Operation Overlord: 06-Jun-1944

[BeatleBoot]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/dday_beachhead_01.shtml


In the early hours of 6 June RAF bombers dropped aluminium foil off the Pas de Calais to simulate the radar profile of a great invasion fleet. Meanwhile more than 7,000 vessels, the largest naval task force ever assembled, moved to the Normandy coast.

Shortly after midnight the British 6th and American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions began landing. On the eastern flank, British glider-borne troops seized the vital 'Pegasus' Bridge across the Orne River, while others attacked and temporarily disabled a German battery at Merville, the guns of which covered Sword Beach. Subsequent drops allowed 6th Airborne Division to form a defensive crust protecting the eastern flank of the beachhead.

The American airborne landings went less well. Cloud cover and heavy flak over the Cotentin Peninsula broke up the formations, causing the Americans to be dropped over an area of 1,000 square miles. But this in itself caused the Germans immense confusion. The divisional reserve for the Omaha beach defences, for example, went racing south at 03.00 to attack paratroopers they couldn't locate. By the time they returned to the beach, the Americans were well ashore.

Shortly after 05.00 naval gunfire opened up on German defences along 50 miles of Normandy coast. Chief amongst these was Pointe du Hoc, the guns of which could hit both Utah and Omaha beaches. The task of silencing the battery, already bombed and shelled, was carried out by a Ranger battalion, who scaled the 100-foot vertical cliffs, and discovered the guns camouflaged in fields about a mile inland. It was up to the bravery of men carrying the thermite explosive charges to ensure that these guns remained silent on D-Day.

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[neverforget]

1. My wife's Canadian grandfather landed at Juno on D-Day

[Dennis Donovan]

2. 66 years ago today. And we're losing our WW2 vets more every day...

...and we're down to a single WW1 vet: Frank Buckles of WV.

Although my Dad was credited for the Normandy campaign in his papers, he didn't actually enter France until the beginning of July. Two of my uncles came ashore on the 6th, though. Fortunately, they both made it!:thumbsup:

[BeatleBoot]

5. Lost mine last month

My Dad was in the Mediterranean theatre (Bizerte North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, Italy).

[Frank Cannon]

3. Thanks for the reminder

Gonna have to break out the Memoir '44 game and play a couple of scenarios with the kids.

[LawnKorn]

4. French Customs

An elder American absent mindedly arrived at French customs at Paris airport and fumbled for his passport.

"You have been to France before Monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically.

The ancient Yank admitted that he had been to France before.

"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready for inspection," snapped the irate official.

The American said that the last time he came to France he did not have to show his passport.

"Impossible, old man. You Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France."

The old American gavethe Frenchman a long hard look. "I assure you, young man, that when I came ashore on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D Day in 1944, there was no Frenchman on the beach asking to see my passport!"

[Mudoria]

6. Nice one hehe