Length
1 meter (m)= 1.0936 yd = 3.28 ft
1 kilometer (km)= 1000 m = 0.6214 mi
Temperature
Celcius°= 5/9 (F°-32°)
Fahrenheit°= 9/5C°+32°
MAJOR GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, known as “Ike” to his friends and colleagues, received his third star on July 7, 1942. With this extra pip came the command of the entire Allied force for the seaborne invasion of North Africa, codenamed Operation Torch. The successful Combined Operation took place in November of that year and, coinciding with a successful counter-offensive by the Russians in their homeland, finally proved that the forces of Hitler' s mighty military machine were not invincible.
A conference was arranged and the Allied leaders, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin and their Combined Chiefs of Staff, met at Casablanca in January 1943. Stalin was unable to attend but he let it be known that he expected his allies to open a second front in northwest Europe during 1943. The Chiefs of Staff ruled out an invasion of northern Europe that year, but did, however, appoint Lieutenant General Morgan as Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC) with the task of preparing the detailed plans needed for an invasion of the continent. By way of compensation to the Russians it was agreed that, following the success of the campaign in North Africa, the Allies would invade Sicily and mainland Italy, thereby forcing the Germans to divert some of their resources away from the Russian front.
By February 1943, Ike had earned the respect of his coalition superiors and was promoted to full general. Later that year he commanded other successful operations in Sicily and Italy, which ultimately ensured his appointment as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in the first week of December 1943.
The initial planning organization of COSSAC had served its purpose by January 1944 and the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) was formed in its place. Under the supreme command of Eisenhower, Air Chief Marshal Tedder was appointed deputy supreme commander; Lieutenant General Bedell Smith was to act as Chief of Staff; General Montgomery as commander-in-chief of the Allied ground forces; Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay as naval commander-in-chief; and Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory as air commander-in-chief. Together, with some 20,000 staff this headquarters mobilized, assembled, and also co-ordinated Operation Overlord – the greatest air, naval, and ground assault ever to be planned and executed.
From left to right: supreme allied commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower; commander-in-chief of the Allied ground forces, General Bernard L. Montgomery; and deputy supreme commander, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder in Normandy, June 1944.
During the first few months of 1944 the south of England was transformed into a giant military base. Over three million soldiers, sailors, and airmen were training to play their part in the invasion of Europe. Those that entered the top security transit camps were effectively cut off from the outside world. Headquarters staff officers carefully coordinated and recorded the movement of every unit to ensure that the planned movement and embarkation of the fighting troops and the transfer of their vital supplies would run with clockwork precision. With an initial assault force of over 170,000 men and 20,000 vehicles it was a logistical nightmare for the planners involved.
Operation Neptune was the codename given to the naval part of Overlord. Over 1,000 supply vessels and 4,124 landing ships and craft would be used to transport the combat troops and their equipment across the English Channel. For the protection of the naval convoys, and to help soften up the German coastal defenses by naval bombardment, an additional 1,213 warships would sail with the armada.
The Germans, of course, realized that the Allies would very soon try to open a second front in the west. Clever deceptions planned by the Allies had ensured that the Nazis did not know the precise location of the invasion so Hitler issued a numbered Weisungen [War Directive] that contained direct orders emphasizing the need to strengthen the Atlantic Wall and to protect the coastline of his Third Reich, which extended from Denmark down to the Spanish border.
EYEWITNESS
Coastal defenses under construction will be completed with all possible speed, and the establishment of additional coastal batteries and the laying of further obstacles on the flanks will be considered . . . . I expect all staffs concerned to exert every effort during the time which still remains in preparation for the expected decisive battle in the West.
Adolf Hitler, November 3rd, 1943
In November 1943 Hitler appointed “The Desert Fox,” Generalfeldmarschall Rommel, inspector general of the Atlantic Wall defenses. This brilliant commander, who had won so many victories during the first year of the desert war, was destined to face his old adversary, Montgomery, once again. Rommel was dismayed by the lack of defenses, particularly in the Calvados region of Normandy, and immediately ordered obstacles to be placed in four separate strips along all open beaches; layering the defenses in this fashion insured their effectiveness at all tide levels and conditions. Within five months, half a million obstacles and over four million mines covered the beaches as part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. Barbed wire entanglements and mine fields were interspaced with scores of reinforced concrete pillboxes, bunkers, and fortifications. Strategically placed at various points along the coastline, coastal batteries were also constructed and camouflaged as a precaution against naval or air attack. To counter the increasing threat of an airborne assault, rows of stakes, nicknamed “Rommel’s Asparagus,” were placed in the open fields, and all low-lying areas of farmland and tidal areas along the coast and inland waterways were flooded. By the summer of 1944 Normandy was rapidly becoming the fortress that Rommel had envisaged. For Rommel believed, contrary to the views of his superior, Oberbefehlshaber Gerd von Rundstedt, that if the invasion force was to be stopped at all, it must be stopped on the beaches.
On the evening of June 4th, 1944, General Eisenhower left the confines of his “circus wagon,” one of a small collection of trailers and tents that served as the SHAEF battle headquarters, to attend his nightly conference in the library of Southwick House. Outside, the rain lashed against the windows as Group Captain Stagg delivered his latest meteorological report to the Allied senior commanders. A nervous Stagg, only too aware of his responsibility, predicted a break in the weather front that would begin late in the evening of June 5th. This was better news, but the forecasted conditions were still below the level previously agreed as the minimum suitable for a major offensive. Eisenhower deliberated this news with his commanders: Tedder, Montgomery, Smith, Ramsay, and Leigh–Mallory. After each commander had said his piece Ike sat in silence for a few moments of quiet contemplation. Staring, trance-like, at the heavy oak table in front of him, he felt the burden of his command.
At last, acutely aware of the impact his decision would have on the lives of millions of people, General Eisenhower looked up toward his commanders and announced his decision:“I am quite positive we must give the order. I don’t like it, but there it is . . . . I don’t see how we can do anything else.” Just over six hours later another conference was held to hear the latest meteorological report. Stagg reconfirmed his forecast of a break in the weather.
EYEWITNESS
I was, therefore, faced with the alternatives of taking the risks involved in an assault during what was likely to be only a partial and temporary break in the bad weather, or of putting off the operation for several weeks until tide and moon should again be favorable. Such postponement, however, would have been most harmful to the morale of our troops, apart from the likelihood of our losing the benefits of tactical surprise. At 0400 hours on June 5, I took the final and irrevocable decision: the invasion of France would take place on the following day.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
The wheels of the Allied war machine had been set in motion. Nothing could now stop the surge of momentum that had been building up for months. The massive force moved inexorably toward the French coastline. The outcome of the invasion was now temporarily transferred from the generals and planners to those men who would feel the repercussion of any design or technical errors first. For the thousands of infantrymen and armored personnel, who had already spent up to thirty-six hours being tossed about in their landing craft, the misery caused by the turbulent waters of the Channel would continue for another day and night. Then, drenched and fatigued from the ordeal of their horrendous voyage, these young men would have to rely upon discipline, adrenalin, and sheer guts to keep them going as they exited their landing craft and ran forth into the bloody nightmare that awaited them on the beaches of Normandy.
They would not be alone in their hell, for on either flank of the landing beaches the airborne troops – the “Red Devils” of the British 6th Airborne Division, and the “All Americans” and “Screaming Eagles” of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions – would first descend from the night sky to wreak havoc among the German defenders.
The D-Day landings, June 6th, 1944.