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/s300000/s320901.jpg