Friday, June 06, 2014

The 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion

Seventy years ago this morning, thousands upon thousands of Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen attacked the Nazi defenses on the beaches of Normandy.  They called it Operation Overlord, and no one involved was certain it could succeed.  The weather had been lousy.  The Allied track record with beach landings was far from stellar.  And no one was sure if the Axis powers knew where the Allies were planning to land, or if they'd been fooled by all the misinformation the Allies had been sending their way.

Seventy years later, of course, we know they succeeded.  Despite the bad weather, despite snags like one entire landing force hitting the wrong beach, despite terrifyingly high casualties at other beaches, the Allies were not swept back out to sea by the Nazis.  They landed, they stayed, they fought their way inland, and the war... was not won that day.  But the proverbial Shakespearean worm had turned that day, and victory in the European Theater of Operations was not long in coming.

This might be weird to say, but I'm very fond of the D-Day invasion.  I love learning about it, and one of my great dreams is to someday visit the five beaches where the Allies landed.  The best book I've read about the invasion as a whole is still The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, and I love the movie that's based on it.  I also love a much less well-known movie called D-Day:  The Sixth of June which follows three people whose lives are caught up in the preparation for the invasion.  I used to watch one or the other every year on the anniversary, though lately I haven't had time to watch either one, and usually make do with the pilot episode of Combat!, "A Day in June," which also revolves around the invasion.


This is me at the WWII memorial in Washington, DC a few years ago, standing above the section that honors those who participated in D-Day.  I couldn't physically be present there today, or on the beaches of Normandy, to honor those who fought there, both those who lived and those who died.  But I honor them by remembering their sacrifice, their courage, their achievements.  I hope you do too.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for reminding me Hamlette. I hope no one forgets to honor the brave men who fought when the odds seemed against them. I too love to find out about D-Day and other events of that sort; isn't it fun to be a "history nerd?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I first became fascinated with D-Day the year of its 50th anniversary, 1994. So, so, so many classic war movies got released to video, and that's when I first got to see The Longest Day. My dad bought the book too, and I read it eagerly. History is so entrancing, isn't it?

      Delete
  2. Great post! I'm really interested in everything WW2, which usually gets me odd looks from people... Anyway, did you know that Benedict Cumberbatch was reading all the D-Day radio reports on the anniversary? :) I'll have to dig them up from somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WWII is one of my favorite eras to learn about! That's one of my favorite things about writing fanfic for Combat! -- doing research for my stories :-)

      If you find a recording of BC reading those, please send me a link! That would be amazing!

      Delete
    2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALh9sd6FG78 There you go :) I'm getting such amazing history feeeeeels right now!

      Delete
  3. Nice post, Hamlette! I love that you still remember D-Day. I was reminding the middle-schoolers yesterday about it, and many of them had no idea what I was talking about. So sad that kids these days have no clue. I'm glad that MY students were educated better than that :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I was just thinking about how funny it is that history was one of my least-favorite subjects until I got to college, and then suddenly I couldn't get enough.

      Delete

Agree or disagree? That is the question...

Comments on old posts are always welcome! Posts older than 7 days are on moderation to dissuade spambots, so if your comment doesn't show up right away, don't worry -- it will once I approve it.

(Rudeness and vulgar language will not be tolerated.)