6 JUNE 19 44By early 1944. 3.500.(XX) soldiers, sailors andairmen in Britain were preparing for D-Day. About1.7(X).(XX) were British. They were joined by1,500.000 United States tnxips. In addition therewere <strong>Australian</strong>s, Canadians. Greeks. New Zealanders.Rhodesians and South Africans. Those whohad escaped from countries occupied by Germanyalso joined the Allies, including Belgians. Czechoslovaks.Dutch. French, Norwegians and Poles.A huge Allied deception plan — Operation Bodyguard—was launched to mislead the Germans intodiverting troops away from the planned invasionsites.Bad weather caused a delay to the chosen invasiondate of 5 June. The weather experts advisedGeneral Eisenhower, however, that although farfrom perfect, there would be some let up on 6 June.At 10.00pm on 5 June. Operation Neptune (thecodename for the naval element of Overlord) began.The greatest amphibious operation in history waslaunched. One thousand two hundred and twelveAllied warships, 4,125 amphibious craft, 735 ancillarycraft and 864 merchant ships set sail, with13().(XX) men embarked. It was the biggest fleet thatwas ever put to sea.They took part in a live-pronged attack along a50-mile stretch of the Normandy coastline from theCherbourg Peninsula to the Caen Canal againstbeachheads designated (from west to east), Utah,Omaha. Gold. Juno and Sword.In the early hours of 6 June Allied paratroopersand gliderborne troops landed on the flanks of theinvasion area to protect the assault forces during theearly stages of the landings. Bombers dropped 'window'(thousands of strips of tinfoil), to confuseenemy radar and 'Ruperts' (dummy paratroopers),to take attacks on Rouen. Caen and Avranches.Throughout the night, whilst the airborne troopsfought to secure key areas, midget submarines werewaiting with lights to guide the Allied tanks on tothe beaches.Then, at firstlight. Allied bombers dropped 5,000tons of explosives on the main coastal batteries andthe Royal Navy warships HMS Warspite and HMSBelfast led a ferocious barrage to cover the invasionforces.At 6.30am on 6 June — H-Hour — the first seabornetnx>ps (American) went ashore at Utah Beachand by mid-morning were able to push inland. A USArmy report said that operations on Utah Beachwere 'smooth, perfectly co-ordinated and magnificent'.At Omaha Beach United States' forces encounteredrough seas, underwater obstacles and a crackGerman infantry division unexpectedly exercisingin the area. By the evening they had breached thedefences but 'Bloody Omaha' was the beach whichcost most Allied lives.Gold Beach was the site of the firstBritish assault,it was extensively mined and covered with obstaclesbut. with the use of 'Hobart's funnies' (tanks adaptedto deal with a variety of obstacles), losses wererelatively light and troops pushed inland past Arromanche,making for Bayeux. By 8.00am villagesbehind the beaches were celebrating liberation andthe commandos were moving on to the planned linkupwith the Americans from the Utah and OmahaBeaches.Juno Beach was assaulted by the Canadians. Itwas well protected by rocks and heavy gun emplacements.In the rough seas many landing craft werewrecked, while others fell victims to mines. Using'Hobart's funnies' the Canadians overcame many ofthe obstacles and by the evening were making forCaen.At Sword Beach, the biggest worry for the Britishwas the strong artillery battery at IJ; Havre. Duringthe landings a smokescreen helped to hide theinvaders and the seafront defences were breached.The first commandos at Sword Beach were thenable to link up with airborne troops at Ranville. AtOuistreham the population was delighted to learnthat their liberators included a battalion of the FreeFrench.Overall, operations on D-Day were a stunningsuccess. More than 130,(XX) men had landed by seaand 23,000 had been brought in by air, 11 .(XX)Allied troops had been killed, injured, or went missingbut this number was much lower than SHAEFhad dared to hope.The Allies now had a foothold in Europe and.although it would be another eleven months beforeNazi Germany was finally defeated, it was the beginningof the end of the war.
50th Anniversary Flypast at Portsmouth. EnglandTyphoon Pilot's Memorial — Noyers-Bocage, France.\..-:,*».; ••''%* ;-..
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