On Another June 6 . . .
By Diplomad
When I was a kid, June 6 was a big deal in our neighborhood, which was in a small town straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Those of you who might be Presidential Management Fellows at the State Department might ask, "Like, uh, what is so special about, you know, uh, June 6? Is that your birthday? Is that when the IPOD was invented?" None of the above. We had a neighborhood full of WWII combat vets and they most certainly knew the significance of June 6,
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
SOLDIERS, SAILORS
AND AIRMEN OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one.
Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944!
Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United States have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned ! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle.
We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good Luck!
And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I must express amazement at the language in Eisenhower's address to the troops as they prepared to invade Normandy and liberate Europe from the Nazis. Could a Western leader give a speech like that today? The words "Great Crusade" alone would have the girly-man politicians and journalists in fainting spells. The references to God and prayer? Oh no, no . . . must go, must go. Implying that the enemy are "savage"? Oh, horrors! No mention of women, at all. NOW would have his head! "Nothing less than full victory"? No room for compromise -- what a cowboy!
Beyond the language, of course, we had the battle,
On D-Day, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops in Normandy. The Americans landed forces numbering 73,000: 23,250 on Utah Beach, 34,250 on Omaha Beach, and 15,500 airborne troops. In the British and Canadian sector, 83,115 troops were landed (61,715 of them British): 24,970 on Gold Beach, 21,400 on Juno Beach, 28,845 on Sword Beach, and 7900 airborne troops.
11,590 aircraft were available to support the landings. On D-Day, Allied aircraft flew 14,674 sorties, and 127 were lost. In the airborne landings on both flanks of the beaches, 2395 aircraft and 867 gliders of the RAF and USAAF were used on D-Day.
Operation Neptune involved huge naval forces, including 6939 vessels: 1213 naval combat ships, 4126 landing ships and landing craft, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels. Some 195,700 personnel were assigned to Operation Neptune: 52,889 US, 112,824 British, and 4988 from other Allied countries.
By the end of 11 June (D + 5), 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies had been landed on the beaches.
And the casualties,
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.
Total Allied casualties on D-Day are estimated at 10,000, including 2500 dead. British casualties on D-Day have been estimated at approximately 2700. The Canadians lost 946 casualties. The US forces lost 6603 men.
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.
Imagine those casualty rates with CNN covering the battle 24/7. How long before the pundits and the "war is lost" crowd would dominate the airwaves? How long before Eisenhower would be called before some Senate panel and get berated for claiming that "the tide has turned"?
Just a few things to think about on this June 6, a day we can live in freedom because of what happened on that other June 6. |
