The BBC has a piece on their website, "10 Things You Might Not Know About the Normandy Invasion". You gotta love the Brits. In America, this would say "10 Things You Don't Know About The Normandy Invasion" but the Brits say "You Might Not Know". So like the British, don't you think?
Forgive my amusement over that wording, now let's be serious.
Have any of you seen the film "Band of Brothers"? (The book is by Stephen Ambrose and is one that I recommend.) Those men were trained in Toccoa, Georgia and I grew up hearing about them and knowing that anyone in that small town had great respect for those young men who trained to be paratroopers. They took their motto from the one tall mountain in Toccoa, "Currahee", which means "we stand alone". They used that motto, because they were truly alone, parachuting into Europe before the landings on Normandy.
The 10 things that you might not know of the Normandy Invasion? You may read it just
here.
I knew most of the facts that they gave you but I did not know these...
1) As early as 1942, the BBC asked for photos and post cards from the coast of Europe. Millions of photos were sent in! It was a way of gathering intelligence to ascertain the most suitable spots for landing beaches.
2) Rommel's shoes... The German commander did not believe that there would be an invasion. He went home to give his wife a pair of shoes for her birthday.
3) Smashed toilets...The vibration of HMS Belfast's guns firing was so powerful, it cracked the toilets in the crew's cabins.
4)Pub Test....Terence Otway was given the top secret mission to attack the Merville Battery. He had to be sure his men would not tell a soul. He sent 30 women from the Women's Auxillary Air Force dressed in civilian clothes into village pubs in the area where the men were in training. The women were asked to do all they they could do to get the men to talk. None of the men gave the secret away.
I had the honor of speaking with many veterans of World War II when I worked as a travel agent in the 1980's and 1990's. Many of them have passed away now. 75 years now since 1944. We should never forget them.
Quite frankly, most of those tidbits of BBC info about D-Day were new to me. But I did know about the combined strength of the Commonwealth forces. Canadians landed on Juno beach.
ReplyDeleteI have spent many years reading books on World War II, so I think I should know more than most! The Americans really did get the worst of it on that day, I will never forget their sacrifice. It was not called Bloody Omaha Beach for nothing.
DeleteI didn't know any of these and they're very interesting. Rommel really screwed up, didn't he?
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
You should read more about him. When the invasion began, Rommel tried to convince Hitler that the war was lost and to come to terms with it. Because Rommel had conversation with a group who had plotted to kill Hitler, two generals were sent to Rommels house to offer him poison. He was threatened to ruin his name and his family if he did not comply. On Oct. 14, 1944, he took the poison and died. Many Germans who did not agree with Hitler or opposed him met the same fate. WE need to remember that.
DeleteLove the girls story!
ReplyDeleteWell you would wouldn't you! Makes you a bit proud though, to think of it.
DeleteThank you!!!!!
ReplyDeleteFor remembering!!!!!!!
My husband was 10 and I was 6. Not part of it, but still, part of the last generation, to have been alive then.
Remember D-Day... Please....
My in laws lived in London during the war. They were both evacuated as children and sent off on a train to live with other families for safety. How hard that must have been!
DeleteAn interesting history lesson. It makes me even more proud of the service members who work so hard to protect us.
ReplyDeleteIt never hurts to say thank you to those in service. And if I see a vet wearing a hat showing he was in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, or Iraq- you know I do.
DeleteMy heart is overwhelmed when i think of this invasion. How i wish it had been the last war ever.
ReplyDeleteWe should still remember this day as a very important date in history and honor the service and sacrifice.
DeleteAmazing and overwhelming when you think of those that have gone before us to serve and protect us. I had heard that before about the toilets cracking. Awful!
ReplyDeleteHave a nice night, Kay. xo Diana
My reply is below...I do that sometimes! xx
DeleteAmazing and overwhelming indeed. Thank you, Diana for the great work that you do at the VA hospital and for all your tributes to those in service. xx
ReplyDeleteNo one in my family participated in D-Day, though several served in WWII. I have so much gratitude to those who did. These facts are amazing. I wonder what the vibrations on the ship did to the hearing of those who were there.
ReplyDeleteMy Uncle, my Dad's brother was in World War II, he was in Patton's 3rd Army and saw a lot of fighting. I don't think he was ever the same after the war.
DeleteThe fact that the toilets were cracked just goes to show what the noise and vibrations must have been like.
I read the BBC article yesterday, that was interesting. When I was a girl growing up in France we rented a flat in Courseulles-sur-Mer in Normandy. During D-Day it was called Juno Beach. It is where 14,000 Canadians and 9,000 British soldiers landed. At the time we went there, early 1950s just a few years after the war, there were still some destroyed boats close to the beach. I used to walk up the cliff to look at the German blockhaus – it was scary. D Day was a terrible toll for the Allied forces, historians estimate there were 4,414 Allied deaths on June 6, including 2,501 Americans. My father was badly injured early in the war – my mother said it totally changed him.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. If only I were a better writer, I would be able to convey the deep respect I have for what these men went through on D Day. Also, many do not understand the physical and mental problems that the World War II veterans had after the war. My husband's father did not live to see his 40th birthday. He died of stomach cancer. He was in the British Army for 6 years during WWII. In a tank in the early days of radar. My mother-in-law always felt that was the cause of his cancer. He had two older brothers who also served in the war and they lived to very old age.
DeleteThere are many, many inspiring, stirring, emotional stories...many of which have been fill our newspapers of late...and I love reading them.
ReplyDeleteYou know that I love reading these true stories about real people. That is why fiction does not appeal to me, real life is way more interesting.
DeleteLove these stories! We just came back from the National WWII War Museum in New Orleans. We also love the Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg as well. I was fascinated by the enormity of the display of the attack on D Day and the horribly difficult decision President Eisenhower had to make. I too had the pleasure of meeting WWII vets in the nursing home, they were gems. I try to meet them when I see them in the little town we live near as well, there are still some there. My oldest daughter talks to one of the phone, 'Uncle Bob' she met at the anniversary of Pearl Harbor when she was helping with the survivors a couple of years ago.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing these facts! I'm enjoying looking over your blog, it looks like you have a wonderful and healthy appreciation for life. : )
Blessings!
I wish I could see that museum in New Orleans! I also wish I could go to Normandy and see the American Cemetery there.
DeleteI wish I could convey my great respect for these men. If only I had your writing skills!
That wonderful and healthy appreciation for life? I must have gotten that from my Dad, as I told you, I lost him in February. My hope is that love for a joyful life carries on his grandchildren and great grandchildren. I think it will.
God bless you for your kind words!