The Guardian notes that thousands of troops were killed by punishing machine gun fire as they waded on shore. The amazing thing about D-Day is that it succeeded at all.Įstimates of exactly how many men died on those beaches vary pretty significantly, and it's impossible to know precisely how many died in the first wave-but it was a bloodbath. As Engines of Our Ingenuity notes, the bombs Eisenhower fought for mostly missed their targets, naval bombardments were ineffective, amphibious tanks turned out to be not very amphibious at all, and the weather wasn't ideal, scattering Allied forces. And things did go wrong-nearly everything, in fact. In fact, as NPR reports Eisenhower was so painfully aware of how easily it could go wrong he wrote out a statement to be issued if it went badly. One of the reasons Eisenhower was chosen for his role was his ability to get combative personalities to work together-but he threatened to quit and throw the whole operation into disarray when the British pushed back on "no-brainer" plans to bomb the German lines prior to the landings.
#D DAY FACTS FULL#
As History notes, Eisenhower's staff was full of British officers, and the British themselves did much of the planning and logistics work. Eisenhower was Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces that means America was in charge-but it was a partnership. Here's the messed-up truth about D-Day.Īmericans sometimes think that because General Dwight D. But dig a little deeper, and the mythology doesn't always hold up. led the biggest invasion ever and ended the worst war of all time. The truth is more complicated, in part because any operation the size and complexity of D-Day is going to get messy, and in part because it's become American Mythology that the U.S. But D-Day was so complex and so logistically complicated it's simplistic to view it as a massive invasion that kicked Nazi butt.
And it's true that less than a year later the Nazi forces had been broken and the Allies were rolling through Berlin, all remnants of the once-terrifying German military machine destroyed. The invasion began Operation Overlord, and involved nearly 130,000 soldiers, 5,500 landing craft and ships, 20,000 land vehicles, and 13,000 aircraft.ĭ-Day is remembered as a triumph, as the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. Eisenhower planned and executed a direct assault on what had come to be known as " Fortress Europe," a heavily fortified area of France across from the British Isles that presented a brutal barrier to any invading force. The Allied forces under the command of American General Dwight D. The quest to continue spreading the message of Remembrance into the modern and future generations also inspired Katie to form a young troupe of musical messengers, ' The D-Day Juniors', a group of performers aged between 6 and 17 years which brings original wartime-inspired songs to events nationwide.June 6, 1944-better known as "D-Day"-was the largest amphibious military operation in history. To have her blessing to do so is overwhelming and an absolute honour.” Katie says, “Vera Lynn is my biggest inspiration and I want to continue her legacy both musically and as a woman who contributed so much during the war. Katie joined forces with The Royal British Legion becoming official fundraisers for the RBL, raising thousands of pounds each year and when Dame Vera Lynn gave her endorsement of the group's work, The D-Day Darlings truly became the UK’s most loved sweethearts and their popularity grew even further. The Darlings, originally formed as a trio, became an overnight success and the group’s popularity grew with young and old alike, so more Darlings were signed to join to the group, creating an army of girls to continue their mission of keeping the wartime spirit alive and into the new generation. It was this that made me want to build a career singing these timeless songs and bring back memories for so many people.”
Katie says, “To see how these songs affect people and how the melody and lyrics evoke such memories was truly eye-opening for me. The group was formed 10 years ago by founder and lead singer Katie Ashby after she recognised the importance of this music and how it resonates with people like no other genre of music. Following their success on 2018’s Britain's Got Talent, The D-Day Darlings were signed to Sony Music UK and their hugely successful debut Album “I’ll Remember You” released on 9th Nov 2018 charted at number 15 in the official album charts, receiving a Silver Disc award for sales of over 60,000 and becoming The Best Selling Female group from Britain's Got Talent, also receiving a BRIT CERTIFIED BREAKTHROUGH AWARD.
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