[guide.chat] 1944 d day troops
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:43:23 -0000
1944: D-Day marks start of Europe invasion
Thousands of Allied troops have begun landing on the beaches of Normandy in
northern France at the start of a major offensive against the Germans.
Thousands of paratroops and glider-borne troops have also been dropped behind
enemy lines and the Allies are already said to have penetrated several miles
inland.
The landings were preceded by air attacks along the French coast.
About 1,300 RAF planes were involved in the first wave of assaults then 1,000
American bombers took up the attack dropping bombs on targets in northern
France.
Dawn revealed the astonishing sight of serried ranks of ships heaving
over the horizon and passing in wave after wave, packed to capacity with
soldiers and weaponry
People's War memories »
The Prime Minister Winston Churchill has told MPs that Operation Neptune - the
codename for the Normandy landings - is proceeding "in a thoroughly
satisfactory manner".
He said the landing of airborne troops was "on a scale far larger than anything
there has been so far in the world" and had taken place with extremely little
loss.
The assault began shortly after midnight under the command of General Bernard
Montgomery.
Timing of the Normandy landings was crucial. They were originally scheduled to
take place in May - then postponed until June and put off again at the last
minute for 24 hours by bad weather.
Upwards of 4,000 ships and several thousand smaller craft crossed the Channel
to the northern coast of France.
Enemy reports say the landings took place between the port of Le Havre and the
naval base at Cherbourg.
King George VI broadcast a message last night warning of the "supreme test" the
Allies faced and he called on the nation to pray for the liberation of Europe.
The Allied naval commander, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, said the landings had
taken the Germans completely by surprise. There were no enemy reconnaissance
planes out and the opposition of coastal batteries was much less than expected.
He added: "There was a slight loss in ships but so slight that it did not
affect putting armies ashore.
"We have got all the first wave of men through the defended beach zone and set
for the land battle."
A statement broadcast from Berlin at midday said the German troops were
"nowhere taken by surprise". It said many parachute units were wiped out on
landing or taken prisoner.
Hits were also scored on battleships and on landing craft from the "guns of the
Atlantic Wall" - the German defensive positions.
President Franklin D Roosevelt told a news conference the invasion did not mean
the war was over.
He said: "You don't just walk to Berlin, and the sooner this country realises
that the better.
British troops on their way to Normandy to take part in the D-Day landings
The BBC announces the launch of D-Day
In Context
The Normandy landings were the beginning of Operation Overlord - or the
invasion of German-occupied Europe.
Originally planned to take place on 1 May 1944, the operation was postponed a
month to allow time to gather more troops and equipment. The timing was
important to allow for the right weather, a full moon, and tidal conditions.
To keep the destination of the landings secret, a deception plan Operation
Fortitude was mounted which led the Germans to believe the main target was the
Pas de Calais, much farther east.
When the landings finally began there were only 14 of the 58 German divisions
in France facing the Allies. While there was stiff resistance at other beaches,
Omaha was the only one where the success of the Allied mission was in serious
doubt.
The invasion of Normandy was the largest amphibious assault ever launched. It
involved five army divisions in the initial assault and over 7,000 ships. In
addition there were 11,000 aircraft.
In total 75,215 British and Canadian troops and 57,500 US troops were landed by
sea on D-Day. Another 23,400 were landed by air.
By 11 June the Allies had secured the Cotentin Peninsula beyond Cherbourg but
progress continued slowly as the Germans put up fierce resistance. The end of
the Normandy campaign came with the destruction of the German 7th Army in the
Falaise pocket in August.
Although the Allies had reached the German frontier by September they decided
to re-group during the winter, because of the failure of Market-Garden and the
setback in the battle of the Bulge, and the invasion of Germany only began in
January 1945.
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Vanessa The Google Girl.
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