The Sandbag Times Issue No: 21

The Historic Tommy Atkins
rapidly pushed inland. They also captured the fishing village of
Arromanches, which days later became the site of an artificial harbor,
named Mulberry Harbour, used by the Allies to unload supplies.
At Juno, Allied landing craft once again struggled with rough seas,
along with offshore shoals and enemy mines. Upon finally
disembarking, Canadian soldiers were then cut down in droves by
Germans firing from seaside houses and bunkers. The first hour was
particularly brutal, with a casualty rate approaching 50 percent for the
leading assault teams. In the confusion, an Allied tank inadvertently
ran over some of the wounded, stopping only when a Canadian captain
blew its track off with a grenade. Other Canadians lacked any tank
support at all. After
fighting their way off
the beach, however,
German resistance
slowed immensely, and
the march into the
interior went quickly.
In fact, the Canadians
advanced further inland
than either their
American or British counterparts. Though they didn’t quite meet their
objective of taking Carpiquet airport, they captured several towns and
linked up with the British on adjacent Gold Beach.
Around midnight, British airborne troops, along with a battalion of
Canadians, dropped behind enemy lines to secure the invasion’s eastern
flank, just as the Americans were doing near Utah. Within minutes,
they had taken hold of Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal and nearby
Horsa Bridge over the River Orne. Other airborne troops destroyed
bridges over the River Dives to prevent German reinforcements from
arriving, and they also took out a key German artillery battery in a
bloody firefight. The British then landed on Sword at 7.25am, around
the same time as at
Gold but before Juno.
Although moderate
fire greeted them,
they soon secured
beach exits with the
help of the “Funnies.”
Moving inland, they
connected with the
airborne units but
faced relatively
strong resistance in
farmyards and villages. In a late afternoon counterattack, German
forces made it all the way to the beach in one location, only to be turned
back. The Allies would not be able to unite all five D-Day beaches
until June 12.
Although the Allied Forces hadn’t fully met their objectives, due to
choppy seas and heavy German resistance, they gained a crucial
foothold on D-day. As I mentioned before, the capture of the fishing
village of Arromanches was a huge advance, as they were able to create
two prefabricated harbours from massive hollow concrete blocks.
These were floated across the Channel and used to create artificial
harbours at the landing sites, allowing supplies and troops to be landed.
Once the initial landings had taken place, infrastructure had to be put
in to support and supply the invasion. 423 tugs and other ships carried
out this construction work. Some transported and assembled the
Mulberry harbors at Arromanches. Others laid pipes and cables across
the width of the English Channel. This included telephone lines
connecting the commanders in the field with those back in London,
where SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force),
contained the officers and staff commanding and coordinating the vast
operation. Equally important was PLUTO (the Petroleum Line Under
The Ocean). A pipeline used to pump fuel from Britain to the waiting
Allied troops. Without it, every tank, transport and communications
vehicle in the invasion force would soon have ground to a halt. The
Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches saw heavy use. It had been
designed to last 3 months, but was used for much longer. 2.5 million
troops and 4 million tonnes of supplies were unloaded through the
Arromanches Mulberry Harbour over the 10 months following D-Day.
This important infrastructure could not have been put in place if it
wasn’t for the success of those who stormed the beaches on D-Day.
Following the D-Day landings, the Allied Force continued to push
on into Europe and by late August, Paris had been liberated, with
Germany’s surrender coming not long afterward.
The scale of D-Day and Operation Neptune was huge. It was the
biggest seaborne invasion and the greatest military campaign the world
has seen. To give you some idea of the enormity of it, here are some
numbers: There were 156,115 Allied Troops that landed in Normandy.
Of these, 23,400 were airborne troops. There were over 10,000 aircraft
involved and 127 of these were lost during the conflict. Of the 6939
vessels involved, 1213 were naval combat ships, 4126 were landing
ships and landing craft, 736 were ancillary craft and 864 were merchant
vessels. In total there were 195,700 personnel involved in Operation
Neptune, 112,824 British, 52,889 Americans and 4980 other allies. An
estimated figure of 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed,
wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure
includes over 209,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 dead
amongst the ground forces and a further 16,714 deaths amongst the
Allied air forces.
‘Lest We Forget’
Sources:
Turning the Tide: Decisive Battles of the Second World War &
Fighting Them On The Beaches: The D-Day Landings - Nigel Cawthorne
D-Day In Numbers (The Facts Behind Operation Overlord) - Jacob F Field
Band of Brothers - Stephen E. Ambrose
(Series produced by Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks)
www.britishlegion.org.uk/DDAY
www.ddaymuseum.co.uk
www.sandbagtimes.co.uk 19 |