Today, 6th June, is the 76th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. The weather that day was similar (slightly worse) to today. At 06:30 some 156,000 American, British, Canadian & Commonwealth forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region.
The courage and fortitude of those involved should not be forgotten, and is remembered, and admired by this Blog.
It was a risky business. We know now that they were successful, but at the time, those involved didn’t. There was a significant chance of failure largely due to uncertain weather forecasts, disagreements in strategy, and related timing dilemmas. The Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (SCAEF) Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote two different speeches intended for release; one accepting responsibility for the decision to launch the invasion and full blame should the effort to create a beachhead on the Normandy coast fail. The other was issued as an Order of The Day and distributed to the troops involved.
