D Day

Today is June 6^th, the day on which, in 1944, the American, British, and Canadian armies landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the long, arduous process of freeing Europe from Adolf Hitler’s deadly grip. (Our last blog celebrated the day eleven months later, May 8^th, 1945, when Germany surrendered to the Allies unconditionally.)

On the evening of D Day Winston Churchill informed the House of Commons that the landings had been successful, and that ‘many dangers and difficulties had been overcome,’ words I chose as the title of my novel Dangers and Difficulties, which begins on D Day morning.

I have written about D Day on several occasions, at Firefight at Stützpunkt One-Oh and Inch by Bloody Inch for example, and I encourage my readers to explore this fascinating topic in more detail. I also recommend the opening battle sequence of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ which gives a realistic portrayal of Omaha Beach.

For this blog I will mention just a few items of particular interest:

There were no cowards on the beaches: Normandy was invaded by 150,000 brave men. Of note, I suggest, were two:

• Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis of the Green Howards (I chose the opening photograph in his honor) who single-handedly stormed an enemy pillbox, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest British honor. His citation reads:
  ‘In Normandy on 6th June, 1944, during the assault on the beaches and the Mont Fleury Battery, C.S.M. Hollis’s Company Commander noticed that two of the pill-boxes had been by-passed, and went with C.S.M. Hollis to see that they were clear. When they were 20 yards from the pillbox, a machine-gun opened fire from the slit and C.S.M. Hollis instantly rushed straight at the pillbox, firing his Sten gun. He jumped on top of the pillbox, re-charged his magazine, threw a grenade in through the door and fired his Sten gun into it, killing two Germans and taking the remainder prisoner. He then cleared several Germans from a neighbouring trench. By his action, he undoubtedly saved his Company from being fired on heavily from the rear and enabled them to open the main beach exit.’
• Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt of the US 4^th Infantry Division (President Theodore Roosevelt’s son) who, although suffering from severe arthritis, repeatedly walked Utah Beach under enemy fire, making sure his men knew where to go as they came ashore, directing his men to their exit points off the beach with complete disregard for his personal safety, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

He was the only general in any army to land with the first assault troops in D Day, and the oldest man, at 56, to land that day. He was half of the only father and son pair to land on D Day. George Patton described him as ‘one of the bravest men I ever knew.’ And Omar Bradley, when asked the bravest action he ever saw in combat, replied ‘Ted Roosevelt on Utah Beach.’

At least 10,000 Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen were killed or wounded on D Day, a casualty rate of approximately 7%. The Allies suffered more than 200,000 casualties in the Battle of Normandy which followed.

In 1966, when French President Charles de Gaulle took France out of NATO, he demanded the removal of all American soldiers from France. Dean Rusk, the U.S. Secretary of State, asked de Gaulle if the request included the American soldiers buried in military cemeteries. Stung, de Gaulle left the room without replying.

When Churchill went to the House of Commons to announce the D Day landings, he devoted the first 734 words of his speech to the war in Italy. It was only after many paragraphs that he said:

‘I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place.’

Later in his speech he said:

‘I have been at the centers where the latest information is received, and I can state to the House that this operation is proceeding in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. Many dangers and difficulties which at this time last night appeared extremely formidable are behind us.’

And so they were, but many more lay ahead.