D-Day- What Did It Achieve? #Dday70 #Dday

Royal Marines at Pegasus Bridge, image found at: 

http://www.military-art.com/mall/images/dhm1394.jpg

This question could be really simple to answer without going into great detail. Firstly Operation Overlord was the stepping stone the Allies needed to defeat Germany. They had to invade mainland Europe somewhere other than Italy, which turned out to be a tough old gut rather than the soft underbelly of Europe.

Caen was an objective which was supposed to have been taken on D-Day itself, but maybe it was an over ambitious objective? The British advanced from Sword Beach to 5km from Caen, they had landed 29,000 men and taken many prisoners. By noon the Juno, Sword and Gold beaches were consolidated into one large bridgehead. The British 6th Airborne had held onto Pegasus Bridge and the bridge at the River Orne and were relieved by Lord Lovat's Royal Marines. U.S paratroopers had caused havoc behind enemy lines even if most were dropped in the wrong areas. At Omaha beach, the Americans had encountered fierce opposition (352nd Infantry Division) and large numbers of beach obstacles and were nearly evacuated back onto the ships. At Utah Beach the American troops realised they had been  landed in the wrong place, but took advantage of  lighter opposition and made good progress inland. 

Carentan, St Lo and Bayeux were objectives which were not captured on D-day, but the Allies were able to consolidate their foothold in France and land more men, vehicles and supplies on the beaches and by using the Mulberry Harbours. What did D-Day achieve? It helped end the war in Europe in less than 12 months from the 6th  June 1944. We should not forget the sacrifice these people made.

Pegasus Bridge 6th June 1944 Glider Crew 6th Airborne Geoff Barkway & Peter Boyle #Dday #Dday70

This is an excellent excerpt from BBC News 2004 telling the story of 2 glider crew  Geoff barkway & peter Boyle who landed their Horsa glider at Pegasus Bridge Benouville.

#D-Day70 6th June 1944 Airborne Troops

There won't be many people who have not heard of Stephen Ambrose or Band of Brothers - the excellent book he wrote about Easy Company of the 101st U.S Airborne Regt, which  was adapted for television. One of the best Christmas presents I ever received from my other half was the box set of Band of Brothers, available at http://amazon.co.uk and other good outlets. I'm not solely writing about U.S involvement on D-Day, the common view is that there is so much publicity about American involvement that they forgot that it was also British, Commonwealth and Allied European troops who took part in the fighting.

There are plenty of excellent books out there, in particular I do enjoy reading Pegasus Bridge by Ambrose, which goes into detail about the British 6th Airborne. It's origins, training, the people who took part, the landings and action after D-Day. These men were tough. They had to be. Howard during training like the rest of D Company marched the men from Devonshire to Bulford, 130 miles in 1942. (Ambrose, p.p 35,36).
They trained at night and slept during daylight hours, this was unheard of at the time, but because of good training, on D-day itself 6th Airborne successfully captured the 2 bridges over the River Orne at Ranville and the canal bridge at Benouville (later called Pegasus Bridge). Taken to their destination in towed Horse gliders, the glider pilot training also paid off, landing with pin point accuracy next to the bridges and not in the canal or river. The bridges would be held until relieved, as they were vital for the allied advance inland on the outskirts of Caen.

British Paratroopers also took part in the battle in the early hours of the 6th June 1944. the Merville Battery was a target as it covered the coast, in particular Sword Beach http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/dday_beachhead_01.shtml. Like most Paratroopers on D-Day, most were scattered over a wide area considerable distances from their objectives. To attack the battery Lt-Col Otway could only muster around 150 men, instead of 650 (See this link on the BBC History Website :http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/dday_audio_04.shtml .The battery had to be taken before the seaborne landings took place, Otway had to attack as planned. The Paras went ahead, won the battle capturing around 30 Germans.

Plan Of Attack of Merville Battery

Observation Photograph Of Merville

Canadian paratroops also deserve a mention. The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was part of the 21st Army Group and their objectives included; securing Drop Zone V by destroying a German HQ, destroying bridges at Robehomme and Varaville, providing cover to the British 9th battalion at Merville and securing high ground at Le Mesnil Crossroads http://www.magma.ca/~canpara/history.html#set_3.

Bibliography

Ambrose, S, Pegasus Bridge.

Neillands, R, De Normann, R, D-Day 1944 Voices From Normandy.