D-Day

4 Pages 1037 Words

INTRODUCTION

Imagine if you will. Go back in time to June 5th, 1944 to a place known as England. You’re a British citizen use to hearing the sounds of war. These sounds include heavy transport vehicles, marine vessels and airplanes. It is nighttime and you have suddenly been awakened by louder than normal sounds. You step out of your house for a moment and to your surprise you see in the air, more planes than you ever thought existed. You wipe your eyes and focus on the mass. Through the darkness, you notice U.S. and British planes flying together in formation. This great site of combined military might means only one thing. Invasion! Feelings of pride, hope and cohesion among you and your countrymen replace those of uncertainty, fear and failure. Overjoyed, you return to your house and try to get some sleep. The next morning, June 6th, 1944, you awake extra early, anticipating some kind of national announcement. Just after 9:00am you hear your anticipation. “ Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces supported by strong air forces began landing Allied armies this morning on the coast of France.” Moments later the rest of the world knew. Invasion!

PLANNING THE INVASION

The origination of D-Day planning is thought to have happened in Dunkirk in 1940. Winston Churchill had had a meeting with Lord Louis Mountbatten. There, Churchill requested Mountbatten to begin planning for a distant offensive. Russia and America joined forces with Britain, what was once a distant offensive wasn’t quite so distant after all.
In January 1943, Churchill met with Roosevelt at Casablanca to appoint Gen. F.E. Morgan as joint staff of COSSAC, Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander. The choice of a Supreme Commander would come later. For six months COSSAC studied the coasts of Europe, Allied/German forces that might be joined in battle, and technical details of the project. From this intense...