June 6, 1944

 

Eighty years ago today, June 6, 1944, at 6:30 a.m. local time in Normandy, Allied troops landed on five designated beaches or parachuted into drop zones to begin "Operation Overlord," which would eventually lead to the liberation of Western Europe and defeat of Nazi Germany.  D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history:

Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Of those, 73,000 were from the United States and 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle.

The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces.

More than 2 million Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics and other people from a dozen countries were involved in the overall Operation Overlord, the battle to wrest western France from Nazi control that started on D-Day.  [snip]

Around 11,000 Allied aircraft, 7,000 ships and boats, and thousands of other vehicles were involved.

Five landing areas and several drop zones were the targets of the Allies:

It took days and many casualties for progress to be made against German resistance, but eventually the Allies gained the momentum that would carry them to ultimate victory in Europe in April 1945.

To understand what D-Day meant to those who were actually there, the Associated Press asked some of the last remaining veterans what their memories were of that day, veterans like Floyd Blair:

Floyd Blair, 103, served as a fighter pilot in the Army Air Corps. On June 6, 1944, he flew in two support missions across Omaha Beach as the Allied invasion began.

“I saw one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. The color of the water changed,” he recalled Tuesday as he was paying tribute to fallen comrades at the American cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer.

“Those poor guys on the ground deserve all the credit they can get. The paratroopers, the armored forces, the ground troops. They are the ones,” he said...

And Marie Scott:

On D-day, Marie Scott experienced British forces landing on the Normandy coast through her earphones. As a 17-year-old radio operator in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, she relayed messages to the Normandy beaches and waited for the recipient to open his channel and reply.

“I heard everything,” Scott, who will soon turn 98, said. “I could hear all the background noise, the machine gun fire, the bombs dropping, aircrafts, men shouting orders, men screaming. It was horrendous.”

“But I had the job to do,” she explained. “I had no time to be alarmed.”

“When you heard that amount of firepower, you knew there had to be casualties … It was an enormous price to pay. But the price we had to pay,” she said.

Scott was awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest order of merit, for her role on D-Day, in 2019.

What they all endured and accomplished, the price they paid for our freedom, must never be forgotten.

(Photo:  "Taxis to Hell -- and Back -- Into the Jaws of Death," men of the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division landing at Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944 / Robert F. Sargent, chief photographer's mate, U.S. Coast Guard)