D-Day - June 6, 1944: "The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere marched with [them]"
June 6th marks the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing on the beaches of Normandy, France during WW2. This upcoming 75th anniversary of D-Day got me wondering what my family who experienced the war, either in fighting or supporting roles, or 'on the home front' experienced that day.
I will start with a (very) brief background of this event.
The war had been raging in Europe for nearly five years, when the Allied forces embarked on an invasion of the continent that would turn the tide of the war. This event resulted from years of preparation by the Allied nations to breach the Atlantic front in Europe. Hitler's forces had advanced rapidly across Europe and the allies were at their lowest period.
However, the defeat of the Germans by the Russians on the Eastern Front, and the defeat of Mussolini in Italy, gave renewed hope that the fortunes of the allies could turn. It was recognised, though, that a coordinated and well thought out effort would be needed to defeat the Germans.
After years of preparation, coordination, and training,(some say that these plans had their beginnings in the evacuation of the beaches at Dunkirk 1940), General Eisenhower gave the orders to start the invasion. On June 5th, (D-Day-1), Eisenhower said "The free men of the world are marching together to Victory" and, when he issued the order to start the offensive, "The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you".
As the weather looked so bad, there was a concern that the whole thing would be called off. the invasion required high tide of a full moon and a clear night but the weather was deteriorating. This delayed D-Day by one day and was now planned to take place on June 6th. I will cover the fascinating story of the most important weather forecast in history in a later blog.
"In the Singallers' Office situated in the basement of Exbury House, on the south coast of England, Jean Gadston, a WREN - (Women's Royal Naval Service) - was responsible for typing up the D-Day instruction for the Fleet." The Signallers' Office was sealed by that time, and, on the morning of June 6th, she passed the order to the flotilla in the Solent and in Southampton Water and to the Landing Craft in the Beaulieu River which flows into the Solent to "sail".
As I am not an expert on this, and as there are so many books, articles, documentaries and movies about D-Day, I would direct you to these resources if you are interested in learning more about this pivotal event in WW2. For a brief background on the D-Day landing, watch the "D-Day in Colour" video which I have linked to in my list on the right side of this blog. Credit for content of this blog also to articles by Graham Bandy ("The Crusade in Europe") and John Leete ("D-Day Memories") in FamilyTree Magazine, June 2019.
In future blogs I will discuss my attempts to try to determine what my dad, Charles Anderson (fighting in India/Burma), my Aunt Nena, (stationed with the RCAF- Women's Division in Canada), my granddad, James Ainslie (home guard in Scotland) and my mother, Flora Anderson (switchboard operator, Scotland) may have experienced on that fateful day.
I will start with a (very) brief background of this event.
The war had been raging in Europe for nearly five years, when the Allied forces embarked on an invasion of the continent that would turn the tide of the war. This event resulted from years of preparation by the Allied nations to breach the Atlantic front in Europe. Hitler's forces had advanced rapidly across Europe and the allies were at their lowest period.
However, the defeat of the Germans by the Russians on the Eastern Front, and the defeat of Mussolini in Italy, gave renewed hope that the fortunes of the allies could turn. It was recognised, though, that a coordinated and well thought out effort would be needed to defeat the Germans.
After years of preparation, coordination, and training,(some say that these plans had their beginnings in the evacuation of the beaches at Dunkirk 1940), General Eisenhower gave the orders to start the invasion. On June 5th, (D-Day-1), Eisenhower said "The free men of the world are marching together to Victory" and, when he issued the order to start the offensive, "The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you".
As the weather looked so bad, there was a concern that the whole thing would be called off. the invasion required high tide of a full moon and a clear night but the weather was deteriorating. This delayed D-Day by one day and was now planned to take place on June 6th. I will cover the fascinating story of the most important weather forecast in history in a later blog.
"In the Singallers' Office situated in the basement of Exbury House, on the south coast of England, Jean Gadston, a WREN - (Women's Royal Naval Service) - was responsible for typing up the D-Day instruction for the Fleet." The Signallers' Office was sealed by that time, and, on the morning of June 6th, she passed the order to the flotilla in the Solent and in Southampton Water and to the Landing Craft in the Beaulieu River which flows into the Solent to "sail".As I am not an expert on this, and as there are so many books, articles, documentaries and movies about D-Day, I would direct you to these resources if you are interested in learning more about this pivotal event in WW2. For a brief background on the D-Day landing, watch the "D-Day in Colour" video which I have linked to in my list on the right side of this blog. Credit for content of this blog also to articles by Graham Bandy ("The Crusade in Europe") and John Leete ("D-Day Memories") in FamilyTree Magazine, June 2019.
In future blogs I will discuss my attempts to try to determine what my dad, Charles Anderson (fighting in India/Burma), my Aunt Nena, (stationed with the RCAF- Women's Division in Canada), my granddad, James Ainslie (home guard in Scotland) and my mother, Flora Anderson (switchboard operator, Scotland) may have experienced on that fateful day.
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