Good Morning...OVERLORD!

[Okla-homey]

June 6, 1944 Operation OVERLORD

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/2324/temp0uq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

65 years ago on this day in 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation OVERLORD, aka: "D-Day," the Allied invasion of northern France.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6906/88199eu0dk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

By daybreak, 18,000 British and American paratroopers and glider troops were already on the ground. At 6:30 a.m., American troops came ashore at Utah and Omaha beaches.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8618/70x233x30lf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
British soldier reads Ike's letter provided to all invading troops after they had embarked for Normandy

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6373/eisenhowerddayorder8nv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The letter he's reading

At Omaha, the U.S. First Division battled high seas, mist, mines, burning vehicles-and German coastal batteries, including an elite infantry division, which spewed heavy fire. Many wounded Americans ultimately drowned in the high tide.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3047/dday1thumb3qc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

British divisions, which landed at Gold, and Sword beaches, and Canadian troops, landing at Juno beach, also met with heavy German fire, but by the end of the day they were able to push inland.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/596/pp154155rev8qe.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pp154155rev8qe.jpg)

Despite the German resistance, Allied casualties overall were relatively light. The United States and Britain each lost about 1,000 men, and Canada 355. Before the day was over, 155,000 Allied troops would be in Normandy. However, the United States managed to get only half of the 14,000 vehicles and a quarter of the 14,500 tons of supplies they intended on shore.

Three factors were decisive in the success of the Allied invasion.

First, German counterattacks were firm but sparse, enabling the Allies to create a broad beachhead, or advanced position, from which they were able to build up enormous troop strength.

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/1833/dday01klein1bq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Second, Allied air cover, which destroyed bridges over the Seine, forced the Germans to suffer long detours, and naval gunfire proved decisive in protecting the invasion troops.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/7953/p47dday1hv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3235/410260vf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
All Allied aircraft taking part were painted with black&white "invasion stripes" so troops on the ground would know at a glance they were "good guys"

And third, division and confusion within the German ranks as to where the invasion would start and how best to defend their position helped the Allies. (Hitler, convinced another invasion was coming the next day east of the Seine River, refused to allow reserves to be pulled from that area.)

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/4715/dsc000098bf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
WWII reenactor portraying one of the world's most dangerous men in 1944. A paratrooper of the 101st Airborne Division

While the operation was a decided success, considering the number of troops put ashore and relatively light casualties, improvisation by courageous and quick-witted commanders also played an enormous role.

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/5681/eveningstandard7pi.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The D-Day invasion has been the basis for several movies, from The Longest Day (1962), which boasted an all-star cast that included Richard Burton, Sean Connery, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and pop star Fabian, to Saving Private Ryan (1998), which includes some of the most grippingly realistic war scenes ever filmed, captured in the style of the famous Robert Capa still photos of the actual invasion.

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/9631/euroafryt9.jpg

[TUSooner]

The beeb has several D-Day stories today -- ceremonies, commemorations, and remembrances, etc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8086640.stm

I should say they have a ton of D-Day and WWII stuff today.

[Boomer_Sooner_sax]

God bless those guys! Hell of a job 65 years ago!

[olevetonahill]

Salute

[KC//CRIMSON]

Despite the German resistance, Allied casualties overall were relatively light. The United States and Britain each lost about 1,000 men, and Canada 355. Before the day was over, 155,000 Allied troops would be in Normandy. However, the United States managed to get only half of the 14,000 vehicles and a quarter of the 14,500 tons of supplies they intended on shore.

Wasn't the allied death toll closer to five thousand? With roughly 2500 ground troops and 2500 paratroopers?

[KC//CRIMSON]

Nevermind I found it....

From the D-Day Museum

How many Allied and German casualties were there on D-Day, and in the Battle of Normandy?

“Casualties” refers to all losses suffered by the armed forces: killed, wounded, missing in action (meaning that their bodies were not found) and prisoners of war. There is no "official" casualty figure for D-Day. Under the circumstances, accurate record keeping was very difficult. For example, some troops who were listed as missing may actually have landed in the wrong place, and have rejoined their parent unit only later.

In April and May 1944, the Allied air forces lost nearly 12,000 men and over 2,000 aircraft in operations which paved the way for D-Day.

The Allied casualties figures for D-Day have generally been estimated at 10,000, including 2500 dead. Broken down by nationality, the usual D-Day casualty figures are approximately 2700 British, 946 Canadians, and 6603 Americans. However recent painstaking research by the US National D-Day Memorial Foundation has achieved a more accurate - and much higher - figure for the Allied personnel who were killed on D-Day. They have recorded the names of individual Allied personnel killed on 6 June 1944 in Operation Overlord, and so far they have verified 2499 American D-Day fatalities and 1915 from the other Allied nations, a total of 4414 dead (much higher than the traditional figure of 2500 dead). Further research may mean that these numbers will increase slightly in future. The details of this research will in due course be available on the Foundation's website at www.dday.org. This new research means that the casualty figures given for individual units in the next few paragraphs are no doubt inaccurate, and hopefully more accurate figures will one day be calculated.

Casualties on the British beaches were roughly 1000 on Gold Beach and the same number on Sword Beach. The remainder of the British losses were amongst the airborne troops: some 600 were killed or wounded, and 600 more were missing; 100 glider pilots also became casualties. The losses of 3rd Canadian Division at Juno Beach have been given as 340 killed, 574 wounded and 47 taken prisoner.

The breakdown of US casualties was 1465 dead, 3184 wounded, 1928 missing and 26 captured. Of the total US figure, 2499 casualties were from the US airborne troops (238 of them being deaths). The casualties at Utah Beach were relatively light: 197, including 60 missing. However, the US 1st and 29th Divisions together suffered around 2000 casualties at Omaha Beach.

The total German casualties on D-Day are not known, but are estimated as being between 4000 and 9000 men.

Naval losses for June 1944 included 24 warships and 35 merchantmen or auxiliaries sunk, and a further 120 vessels damaged.

Over 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. Of the Allied casualties, 83,045 were from 21st Army Group (British, Canadian and Polish ground forces), 125,847 from the US ground forces. The losses of the German forces during the Battle of Normandy can only be estimated. Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded. The Allies also captured 200,000 prisoners of war (not included in the 425,000 total, above). During the fighting around the Falaise Pocket (August 1944) alone, the Germans suffered losses of around 90,000, including prisoners.

Today, twenty-seven war cemeteries hold the remains of over 110,000 dead from both sides: 77,866 German, 9386 American, 17,769 British, 5002 Canadian and 650 Poles.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians were killed, mainly as a result of Allied bombing. Thousands more fled their homes to escape the fighting.

[Okla-homey]

Nevermind I found it....

They have recorded the names of individual Allied personnel killed on 6 June 1944 in Operation Overlord, and so far they have verified 2499 American D-Day fatalities and 1915 from the other Allied nations, a total of 4414 dead (much higher than the traditional figure of 2500 dead).

I think the matter of whether to include the airborne troops who went on in June 5 (Operation NEPTUNE) induces a little confusion as to the total number of D-Day (OVERLORD) casualties. IMHO, it's really just bean-counting and it doesn't really matter in the final analysis. The bottom line is far too many great kids died.

[Harry Beanbag]

I think the matter of whether to include the airborne troops who went on in June 5 (Operation NEPTUNE) induces a little confusion as to the total number of D-Day (OVERLORD) casualties. IMHO, it's really just bean-counting and it doesn't really matter in the final analysis. The bottom line is far too many great kids died.


Other than the pathfinders, the rest of the airborne troops dropped after midnight, so it would have technically been the 6th. But yeah, it doesn't matter, it was still the initial invasion.

[12]

Thanks, Homey. I really dig the WWII stuff. My kids enjoy it as well... so thanks for keeping it somewhat clean. ;)

As for the rest of you...

[picasso]

Pathfinders were some brave men.

[Harry Beanbag]

Pathfinders were some brave men.


No kidding. I don't know how they made it through the door of the C-47's their balls were so big.

[OUMallen]

I'm too young to relate, but I still get proud chills reading that.