O
O.C.
Guest
Shortly before midnight on June 5th.1944, the familiar drone hundreds of aeroplane engines above the south coast of Britain caused people to lift the black-out curtains of their rooms and peer up at the sky. For months the noise of Allied bombers going out and returning had been heard, but that night it seemed to be much louder than before.
In the months past it had heralded the blasting of gun-sites, the destruction of airfield runways, the demolition of bridges, all over northern and western France. During May alone the Anglo-American Air Forces had unloaded more than 20,000 tons of bombs there, systematically destroying, communications between the German coastal armies and their bases further inland. Fifty out of 82 main rail centres had been destroyed, and 25 more damaged,only three bridges over the River Seine remained available to bear traffic. But by June 5th the signal for invasion had been given, The planes, 1,300 strong, were going to blast ten coastal batteries between Le Havre and Cherbourg, in the home airports all the way from Devon to Kent, paratroops, with emergency rations, were already on board the gliders and transport planes which within an hour or two would spill them out all over the Cherbourg Peninsula and the country before Caen. More than a thousand ships of all sizes, from giant liners to dirty tramp steamers and small coastal craft, filled every harbour, packed to their gunwales with machinery and plant for sowing the seeds of freedom on French soil tanks, guns, ammunition boxes, shells, wagons, medical supplies, food, repair outfits all loaded according to carefully arranged schedules, so that first things might be the first available. Under their hatches nearly a quarter of a million men sprawled and talked and smoked and slept.
Out at sea it was blowing hard, a wind which despite much resistance was to uproot German power and scatter it back across the frontier. For this was the dawn of D-Day, the moment for which countless millions of oppressed people throughout Europe waited and prayed. The Germans, however, knew nothing until the bombs crashed down on their batteries and the parachutists floated to earth. Paratroops seized a couple of bridges near Caen, and held them despite a violent reaction. Some landed in fields, others close to the coast, and collecting themselves, rushed for their immediate objectives. One glider spilled its occupants into the main street of Ste. Mere - Eglise, the astonished enemy surrendering without a fight, at other places fighting was both bitter and bloody. Meanwhile, before dawn the great armada had got under way, guarded by twin forces of light warships, British under Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian on one side, American under Rear-Admiral A. G. Kirk on the other. A special scratch force of small craft acted as a screen against U-boats and E-boats. "H.M.SS. Nelson", "Warspite" and "Ramillies" lent the weight of their 15 in. and 16 in. guns to the bombardment of almost every place along the Seine Bay, as did three American battleships, and behind this screen landing ships and landing craft passed inshore and discharged tanks and men, often in five feet of water.
The tanks were waterproofed, when they crawled out of the ocean the water proofing was blown off. General Montgomery, who commanded the operation, had given one comprehensive order, "Don't stop on the beaches, but get inland as far as you can."
And so the story unfolded..................................
In the months past it had heralded the blasting of gun-sites, the destruction of airfield runways, the demolition of bridges, all over northern and western France. During May alone the Anglo-American Air Forces had unloaded more than 20,000 tons of bombs there, systematically destroying, communications between the German coastal armies and their bases further inland. Fifty out of 82 main rail centres had been destroyed, and 25 more damaged,only three bridges over the River Seine remained available to bear traffic. But by June 5th the signal for invasion had been given, The planes, 1,300 strong, were going to blast ten coastal batteries between Le Havre and Cherbourg, in the home airports all the way from Devon to Kent, paratroops, with emergency rations, were already on board the gliders and transport planes which within an hour or two would spill them out all over the Cherbourg Peninsula and the country before Caen. More than a thousand ships of all sizes, from giant liners to dirty tramp steamers and small coastal craft, filled every harbour, packed to their gunwales with machinery and plant for sowing the seeds of freedom on French soil tanks, guns, ammunition boxes, shells, wagons, medical supplies, food, repair outfits all loaded according to carefully arranged schedules, so that first things might be the first available. Under their hatches nearly a quarter of a million men sprawled and talked and smoked and slept.
Out at sea it was blowing hard, a wind which despite much resistance was to uproot German power and scatter it back across the frontier. For this was the dawn of D-Day, the moment for which countless millions of oppressed people throughout Europe waited and prayed. The Germans, however, knew nothing until the bombs crashed down on their batteries and the parachutists floated to earth. Paratroops seized a couple of bridges near Caen, and held them despite a violent reaction. Some landed in fields, others close to the coast, and collecting themselves, rushed for their immediate objectives. One glider spilled its occupants into the main street of Ste. Mere - Eglise, the astonished enemy surrendering without a fight, at other places fighting was both bitter and bloody. Meanwhile, before dawn the great armada had got under way, guarded by twin forces of light warships, British under Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian on one side, American under Rear-Admiral A. G. Kirk on the other. A special scratch force of small craft acted as a screen against U-boats and E-boats. "H.M.SS. Nelson", "Warspite" and "Ramillies" lent the weight of their 15 in. and 16 in. guns to the bombardment of almost every place along the Seine Bay, as did three American battleships, and behind this screen landing ships and landing craft passed inshore and discharged tanks and men, often in five feet of water.
The tanks were waterproofed, when they crawled out of the ocean the water proofing was blown off. General Montgomery, who commanded the operation, had given one comprehensive order, "Don't stop on the beaches, but get inland as far as you can."
And so the story unfolded..................................