Allied forces land on Normandy beaches, June 6, 1944
On this day in 1944, some 160,000 American, British and Canadian soldiers came ashore along a 50-mile stretch of a heavily fortified French coastline to engage the occupying German force on the beaches of Normandy. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the allied supreme commander, issued a statement calling the massive military operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.”
More than 5,000 warships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion. By the day’s end, the Allies had gained a foothold on the west coast of Continental Europe. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded on the first day of the battle.
Had the top German commanders — among them Adolf Hitler — quickly realized this was the main invasion force, then the Panzer divisions being held in reserve might have been ordered to Normandy much earlier on D-Day. In such a case, the Allies might have faced a far greater challenge.
However, in part through faulty intelligence and in part through their dogmatic mind-set, the Germans missed the chance to deploy their best defense forces effectively. Most of their early decision-making continued to be based on the belief that the main invasion would come farther north and that the Normandy landings were a feint aimed at fooling them. Inaccurate accounts of events on the front line added to the confusion; even at midday, senior German commanders believed it was their forces, not the Allies, who were winning.
On issuing the order to go ahead, Eisenhower had drafted a statement accepting blame in the event of failure. He wrote: “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault is attached to the attempt it is mine alone.”
Eisenhower, who went on to become the 34th president of the United States, would never need to issue that statement. It remained in his uniform pocket unnoticed for weeks.
SOURCE: WWW.BBC.CO.UK/GUIDES/ZGTTTFR
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine