D Day TRIVIA and other interesting stuff 6/5/2024

[953 nut 55,187]

Eighty years ago.

 

On this day in 1944, more than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries placed at the Normandy assault area, while 3,000 Allied ships cross the English Channel in preparation for the invasion of Normandy—D-Day.

The day of the invasion of occupied France had been postponed repeatedly since May, mostly because of bad weather and the enormous tactical obstacles involved. Finally, despite less than ideal weather conditions—or perhaps because of them—General Eisenhower decided on June 5 to set the next day as D-Day, the launch of the largest amphibious operation in history. Ike knew that the Germans would be expecting postponements beyond the sixth, precisely because weather conditions were still poor.

Among those Germans confident that an Allied invasion could not be pulled off on the sixth was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who was still debating tactics with Field Marshal Karl Rundstedt. Rundstedt was convinced that the Allies would come in at the narrowest point of the Channel, between Calais and Dieppe; Rommel, following Hitler’s intuition, believed it would be Normandy. Rommel’s greatest fear was that German air inferiority would prevent an adequate defense on the ground; it was his plan to meet the Allies on the coast—before the Allies had a chance to come ashore. Rommel began constructing underwater obstacles and minefields, and set off for Germany to demand from Hitler personally more panzer divisions in the area.

Bad weather and an order to conserve fuel grounded much of the German air force on June 5; consequently, its reconnaissance flights were spotty. That night, more than 1,000 British bombers unleashed a massive assault on German gun batteries on the coast. At the same time, an Allied armada headed for the Normandy beaches in Operation Neptune, an attempt to capture the port at Cherbourg. But that was not all. In order to deceive the Germans, phony operations were run; dummy parachutists and radar-jamming devices were dropped into strategically key areas so as to make German radar screens believe there was an Allied convoy already on the move. One dummy parachute drop succeeded in drawing an entire German infantry regiment away from its position just six miles from the actual Normandy landing beaches. All this effort was to scatter the German defenses and make way for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy.

[Horsin'round 74]

Dee's father (my SO) served as a medic on Utah Beach. Beyond that,  he never spoke about it. 

[Handy Don 12,212]

The ingenuity and inventiveness that went into the decoy operations is mind blowing. The planners even made sure that routine coded radio traffic (that they were pretty sure the Germans could at least partially decode) continued with plausible, but not useful, content to avoid raising suspicion.

it is also staggering to realize how much logistical support went into putting those 10,000 people onto those beaches. The supply lines extended thousands of miles back to the middle of the USA.

The unity of purpose and dogged focus on the objective are hard for us to comprehend in today’s world.

 

[oliver2-44 9,729]

48 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

It is also staggering to realize how much logistical support went into putting those 10,000 people onto those beaches. The supply lines extended thousands of miles back to the middle of the USA.

 

After my dad passed, my mom remarried at 70. Ed was a wonderful man in everyway.  In 1942 at 17, he was to young to join the military but he could join the Merchant Marines.   

 Ed passed last December, he never spoke about those years until his last year.  He talked about how the German subs had intel and knew which ships in the merchant convoys carried munitions, guns, etc.  They were the first to be hit by the subs.  He also talked about carrying all the food supplies to feed Europe's citizens.  I had never hear this talked about before.  But it made since, with Europe at war farming was greatly impacted.  so on american soil the new farm tractors were increasing farm yields to feed war torn Europe.  As a side note I've seen some interesting tractor videos of British city girls being trained to farm.  This also got them out of the bombed cities.    Ed  said these ships were targeted less, but not always.  While the supply convoys had Navy escort ships they initially only had one or two anti-aircraft guns manned by soldiers and merchant marines when the soldiers fell.  Later in the war, merchant convoy ships were equipped with depth charges.  The Merchant Marines lost more tonnage of ships than the Navy during the war.  He served on ships that supplied D-day, many of Europe's ports, Africa, and the Pacific Islands.  Merchant Marine sailors did not receive any military benefits, even though their loss of life was high. Since that didn't count as military service he was later drafted and served on a half track tank dozer in Korea.  In Korea, there were very few POW's,.   Many times, It was a fight to the last man standing.

 

if you have a Merchant Marine in your family, thank them for their service. they were a vital part of the massive WWII effort. 

Of course at that time, every American was part of the war effort.  From Victory Gardens, Liberty Bonds,, Rationing of every commodity, every business and craft was part of the effort.  My mom is 95 and was a teenager during the war. There was minimal gasoline for school busses, and none for sport events.    The teams caught a ride to neighboring towns however they could and the coaches pulled youth from the sparse crowd if they didn't have enough boys to make a team. There were very few High School Senior boys around!  There was no gas for teens on the weekend.  Her uncle took her and a cousin to a few dances with a horse and carriage.  They walked or rode a bike to anything local.  It was a different America.       

[Ed Kennell 38,131]

18 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

 

if you have a Merchant Marine in your family, thank them for their service. they were a vital part of the massive WWII effort.

My FIL served as a Merchant Marine and never talked about his service.    Sadly, he passed before Congress and President Trump recognized this group of brave seamen in 2019.

 

During World War II, the Merchant Mariners played a crucial role in shipping supplies to the Allies. However, their contributions were often overlooked. In 2019 Congress passed the Merchant Mariner Act, officially recognizing these sailors as combat veterans. President Donald J. Trump signed the Act into law in the spring of 2020¹. Additionally, in 2020, Congress awarded the remaining living World War II Merchant Mariners the Congressional Gold Medal for their courage and service during the war². These mariners faced significant danger while sailing defenseless against German submarines patrolling the Atlantic Ocean, making their recognition well-deserved..

 

[Ed Kennell 38,131]

Two weeks ago I lost a dear friend.   I met Bob about 20 years ago when he learned of a rare 1940s outboard motor that I owned.  Bob had a collection of over 50 old outboard motors. I was happy to add mine to his collection and watch him have it running in a few minutes.   His ability to bring old outboards and old Ford flatheads back to life was amazing.

Bob also owned two Wheel Horse Raiders that I was able to help him with parts and repairs in return for his help keeping my outboards running.

 

But on this solemn day, this story is about Bob's father who died in 1945 when Bob was 9 years old.   

 

 

 

[Tractorhead 9,064]

That historic day was the beginning of the final end of WWII.

This was the turnarround, that i can have a good childhood without a War and can grow in Freedom.

Thanks in deepest honest to all Veterans for your Service and for my given Freedom.

 

 

The more i can‘t unterstand that we have again a War in Europe about 500Km far from my Home.

 

sad but true.