Today, the beginning of the end

[Bill Greenwood]

Today is the anniversary of D Day, the invasion of Europe at Normandy beaches. There was still a lot of fighting left, but it was the start of the road to finishing the war with Germany. Losses were less than expected, 9800, with a total of 37,000 for the remainder of the war.
Several of the beaches were landed on with light opposition, the were ok at Gold, , and Sword but the U S lost heavily at Omaha and to some extent Utah.
I recall the photo of Gen Eisenhower wishing well to paratroopers who were boarding a C-47 about midnight. He was afraid he might be sending so many men to their deaths and that the invasion could well fail., especially as weather was bad, but hoped to clear with no guarantee.
The Germans knew an invasion was coming, but not the date and were fooled as to the location, thinking the shorter straighter route near Calais was it. I think Rommel suspected Normandy , but was ill and recovering from wounds when his staff car had been strafed by a Spitfire doing recon. I am surprised that German intel was not better, and could detect such a large fleet moving, perhaps by submarine. Maybe British destroyers made it too dangerous for subs in the channel.
Sometimes the French, especially in Paris, have a reputation as not being friendly to outsiders or visitors. But there are still older French who remember and who put flowers at the Allied cemeteries.
I don't think anyone wants to lose their life in a war, I know I sure was not anxious to go to combat when I was in the Air Force. But there are some times and some wars, that may be worth putting your life at risk. I hope Id be willing to get out of one of those landing craft that morning. They were so young.
Your survival chances were so dependent on which beach you were assigned to. We has such complete air superiority over Normandy that morning that it helped, much better than Dunkirk. If you were on the worst beach it was like being a B-17 crew early in the war before full fighter escort.
There is a book that refers to this as The Last Good War, and there is a lot of truth to that. Wars since are often not for the best reasons and aren't won and may also have large losses. WWII had huge losses, 50 million people worldwide, many of them civilians, but there was a side of evil and a side that tried to resist that. I dont know if any diplomacy or economic concessions or agreements could have prevented the war. The British tried to negotiate with Hitler, but couldn't secure a lasting peace with him.