WW II, (1939 to 1945). The war had been going on for five years. The Allied forces which included the armies of Britain, Canada and the United States on the Western front with the Soviet Union on the Eastern side and to a lesser extent China in Asia. The Allied forces launched an assault on the mainland of Europe from Britain, known today as the D-Day landing. The 6th June 1944 saw the largest invasion force of land, sea and air in military history. The operation was code named Overlord, delivered five naval assault divisions onto the beaches of Normandy, France. D-Day stands for nothing in particular. It’s used in US military terms to designate a launch date of a mission. One other reason for keeping the date unknown was because of spies.

World War 11: Causes, let’s go back a little to the ending of WW I 1914-1918. This WW saw a defeat for Germany. The agreement enacted in 1919 and the sanctions drawn up would return to haunt the world within 20 years. 

The Treaty of Versailles held that Germany was responsible for the war and so having lost, they were forced to pay reparations. They also had to forfeit lands they had annexed in Europe and their military army had to be curtailed.

The League of Nations was an organization set up to keep world peace. A great idea but absolutely useless in enforcement. Countries that had disputes would be expected to settle them by negotiation. Not all countries joined and there was no army to prevent military aggression. Italy invaded Ethiopia and Japan invaded China.

1931 saw a military coup in Japan, with the economy in the doldrums, the Japanese citizens welcomed this. The factories and industries needed natural resources and so Japan invaded China that was rich in minerals. The League of Nations could do nothing. Japan continued to expand its empire, Korea, South Asian islands and Vietnam. The United States were concerned with this expansion as indeed they should. An embargo was placed by the US on oil been exported to Japan. As 80% of the oil used in Japan was coming from the States, this was horrendous. When WW II o broke out in 1939, Germany had a packed with Japan. America’s naval base is at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. The Japanese attacked the base in 1941, with the expectation of rendering their fleet inoperable. Not so however, and America declared war on Japan four days later. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declare war on the U.S.

After WW I the whole world was hit by an economic depression, in the late 1920s. Trade, businesses, prices fell, Banks failed, unemployment rose and economies were in turmoil. In Germany the economy was suffering more than most. In 1933 Adolf Hitler comes to power with promises of restoring wealth and power. Secretly he began to build up Germany’s army and weapons. The country is moving in the right direction. Iron and steel is being mined to build tanks and ammunition, planes, trucks and roads to travel on. Coal mines are at full capacity, heat is needed to turn iron into a commodity. Britain and France are aware of the increase in this military buildup, they presume however that a stronger Germany would stop the spread of Communism from the Soviet Union. In 1936 Hitler ordered German troops to enter German speaking areas of France, Austria and Czechoslovakia. Britain and France were not prepared to go to war. In 1936 Hitler made alliances with Italy and Japan. Known as the Axis Power. Appeasement meant agreeing to the demands of another nation to avoid conflict. During the early 1930’s politicians in Britain and France thought that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair on Germany, Britain adopted a Policy of Appeasement. In the Munich Agreement in 1938 Germany was allowed to annex areas of Czechoslovakia where German-speakers lived. Germany agreed not to invade the rest of Czechoslovakia or any other country. In 1939 Germany breaks that promise and invades the rest of Czechoslovakia. Three months later they invade Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany, WW II had begun.

The D-Day landing took a lot of planning and designing, building, moving thousands of vehicles, ships and aircraft. Millions of men and women had to be trained. The war is spreading to other parts of the world. When talks on an invasion began it is agreed by Britain and the US a strategy of “Europe first”. That is, to concentrate on the defeat of Germany then turning to deal with Japan. The landing was postponed on a number of dates. 

History is an education for the future. By learning from the past we can prevent disastrous calamities for the future. We sometimes use the term ‘celebrate’ for the ending of a war in some place or other in the world. What can we celebrate when we think of the atrocities that were caused to achieve a surrender or an end to this violent struggle. General’s or commander’s that have to order an attack or a charge that they know will lead to numerous lives being lost on both sides. So let us commemorate this D-Day for the sacrifices that men and women did that we can live in freedom and safety. 

The assaults carried out on the Normandy beaches were not without dangers, not only being hampered from a barrage of enemy gunfire and tanks but also by the elements of nature, wind, rain and sun add to the difficulty of getting ashore or landing small planes. Rough seas and three metres swells makes docking small ships or boats next to impossible. On June 5th even as an unforgiving storm lashed Britain and Europe Roosevelt and Churchill decided to launch the invasion the following day.

Figures from that date show that 156,115 troops from the U.S. Britain and Canada took part, 6,939 ships and landing vessels, 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders that delivered airborne troops.

Germany had anticipated an invasion from England. Field Marshal Rommel was in charge of building the Atlantic Wall, 2,400 miles of bunkers, land mines and beach and water obstacles. 4 million land mines approximately were placed along the Normandy beaches. Hitler was positive that the landing would come in at Calais, the shortest distance from England to France. He insisted that the biggest concentration of the defence should be there. In fact there was a mock invasion at Dover in England observed by German Generals on the French side to occupy the enemy. The commander General Patten was in charge of the operation at Dover.

For the invasion to happen the U.S shipped 7 million tons of supplies to the staging area including 450,000 tons of ammunition. Prefabricated corrugated steel landing platforms were needed to get tanks, jeeps, trucks with supplies, ambulances, soldiers, medical personnel, tents, field hospitals etc. onto the beaches.

Bad weather, rough seas, thunder and lightning had grounded the Nazi planes. The invasion began in the pre-dawn hours with thousands of paratroopers landing on the Utah and Sword beaches. American troops suffered heavy casualties at Utah. The British and Canadian troops had met somewhat less resistance at Sword beach. Taking out key bridges made for an advance inland possible. At Juno beach, Canadian soldiers suffered terrible casualties. However they pushed inland capturing towns and territories. Surrendering German soldiers was another item that had to be dealt with. Omaha and Gold beaches had an astounding number of casualties but the number of soldiers that got through were far in excess. 

Five days after D-Day, troops immediately began to install massive temporary harbours that had taken six months to construct in England. 2.5 million troops, 500,000 vehicles and 4 million tons of supplies were unloaded there over the remainder of the war. 

Eleven months after D-Day on 7th May 1945 Germany signed an unconditional surrender.

After fierce fighting and lives lost Japan surrendered on 2nd September 1945 following the Nuclear attack on Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, by US air strikes.

Suggested Tour: 

www.furtherafieldtravel.ca/80th-anniversary-d-day-wwii-remembrance