D-day and all that

I suppose with Remembrance Day approaching there have been numerous items on the news which feature the action at D-Day - and the consequent loss of life.  Watching some old newsreel footage the other day, I could not help ruminating on what a truly extraordinary operation it was.  The sheer volume of planning required for the overall strategy adopted which, and this was a 'minefield' all of its own, had to be agreed between three major, allied participants.  Then there was the planning for the logistics which were mammoth.  Yes it takes brave and skilled soldiers to fight battles but it also takes intelligent and detailed thinkers to ensure that they actually have the right 'bullets' in the right place at the right time in order for the soldiers to operate.

Of course, there were the usual silly spats between high-ranking officers each wishing to ensure that when the result, for good or ill, was clear, they and their country would come out of it with maximum credit and minimum crap!  In retrospect, it is worth remembering that they, in their different ways, represented democratic countries and democratic systems with all the inbuilt messiness that such liberal systems entail.   Unlike their opponents, they were not ruled over by a murderous mono-maniac who truly believed he was 'the ruler of the universe'.  It is clear now that, in fact, Hitler was the Allies best weapon!

Even so, in the end everything, absolutely everything, depended on the tens of thousands of individual soldiers who had to gulp their breath and step out from a landing craft into a ferocious hail of red-hot metal, and then keep on advancing even as their comrades fell beside them.  That, truly, was courage - and we all salute them.

 

 

 

Comments

[Glesga]

We will remember them.

[SCOTTtheBADGER]

At the same time OPERATION FORAGER was set in motion, to retake the Marianas, which resulted in the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The Allies did amazing things in those years.

[David & Son of Duff]

SCOTT, thanks for that nudge. I vaguely know something about that campaign but I will now investigate further.