Normandy @ MindSay

June 6 1944. The day thousands of our men lost their lives for the freedom of all of us. Thank you, we owe everything to everyone who fought there and who died there. Thank you.

Matt

Be Excellent, Because We Are FREE

As darkness fell over Southeastern England and Northwestern France, the situation remained almost unchanged.

The Allies secured their foothold in Fortress Europe, and settled down for what would be a night of little sleep.

The Germans began regrouping for a push that would come over the next few days. Relative calm settled over the beachead, other than the Nazi bombardment.

From across the channel, men like my grandfather, who would go to the Continent on the days following D-Day could see the flashes, and occasionally hear the booms from the artillary fire raining down on the beachhead. Many, most likely, wondered what was waiting for them on the other side. They had heard the news that the invasion was a success, but Berlin was a long way away, and the war far from over.

It was a day of days. and today, we remember it. To those lost, to those changed, to all of those who risked everything- Thank you.

All gave some, some gave all. Semper Fidelis.

As afternoon progressed, many of the troops in Normandy may have had an opportunity to rest and reflect on the day.

For those at Utah or Sword beaches or at Point du Hoc, they must have thought the war was all but won. Facing very little resistance they were already on their way to accomplishing thier first day goals.

Those on Juno or Gold beaches, must have thought the same. Although they had met heavy resisitance intially, they had pushed beyond it and were securing their beachhead and breaking out.

Omaha, however, remained a bloodbath into the afternoon. The taking of the beach itself, had taken much longer than at every other beach, once scaling the cliffs, clearing out the trenches, pillboxes, and men left behind took even longer than expected.

Those at Sword and Juno beaches must have even thought that the rough Germans they had expected had gone soft, for they had pushed back an initial counter attack and now were linking up across Normandy.

When standing cliffside at Omaha, looking out over the English Channel to see hundreds of bodies lying where they fell or being washed with the tide, it must have been an aweinpiring site. I can only imaging the phrase, "O! What men hath wrought." could describe the situation.

Across the channel, the peices of the pre-fab Mulberry harbors were making the long journey to Normandy. They would become the backbone of this invasion force. Brining men and material to France until a Deep Water port could be made operational (not until mid-August).

Also, sat millions of men watching, waiting anxiously to hear news. Would they step off a ship and onto a pre-fab harbour- or would their blood be spilt in the sands of Northwestern France as well? Even worse, thoughts of failure must have crossed their minds. Would they stay here to fight off Hitler's own invasion after theirs failed? Would the war that had brought them to Europe, send them home to fight in America instead? Could Hitler be beaten, and would it take their lives to gain the victory? questions, questions... but no answers.

For those already in Normandy, the adrenaline of rushing the beaches must have been wearing off. These men, boys really, many of whom most likely would not have slept since June 4th, when the first launch alert was called, now stood, sat, laid, in a war zone. The bodies of the dead around them, the Germans in front of them, and the sea behind them. And, I'm sure, all they desired was their warm bed at home.

But onward they would push. Earning their future nicknames one inch, one mile, one moment, one body at a time.

All gave some, some gave all. Semper Fidelis.

It was about this time, 63 years ago, that the 21st Panzer Divisons made the only concerted German counter attack of the day. They penetrated the areas between Sword and Juno beaches and reached the sea. Unfortunately, the Allies had not secured the areas between their landing zones yet, so this counterattack remained behind their own troops for a majority of the penetration, meeting heavy anti-tank defenses midway between the farthest Allied advance and the sea. Once reaching the ocean, the sight of inbound airborne troops and a fear of being cut off, as Allied troops began joining up inland, caused them to retreat back to the main line of German defense.

Comparing damage done to their losses, this could be considered a victory before the retreating troops, struck by anti-tank defenses once again (although stronger this time) during the retreat, suffered some losses.

Also by this time, Utah Beach Landing Zones would have been nearly secure and the troops, under the direction of Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. would have struck out to join up with elements of the 101st Airborne and other landing divisions. Their first effort was made to secure their planned landing area, as the landing craft had gone off course. The losses at this beach were counted at only 197 of the 23,000 men to come ashore, the lightest of any beach.

Also by this time, Ranger Elements assaulting Point Du Hoc had scaled the cliffs, and taking out the artillery  forward observation post and beach defenses, before pressing inland to destroy the artillery that had been moved.

The fighting raged at Omaha and Gold beaches.

Those forces at Juno Beach met heavy resisitance at the beach, but once overcoming this by mid-morning, pressed onward and inland almost meeting their daily goals. They were also the key elements harassing the 21st Panzer division.

Sword Beach had been secured as a beachhead and elements were moving outward to join up with Airborne elements, which had been scattered and thus were not focused anywhere, as well as neighboring beaches.

With some sort of beachhead secure, across mutiple beaches, a rip was torn into the Atlantic Wall and through it was pouring millions of men, and millions of tons of supplies and arms. The tide was turning in WWII.

Well, I haven't seen anyone blog about it, so I figured I would say something... I'm more than a little disappointed to be honest, but perhaps, no one is up now.

63 years and 3 hours ago... the first troops, aboard DD Tanks of the British Army, came ashore on Sword Beach in Normandy, France, opening the troop involvement in Operation Overlord. Shortly thereafter, many of the 1.4 million troops who would storm those shores that day came ashore.

About this time (using EST instead of local CET or GMT), hundreds of thousands of men were in various positions on the shore of Northern France. Thousands lay dead, dying, or wounded on the beaches, in their ships, in their vehicles, and in the waters of the English Channel. The waters that washed up and down the beaches ran a light red or pink, rather than the dirty blue/brown typical of the English Channel. The smells of spent brass casings, gunpowder, machine oil and fuels, charred flesh, and the spilt blood of American, British, Polish, Free French, Canadian, and Australian soldiers.

On Omaha Beach, one of  the two American Beaches, the bloodiest fighting was found. After the Air and Naval bombardment left the majority of the German defenses intact and the majority of the armor was lost at sea or the the initial attack, the American forces assaulted the beach defenses. Many of the initial wave of landing craft were lost in deep water with all aboard. Those that made it to the shallows, many were hit, losing many on board, and others drowned, held down by heavy packs in 8ft of water. Those that did make it to shore found very little cover on the desolate beach, other than a short sand wall, formed at the breach of high tide. This was separated a small distance from the landing obstacles. Thus, those that made it to shore, did so below the landing obstacles, which were their only real cover between the water and the Germans. Even with so little cover, the Germans overlapping fields of fire made any cover almost null. Furthermore, smoke and fog used as cover, gave the troops on the sand almost zero visibility. Finally, overwhelming numbers of men, without the leaders who were considering abandoning the attack, trotted (not ran as shown in some movies) the distance between the landing obstacles and the low sea wall at the base of the cliffs.

After some time and a massive loss of life, they penetrated the defenses at the base of the cliffs and began clearing lanes for the following waves to come through. About this time, on that day, men were fighting and dying to stem the tide of the Nazi advance across Europe. The greatest generation was earning their future name in blood and action on the shores of Northern France.

Now, we are losing these vets at the rate of 1,000 per day. If you know someone who fought on that day, tell them thank you, for all of us. My grandfather, who we lost in 1998, went ashore on DDay+3. He would never talk about the things he saw on the beaches and inland, just that he did what he had to do. I'm sure that on the day of his death, he still remembered and felt those same feelings from his year plus in Europe. I'm sure that he killed more than one man, in fact, the PG versions of his stories about guarding POWs hinted around actions that the Geneva Convention did not allow. And other stories, that trailed of into nothing after coming over a hill or kicking the door to a house in, I imagine ended with several rounds of his M1 or a grenade- and a loss of German life.

Every June 6th that I can remember, my father would send me off to school and tell me to make sure I told everyone what today is. I come from a proud miltary family, which I hope won't end with me (Commander-in-Chief is technically military right?) Hug a vet, especially our WWII vets today. Ask them to tell their story, but don't press. Remember today when you exercise your right to freely-- do anything, the cost that comes with your rights, and ask if you have paid that cost the way that these men did.

All gave some, some gave all. Semper Fidelis.