June 5th should have been the actual date of the D-Day invasion, but the weather caused a delay forcing thousands of GI’s, Brits, Canadian, Free French and whatever other nationalities, not forgetting the RN and USN, to spend the time bobbing around off the coast, suffering interminable seasickness while the storm raged, all the time wondering what their fate would be.
Similarly, the aircrews must have been waiting anxiously for the ‘off ‘, interesting point, were the invasion stripes added to the a/c on the night of the 4th June or was that delayed for another night.
What’s got me going is that at last I’ve been able to study my old man’s war diaries, unfortunately his accounts of the invasion are very non existant, he must have been too busy at the time, but I know he wasn’t at sea on that day as his 5.5 medium artillery wasn’t required untill D +1 so he didn’t have to battle up the beaches, well, not strictly true, on arriving at Arromanches he was shelled by 88mm guns firing airburst shells over their heads.
I haven’t studied everything in detail but some of his accounts are quite interesting:-
This is near Maastricht, Dec 17th 1944
‘Jet propelled planes make attacks on positions, very low, saw bombs leave one plane, very fast.’
March 24th 1945:-
‘Today I saw the greatest spectacle of the age, the airborne landing over the Rhine. At 10:00 hours, the planes came in at 1000ft, followed by planes towing gliders at frequent intervals.
The weather is perfect, warm, blue skies and sunshine, with a slight haze.
They came in all directions, but the haze was such that I could not see the gliders land or the men parachute down.
I saw 2 Fortresses, perhaps photographing them, fall in flames quite close to us. Parachutes fell from them but all would not have got away, also I witnessed a few Dakotas fall to earth, maybe about four.
It is 11:30 and they are still coming in, the sky is full of planes with fighters tearing overhead. I have seen no opposition apart from light flak.
The gliders were towed by Dakotas and Stirlings, some towing two each, others only one, many without. One or two parachutes fell down from the planes before the target and landed near us unhurt.
More are still coming over as I write, 11:45, Dakotas towing two gliders. Smoke is still rising from the crashed aircraft. Never have I witnessed such an array of air might, may never see the like again.
It will never be forgotten by those who saw it, or took part, I salute those men, at last the final battle is on, Osnabrook, next, Wessel.’
I think that the last account is pretty powerful stuff, I’ll have to go off for a weep, made more poignant by the fact that on finishing this a Spitfire has just hammered over the house.
By: Pete Truman - 7th June 2006 at 18:01
The last time I was at Cafe Gondree in 1994 the original Mdme Gondree, having just googled, I’m not so sure whether it was the daughter, was outside talking to the original Major Howard and Richard Todd, I couldn’t get through the door though as it was so packed inside.
I was amazed that with the 50th anniversary of D-Day coming up at that time, that the French authorities decided to replace the original bridge that year and leave the old one dumped in a pile next to it, cest la vie, I suppose.
By: EN830 - 6th June 2006 at 23:17
Present day Pegasus Bridge with the first building to be Liberated on D-Day, Cafe Gondree in the back ground. Two weeks ago the present Mdme Gondree Liberated us of £2.50 each for a cup of luke warm coffee.
By: EN830 - 6th June 2006 at 22:01
A few from my last visit to the beaches at Easter Time
Juno Beach
St Aubin sur Mer
Courseulies sur Mer
And where the first troops landed early in the morning of June 6th 1944
And an example of their transport.
By: Manston Airport - 6th June 2006 at 18:58
My grandad was in the War and D-day he drove the churchill Tank onto sword beach.he is still alive and well he is today fininsh off me airfix D-day mode kit and is going include churchill tanks 😀 In may we went over to France for a reuion seeing all his freinds and lisitng to there storys was brilliant a day i never forget.
James
By: Pete Truman - 6th June 2006 at 18:28
By the look of some of those invasion stripes ,I’d say that they were applied in the dark! A poignant moment for me as well, as my father was on the beach in the Canadian section; alas he didn’t keep a diary, and what I can remember from 25 years ago is blurring, year on year.
I think you were right, 12 years ago I built a load of Airfix and Revell kits and hung them from my sons ceiling, Daks, B-26’s, fighters et al. After spending hours carefully painting on invasion stripes, I was mortified to look in some D-Day literature and see how slapdash the original results were.
I’ve just been trying to find some of this literature as one book gives a time sequence of events this day 1944, but of course, I can’t find it, only my pocket history that I took to Normandy in 1994.
I presume, that by this time, 18:00 hrs, the Yanks had pretty much secured the beach at Omaha, but hadn’t linked up the other lot at Utah, I know that when my old man landed at Arromanches the next day, their original orders were to go for Bayeux, on the way over things were changed and they were ordered to fight their way over to Omaha to link up with the American left flank.
On landing things were changed again as it was considered that the situation had improved considerably, so off he went to Bayeux where his first night of action in France consisted of guarding the officers brothel there.
During the parade through Bayeux in 1994, my old man put his arm round an old US Ranger vet who had been on Dog beach, the Ranger asked my old man whether he had had a tough time fighting through the streets of Bayeux, when the old boy explained about the brothel, and yes, he could still point out where it had been, all the US vets were just crying with laughing, it was a magic moment.
I know that the Grace Spitfire supposedly shot down the first German a/c over the beaches, FW190? anyone know what time that would have been, and how many German a/c were lost in combat in that area that day, and were any Allied a/c lost to other than ground fire.
I read that ME-109’s attempted to strafe Pegasus bridge but were driven off by a massive incoming force of Tempest and Typhoons, who weren’t particularly interested in that sort of trade anyway.
No, I’m not going to watch Saving Ryans Privates tonight, well, maybe the first bit, just to make me think, Band of Brothers may be more appropriate, it has British people in it as well.
By: stuart gowans - 6th June 2006 at 11:09
By the look of some of those invasion stripes ,I’d say that they were applied in the dark! A poignant moment for me as well, as my father was on the beach in the Canadian section; alas he didn’t keep a diary, and what I can remember from 25 years ago is blurring, year on year.
By: adrian_gray - 6th June 2006 at 09:29
110 years ago today Harry Allingham, last survivor of Jutland and last survivor of the Royal Naval Air Service was born.
http://www2.newsquest.co.uk/the_north_east/history/wwone/veterans/200106.html
(sadly, this is the best article I can find – love the BBC, headline about Celebrity X-Factor…).
Perhaps not as significant in historical terms, but nonetheless an occasion I think the forum would do well to mark.
Adrian
By: Tailspin - 6th June 2006 at 09:24
Here’s to all the brave men and women who endured this long and bloody war. Ordinary people in an extraordinary situation. God be with them.
By: philip turland - 6th June 2006 at 08:31
62 years ago to the day, (D-Day was a tuesday). I wonder what was happening at exactly now) 8:30 am on those beaches
Sign In
June 5, 2006 at 2:42 pm