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    D-Day Story
    D-Day Story
    D-Day Story
    Ebook157 pages54 minutes

    D-Day Story

    By Martin W. Bowman

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    About this ebook

    A pocket-sized, stunningly illustrated guide to one of the most famous military operations of all time—D-DayJune 6, 1944 is a day that is emblazoned in history; the first day of the Allied Operation Overlord—the mass invasion of Normandy. Planned for many months and executed swiftly, these landings saw more than 160,000 troops embark from specially designed crafts onto a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast. It was the largest amphibious operation of all time and involved 73,000 American troops, more than 61,000 British troops, and 21,400 Canadian troops, with more than 5,000 ships and landing crafts being deployed. As the troops set foot on the five designated beaches (Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah, and Omaha), they were met with resistance, and in some cases heavy machine-gun fire, with more than 12,000 casualties being sustained. This book is packed with stunning photographs and maps, making it the perfect introduction to this historic event.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe History Press
    Release dateOct 1, 2013
    ISBN9780750951906
    D-Day Story
    Author

    Martin W. Bowman

    Martin Bowman is one of Britain's leading aviation authors and has written a great deal of books focussing on aspects of Second World War aviation history. He lives in Norwich in Norfolk. He is the author of many Pen and Sword Aviation titles, including all releases in the exhaustive Air War D-Day and Air War Market Garden series.

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      Book preview

      D-Day Story - Martin W. Bowman

      ‘Mulberry B’ (Arromanches) Harbour in 1975. (Author)

      A GI helmet washed up on ‘Omaha’ Beach in the 1990s. (Author/Mick Royall) ‘They’re murdering us here! Let’s move inland and get murdered! ‘29 - Let’s go!’ Brigadier General Norman ‘Dutch’ Cota, 51-year-old deputy commander 29th Infantry Division, who inspired his troops to breach the sea wall on Omaha Beach. Cota penetrated inland to a point the American frontline as a whole would not reach until two days later.

      ‘Pegasus Bridge’ near the Café Gondrée, the first house liberated on D-Day. (Author)

      The 6in gun cruiser HMS Belfast, which left the Clyde on 3 June and arrived in the Eastern Task Force at 0500hrs on D-Day. After the Second World War she supported United Nations forces in Korea and remained in service with the Royal Navy until 1965, before being saved for the nation in 1971 and moored opposite the Tower of London. (Author)

      CONTENTS

      Title

      Introduction

      1    Build-Up

      2    The US Airborne

      3    The American Beaches

      4    Pointe-du-Hoc

      5    Red Devils

      6    The British And Canadian Beaches

      Legacy

      Copyright

      INTRODUCTION

      In 1942 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, that unless the Allies could land overwhelming forces ‘and beat the Nazis in battle in France, Adolph Hitler would never be defeated. So this must be your prime task.’ In spring 1943, at the Anglo-American Trident Conference, the British Chiefs of Staff committed themselves to Operation ‘Overlord’ – the invasion of Europe – and the Combined Chiefs issued their directive to General Frederick E. Morgan, who had been appointed Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (Designate) ‘COSSAC’, at the Casablanca Conference: ‘To mount and carry out an operation, with forces and equipment established in the United Kingdom and with target date 1 May 1944, to secure a lodgement on the Continent from which further offensive operations could be developed. The lodgement area must contain sufficient port facilities to maintain a force of twenty-six to thirty divisions and enable that force to be augmented by follow-up shipments from the United States or elsewhere of additional divisions and supporting units at the rate of three to five divisions per month.’

      ‘Second Front Now’ rally at the Albert Hall in 1943 in support of the Soviet Union.

      In August 1943, at the Quebec Summit, the COSSAC plan to invade the Continent in Normandy was approved by Churchill, Roosevelt and the Combined Chiefs of Staff. It was also agreed that the Supreme Commander should be American and that his deputy and three commanders-in-chief should be British, and May 1944 was fixed as the target date. In November 1943 thirty directives for Overlord were issued. During the Tehran Conference at the end of November, Marshal Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, agitated for the opening of the ‘second front’. Roosevelt and Churchill promised him that the invasion would start in May 1944. The target date of 1 May for invasion was later postponed for a month to enable extra landing craft to be built, and the initial assault was expanded from three to five Army divisions. Overlord proceeded in London under the direction of General Morgan and Brigadier General R.W. Barker, who set up an Anglo-American headquarters (HQ) to prepare an outline plan for the invasion of North-West Europe from Britain under the direction of the Supreme Commander. On 6 December 1943, 53-year-old American General Dwight D. Eisenhower – known informally as ‘Ike’ – was appointed to command the landings in France.

      An Atlantic convoy in February 1944 photographed from the battleship USS Arkansas. Some 750,000 tons of food and equipment a month reached Britain from America in 1944. (USN)

      Two areas for invasion were considered. The Pas de Calais had many obvious advantages, such as good air support and a quick turnaround for shipping, but it was the most strongly defended area of the whole French coast and did not offer good opportunities for an expansion of the bridgehead. The Caen sector, however, was weakly held; the defences were relatively light, and the beaches were high capacity and sheltered from the prevailing winds. Inland the terrain was suitable for airfield development and for the consolidation of a bridgehead. So the initial landing on the Continent would be in the Caen area, with the eventual seizure of the Cherbourg–Brittany group of ports. Seine Bay, the area of Normandy chosen for the assault, is 50 miles (80km) across and stretches from Barfleur, where William of Normandy set sail for the invasion

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