#D day meaning series#

(Image Credit: US Army Signal Corps / Public Domain).ДЈ0. There were around 350,000 Resistance members helping the Allies to prepare for D-Day from inside France, but only 100,000 of these had working weapons.ДЇrench Resistance fighters with American paratroopers. The Allied deception campaign was so successful that even after D-Day, Hitler still believed the Normandy landings were a diversion to cover an attack in the Pas-de-Calais.Дў9. A fake army made up of inflatable tanks and trucks was created in Kent to fool the Germans into thinking the invasion would take place in the Pas-de-Calais.Дў8. The deception plan to keep the Germans guessing as to when and where the invasion would take place was called вЂњOperation BodyguardвЂќ.Дў7. They were tasked to do all they could to discover the menвЂ™s mission. To be sure his men wouldnвЂ™t let out secrets ahead of D-Day, Terence Otway sent 30 pretty members of the WomenвЂ™s Auxiliary Air Force, dressed in civilian clothes, into pubs near where his soldiers were training. By D-Day, the Americans had shipped over 7 million tonnes of supplies to the UK.Дў5. Approximately 9,000 children were born out of wedlock to American GI fathers.Дў4. As a result, they were very popular with young British women, and 70,000 British women married American servicemen during the war.Дў3. US soldiers earned in the region of ВЈ12 per month. Unskilled labourers could earn 6 pounds per month.Дў2. The basic pay for a British infantryman was 3 pounds and 15 shillings a month. The General was talking about fly fishing with his men as he always did before a stressful operation. General Eisenhower meets with the 101st airborne division on the 5th June. Ultimately though, this would prove impossible to achieve.Дў0.В Almost 1 million US soldiers arrived in the UK between 19 in preparation for D-Day. More than 260,000 workers helped to build the Atlantic Wall, and only 10% of these were German.ДЎ9.В Hitler wanted 15,000 concrete strong points to be manned by 300,000 troops. Over 1.2 million tonnes of steel and 17 million cubic metres of concrete were used in building the WallвЂ™s defences, and this included 92 manned radar sites.ДЎ7.В By the time of the Allied invasion on 6 June, more than 5 million mines had been laid in northern France.ДЎ8. With an Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe seeming ever more likely, in early 1944 Nazi Field MarshalВ Erwin Rommel was tasked with strengthening the Wall.ДЎ6.

#D day meaning series#

The D-Day operation aimed at breaching the Atlantic Wall, a series of coastal defences built by Nazi Germany between 19 that ran from Norway to the Franco-Spanish border.ДЎ5. The Commander in Chief of the German army in the west was Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who had 850,000 men at his disposal.ДЎ4. Royal Engineers were dispatched in midget submarines to conduct covert assessments of the beaches including collecting sand samples.ДЎ3. During the preparation and execution of D-Day, around 17 million maps were drawn up.ДЄ map of Omaha beach showing the locations of beach obstacles and defensive positions (Image Credit: Commander Task Force 122 / Public Domain).ДЎ2. Eisenhower smoked up to four packets of Camel cigarettes a day in the months running up to D-Day.ДЎ0.В In contrast, Montgomery was completely sober. All information pertaining to the invasion was marked вЂњBigotвЂќ, a classification even more secret than вЂњTop SecretвЂќ.ДЁ.В D-Day was originally planned for 5 June but had to be delayed by 24 hours due to poor weather.Д©. Eisenhower was put in charge of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and started work on coordinating and carrying out the Normandy landings.Д§. Eisenhower in Tunis and told him he would be commanding the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.Д¦. On 7 December 1943, US President Franklin D. BritainвЂ™s Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Morgan was appointed the chief of staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC) and in April 1943 was told to prepare for a вЂњfull scale assault against the continentвЂќ.ДҐ. Watch NowДЈ.В In October 1941, Winston Churchill told Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten to start thinking about an invasion of Europe: вЂњUnless we can go on land and fight Hitler and beat his forces on land, we shall never win this war.вЂќД¤. D-Day veteran and Chelsea pensioner Bill Fitzgerald reveals the extraordinary preparations he and his fellow recruits underwent for D-Day with the famous 7th Armoured Division - better known as the 'Desert Rats'.