Greg Jordan: June 6, 1944 is a day that needs to be remembered
Jun. 8—Tuesday was the 79th anniversary of a pivotal moment in history. Thanks to a calculated risk involving weather forecasts, an elaborate deception campaign and years of painstaking preparations and innovations, thousands of American, British and Canadian troopers were climbing aboard aircraft and clambering into landing barges so they could embark on Operation Overlord, the invasion set to kick off the liberation of Europe.
The Allies had used Operation Fortitude to convince the Germans that the invasion of France would strike at Port Calasis, which is the closest point between the British Isles and Europe.
A fake army featuring rubber tanks and trucks, dummy aircraft, phony radio traffic and General George Patton Jr. playing the role of commander convinced Hitler and his generals that the invasion of Normandy was a ruse to lure German divisions away from the obvious landing zone.
The Germans lost valuable time as a result. The fact Hitler chose to sleep late on the morning of June 6, 1944 didn't help his vile cause at all.
Of course, nothing was guaranteed.
More than one general has said that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and Operation Overlord was no exception.
I understand that the Allied Supreme Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, had a speech ready if the invasion failed. The troopers parachuting into France or arriving on the well-defended beaches had no idea whether Overlord would work.
Years ago I interviewed an Army Ranger who was among the soldiers assaulting the beaches codenamed Utah and Omaha.
Their mission was to scale vertical cliffs and silence German artillery. Well, he told me how their landing craft were fitted with rocket-propelled grappling hooks. The barge would get as close as possible, fire their rockets and let the rockets carry ropes and grappling hooks to the cliffs. One barge pilot fired his rockets too early.
The Ranger told me that one of his fellow Rangers saw this happen.
He pulled his pistol, put it to his pilot's head, and announced that he wasn't going to make that mistake. He didn't.
The Ranger then told me how he reached the base of the cliffs only to have a German "potato masher" or stick grenade land right next to him. It exploded and wounded his legs, and he still had the scars. Wounded, he managed to crawl into a rock overhang or cave. He recalled the freezing cold that night as the battled continued. He had no idea what was happening outside.
That next morning, he crawled out and saw German troops coming down the beach. For a second, he thought the invasion had failed and the Germans were "mopping up." A second later, he realized they had their hands over their heads and tears in their eyes. A lot of them were only boys and they were terrified.
Yes, a lot could have gone wrong 79 years ago when Operation Overlord was launched. When American troops invaded Europe, there was no guarantee that everything would go well; in fact, a lot did go wrong, but they kept fighting and secured victory.
There's been a lot of speculation about what would have happened if D-Day had failed. Some historians think the first atomic bombs would have fallen on Germany instead of Japan. Others think the Soviet Union would have conquered all of Europe or the Germans would have fought the Soviets to a stalemate.
It's hard to tell what would have happened.
Fortunately, thanks to a lot of bravery and perseverance, the invasion was successful. Western Europe was liberated and the Nazi regime was ended. The success of D-Day was not preordained, but the invasion was launched anyway.
We still owe a lot to those veterans who took a huge chance 79 years ago and managed to come out on top despite all the tragedy and hardships they had to endure. That's why the date June 6, 1944 is a day that needs to be remembered.
Greg Jordan is the Daily Telegraphy's senior reporter. Contact him at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
