Operation Overlord.
That was the code name for the allied invasion on France - one of the the largest amphibious military assaults in history. It began on June 6th and wasn't an overnight victory. The battle lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, but in the end the Allies were liberated from Western Europe and Nazi Germany's control.
It's been almost 70 years ago since some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five different beaches on the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region. Just before the assault, the Allied forces conducted a huge deception campaign to mislead the Nazi forces about the intended invasion target. They called it Operation Bodyguard. Months of planning went into this. It worked.
President Dwight Eisenhower was only a U.S. Army General at the time of the Normandy Invasion, but Supreme Commander over the Allied Forces. Think about it. Wow. He rallied his troops and spoke with members of the 101st Airborne paratroopers before the planes and gliders left. (Great photo of this moment btw.) Paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines during the night when their friends and fellow soldiers assaulted the beaches at dawn. Soldiers braved the pounding surf, crossed the beaches and moved over the seawalls to face the enemy. Finally the beachhead was secured and they continued on. Men were wounded. Men lost their lives. All in the name of Freedom.
Freedom. Seven letters with a meaning more powerful than most other words known to man.
June 6th, 1944.
As the greatest generation becomes fewer in number and history books become filled with "more important" things, this and future generations don't /won't understand the breadth and depth of this date in history.
It's a date that NEEDS to be remembered.
Without this combined military effort, the world would be a different place.
It was a day of deliverance.
That was the code name for the allied invasion on France - one of the the largest amphibious military assaults in history. It began on June 6th and wasn't an overnight victory. The battle lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, but in the end the Allies were liberated from Western Europe and Nazi Germany's control.
It's been almost 70 years ago since some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five different beaches on the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region. Just before the assault, the Allied forces conducted a huge deception campaign to mislead the Nazi forces about the intended invasion target. They called it Operation Bodyguard. Months of planning went into this. It worked.
President Dwight Eisenhower was only a U.S. Army General at the time of the Normandy Invasion, but Supreme Commander over the Allied Forces. Think about it. Wow. He rallied his troops and spoke with members of the 101st Airborne paratroopers before the planes and gliders left. (Great photo of this moment btw.) Paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines during the night when their friends and fellow soldiers assaulted the beaches at dawn. Soldiers braved the pounding surf, crossed the beaches and moved over the seawalls to face the enemy. Finally the beachhead was secured and they continued on. Men were wounded. Men lost their lives. All in the name of Freedom.
Freedom. Seven letters with a meaning more powerful than most other words known to man.
June 6th, 1944.
As the greatest generation becomes fewer in number and history books become filled with "more important" things, this and future generations don't /won't understand the breadth and depth of this date in history.
It's a date that NEEDS to be remembered.
Without this combined military effort, the world would be a different place.
It was a day of deliverance.
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