I believe today is the anniversary of D-Day — the day thousands of brave American (and others, notably Canadians and English ) men stormed the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of Europe from the Nazis.
I just wanted to take the time to thank you and your countries. All of them.
Several of my direct ancestors were in concentration camps, and it is doubtful they would have lived much longer. Without your sacrifice and the bravery of those men, the odds of me having ever come into existence are slim and none.
So, thank you.
May the G-d of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob bless you, keep you in peace and prosperity and health, and, when you are old bring you home to Him in love.
I wrote this as my status update on facebook after only seeing one post about it today.
"Most people are more likely to remember the day Biggie got shot than they are to remember what happened on the beaches of Normandy on this day in 1944. But that day, we must always remember, was the day that the average, every-day American man left the plowfields and the factories, grabbed a rifle, and loaded up on the boats that would cross the English Channel to begin the last leg of a campaign that would save the world from unimaginable darkness.
Our debt of gratitude can never be repaid."
I hate that all of the WW II Vets - like so many in my own family - are dying off at such a rapid pace.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I wrote this as my status update on facebook after only seeing one post about it today.
"Most people are more likely to remember the day Biggie got shot than they are to remember what happened on the beaches of Normandy on this day in 1944. But that day, we must always remember, was the day that the average, every-day American man left the plowfields and the factories, grabbed a rifle, and loaded up on the boats that would cross the English Channel to begin the last leg of a campaign that would save the world from unimaginable darkness.
Our debt of gratitude can never be repaid."
I hate that all of the WW II Vets - like so many in my own family - are dying off at such a rapid pace.[/quote]
I can only imagine how terrifying that day must have been for our boys…I get nervous when I watch the D-Day scene at the start of Saving Private Ryan.[/quote]
I never understood why the boats opened at the front and why they loaded the first wave with so much gear
I can only imagine how terrifying that day must have been for our boys…I get nervous when I watch the D-Day scene at the start of Saving Private Ryan.[/quote]
I never understood why the boats opened at the front and why they loaded the first wave with so much gear
[/quote]
Doors farther back on the boat mean exiting in deeper water, while carrying gear. Extra gear is necessary to: (1) hide behind and (2) because they were going to be alone for a bit.
I’ve actually hit the beach in a landing craft, in training and with modern equipment. It still sucks, and this was continental USA and no one was shooting at me.
Jewbacca, I appreciate the post. Most countries/people don’t bother to say “thank you.” It’s all I ask.
It’s too bad the artillery missed hitting the nazi’s, and that Rommel knew where we were going to invade. Omaha beach had to he be the closest thing to hell on earth, and is one of the most incomprehensible things to take place during the war.
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
I believe today is the anniversary of D-Day — the day thousands of brave American (and others, notably Canadians and English ) men stormed the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of Europe from the Nazis.
I just wanted to take the time to thank you and your countries. All of them.
Several of my direct ancestors were in concentration camps, and it is doubtful they would have lived much longer. Without your sacrifice and the bravery of those men, the odds of me having ever come into existence are slim and none.
So, thank you.
May the G-d of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob bless you, keep you in peace and prosperity and health, and, when you are old bring you home to Him in love.[/quote]
And may God bless and forever keep Israel safe in his loving arms!
I can only imagine how terrifying that day must have been for our boys…I get nervous when I watch the D-Day scene at the start of Saving Private Ryan.[/quote]
Not that I sympathize with them by any means, but the Germans watching that on coming fleet from those beach strongholds had to shit a total brick when they saw it.
I can only imagine how terrifying that day must have been for our boys…I get nervous when I watch the D-Day scene at the start of Saving Private Ryan.[/quote]
I never understood why the boats opened at the front and why they loaded the first wave with so much gear
[/quote]
I often wonder why they didn’t soften up the resistance on the beach with air power and gun power from the destroyers before they dropped the doors. I knew the weather was shitty, but pounding the shit out of those beaches prior to dropping our boys on the beach seems like a no brainier to me…
We had a much bigger stomach for casualties back then.
I can only imagine how terrifying that day must have been for our boys…I get nervous when I watch the D-Day scene at the start of Saving Private Ryan.[/quote]
I never understood why the boats opened at the front and why they loaded the first wave with so much gear
[/quote]
I often wonder why they didn’t soften up the resistance on the beach with air power and gun power from the destroyers before they dropped the doors. I knew the weather was shitty, but pounding the shit out of those beaches prior to dropping our boys on the beach seems like a no brainier to me…
We had a much bigger stomach for casualties back then.[/quote]
They did, but they missed. And i believe it was low tide = extra long run/killing field. Omaha beach also has a “curve” to it, which allowed the fascists to not only fire head on, but also fire the length of the beach giving them a real high chance of hitting something…
I can only imagine how terrifying that day must have been for our boys…I get nervous when I watch the D-Day scene at the start of Saving Private Ryan.[/quote]
I never understood why the boats opened at the front and why they loaded the first wave with so much gear
[/quote]
I often wonder why they didn’t soften up the resistance on the beach with air power and gun power from the destroyers before they dropped the doors. I knew the weather was shitty, but pounding the shit out of those beaches prior to dropping our boys on the beach seems like a no brainier to me…
We had a much bigger stomach for casualties back then.[/quote]
They did, but they missed. And i believe it was low tide = extra long run/killing field. Omaha beach also has a “curve” to it, which allowed the fascists to not only fire head on, but also fire the length of the beach giving them a real high chance of hitting something… [/quote]
I also think part of the idea was to hide where the main frontal attack would be. The more days you spend bombarding, the more time you give for reinforcements to get there and defense plans to be made.
I can only imagine how terrifying that day must have been for our boys…I get nervous when I watch the D-Day scene at the start of Saving Private Ryan.[/quote]
I never understood why the boats opened at the front and why they loaded the first wave with so much gear
[/quote]
The Lewis boats with the front loading door were a death trap when faced by strong opposition. The question that should be asked is why the hell weren’t the first two or three waves sent assure in AMTRACs as per the Marines in the Pacific campaigns. With all the planning that went into the invasion … so much of which worked … you have to wonder how this little thing was missed.
Nonetheless, the bravery of those young men was staggering. I’d like to add my voice to Jewbaccas in applauding them.
[quote]pat wrote:
I often wonder why they didn’t soften up the resistance on the beach with air power and gun power from the destroyers before they dropped the doors. [/quote]
They did. Two battleships, a couple of cruisers, and eleven destroyers.
Air power (back then) was very imprecise and had long time between repeat firing. The ships sat on the horizon and pounded the crap out of the Nazis.
The Nazis were rather taken aback at the scope of the Naval power: Field-Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt reported that:
… The enemy had deployed very strong Naval forces off the shores of the bridgehead. These can be used as quickly mobile, constantly available artillery, at points where they are necessary as defence against our attacks or as support for enemy attacks. During the day their fire is skilfully directed by . . . plane observers, and by advanced ground fire spotters. Because of the high rapid-fire capacity of Naval guns they play an important part in the battle within their range. The movement of tanks by day, in open country, within the range of these naval guns is hardly possible.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
[
I also think part of the idea was to hide where the main frontal attack would be. The more days you spend bombarding, the more time you give for reinforcements to get there and defense plans to be made.[/quote]
Also naval cannon make poor field artillery. They shoot with a vary flat trajectory so plunging fire is difficult without the ships standing a long way offshore. For example the bombardment at Bettio Island was supposed to silence all opposition…wrong, a lot of the shells simply ricocheted off the land. It must have been hell on earth for the Japanese in the bunkers, but by and large most of them lived and most of the emplacements they manned remained intact.
There is the also the chance of friendly fire casualties. Both the Air Force and Navy were rightly concerned about those.
And even allowing for all that, the air force largely missed the beach targets. And they were also heavily engaged in destroying vital targets inland to prevent large scale German troop movements.
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
why the hell weren’t the first two or three waves sent assure in AMTRACs as per the Marines in the Pacific campaigns. [/quote]
Because AMTRACs were not fit for this type of beach and the defenses the Nazis installed.
The Higgins Boat was a shallow draft boat to get as far up the shore as possible.
To stay balanced, the engine was in the back, so the door was in the front. Also, as already stated, 20 feet of slogging through water with a pack is probably worse than running down a ramp as fast as fucking possible.
While you armchair generals talk bad about the boats, I’ll defer to Gen. Eisenhauer:
“Andrew Higgins … is the man who won the war for us. … If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different.”
It’s too bad the artillery missed hitting the nazi’s, and that Rommel knew where we were going to invade.
[/quote]
I think that’s an old wives’ tale based on Rommel’s requests for reinforcements to the Normandy area shortly prior to the landings[*]. But Rommel had already stated in a letter to Hitler dated 31 August 1943:
“The focus of the enemy landing operation will probably be directed against the Fifteenth Army’s sector(the Pas de Calais)…It is most likely that the enemy will make his main effort against the sector between Boulogne and the Somme estuary and on either side of Calais…”
Rommel’s plan was to concentrate forces along the coast and amass them quickly against any invading force, throwing them back into the sea before they could establish a bridgehead. The other school of thought was represented by Geyr von Schweppenberg who wished to station the bulk of forces around Paris for a counter offensive against the allies after they had landed and established themselves.
May 1944: 'Due to the enemy’s air superiority, it proved impossible to bring 1st S.S. Panzer Corps, 7th Nebelwerfer Brigade, the A.A. Corps and the Corps “Meindl” up to the Orne and Vire fast enough to enable them to counter-attack the enemy forces after the landing.
