This past Saturday we paused for a moment to remember D-Day.

We should never forget.

Several years ago I wrote the following articles on D-Day. Here I repeat.

1944

D-DAY, THE 6^th OF JUNE

Two days ago we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Nazi-held western Europe.

The Germans knew that an invasion was coming, but they did not know where or when.  Calais was thought to be the most likely place and some day in May 1944 the most probable time.

Although heavily involved on the Eastern Front and in Italy, Germany still maintained powerful forces in France, including a considerable number of first line armored (Panzer) divisions.  Most of the German units were battle tested and well prepared for the coming conflict.  By contrast, most Allied troops, especially the Americans, were not experienced combatants; and though often drilled to exhaustion they had lessons that could only be learned in the fire of battle.

Secrecy and deception were vital to success.  Elaborate measures were employed to convince the Germans that the main thrust of the invasion would be in the Calais region, closest to England across the channel.   Fake radio networks were activated and dummy military targets built to cause German intelligence to believe that there was a large Allied military force in the south of England; and it was made to appear that this force remained in place, ready to move, long after the actual invasion began.

In the predawn hours of June 6th, American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions along with those of the British 6th Division parachuted into Normandy and attacked rear positions of the German 7th Army.  At the same time glider troops seized key bridges. Additionally, BBC radio broadcasts included short declarative sentences which were special coded messages to the French Underground, spurring them to sabotage German communications throughout France.

At dawn of D-Day the greatest seaborne invasion force ever assembled slowly approached the Normandy coast, taking the German soldiers there by surprise. Four thousand vessels carried the troops while over 2,000 American and British warships furiously bombarded the landing zones, five beaches stretching along a sixty-mile front. The British 2nd Army landed toward the east at beaches code-named Gold, Juno and Sword. The American 1st Army landed toward the west at beaches named Utah and Omaha.

The Calais deception worked beautifully.  For some critical time after June 6^th Hitler remain convinced that the Normandy operation was a feint and the main invasion was still to come at Calais.  Reinforcements for the Normandy area were therefore delayed. Even so, Allied success was not a sure thing.  If the Germans had been able to immediately concentrate their nearby forces it might have meant disaster for the invaders. Resistance in some areas, especially on Omaha Beach, was fierce. Fortunately for the Allies, however, they had complete control of the air, and it was very difficult for German units to move by day.  That fact, along with the Calais deception, gave the Allies time to put sufficient men and materiel ashore to hold the beachhead.  Supporting gunfire from American and British warships also played an important role in destroying German coastal fortifications and securing the landing site.  Though much difficult fighting remained, the liberation of western Europe had begun.

It was a difficult and bloody battle, and the sacrifice of those brave men who struggled on the beaches of Normandy must never be forgotten.

D-DAY: ANOTHER VIEW

We have examined the D-Day battle in excruciating detail over the years, but let us look at it from another point of view.  Why were we there?  Why were we willing to spend thousands of American lives to invade Europe and fight the Germans?

Far removed from the beaches of Normandy, in a place called Auschwitz, the ovens were running full blast on June 6..  The crematoria had an estimated daily capacity of 4400 bodies, but the numbers gassed and immolated varied from day to day, and sometimes that number was exceeded.  The elderly, the sickly and infirm, women with young children, and unaccompanied children were especially vulnerable.  The overwhelming majority were Jews, but gypsies and Jehovah’s Witnesses also suffered grievously in proportion to their numbers.  All over Nazi occupied Europe there were other death camps, though none quite so deadly as Auschwitz.

Nazism was a horribly evil stain on the face of humanity.

That was the reason for D-Day.   

Concentration Camp Crematoria