My fellow Americans:
Last night when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass to success thus far.
And so in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and day, without rest – until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home – fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them – help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too – strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our Armed Forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto, our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment – let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace – a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 6, 1944)
Shortly before midnight on 5 June, 1944, Allied light bombers opened the assault. Their attacks in very great strength continued until dawn.
Between 0630 and 0730 hours this morning, two Naval Task Forces, commanded by RAdm. Sir Philip Vian, KBE DSO, flying his flag in HMS SCYLLA (Capt. T. M. Brownrigg, CBE RN), and RAdm. Alan Goodrich Kirk, USN, in USS AUGUSTA (Capt. E. H. Jones, USN) launched their assault forces at enemy beaches. The naval forces which had previously assembled under the overall command of Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay, made their departure in fresh weather and were joined during the night by bombarding forces which had previously left northern waters.
Channels had to be swept through the large enemy minefields. This operation was completed shortly before dawn and, while minesweeping flotillas continued to sweep towards the enemy coast, the entire naval force followed down swept channels behind them towards their objectives.
Shortly before the assault, three enemy torpedo boats with armed trawlers in company attempted to interfere with the operation and were promptly driven off. One enemy trawler was sunk and another severely damaged.
The assault forces moved towards the beaches under cover of heavy bombardment from destroyers and other support craft, while heavier ships engaged enemy batteries which had already been subjected to bombardment from the air. Some of these were silenced. Allied forces continued to engage other batteries.
Landings were effected under cover of the air and naval bombardments and airborne landings involving troop-carrying aircraft and gliders carrying large forces of troops were also made successfully at a number of points. Reports of operations so far show that our forces succeeded in their initial landings. Fighting continues.
Allied heavy, medium, light, and fighter-bombers continued the air bombardment in very great strength throughout the day with attacks on gun emplacements, defensive works, and communications. Continuous fighter cover was maintained over the beaches and for some distance inland and over naval operations in the Channel. Our night fighters played an equally important role in protecting shipping and troop carrier forces and in intruder operations. Allied reconnaissance aircraft maintained continuous watch by day and night over shipping and ground forces. Our aircraft met with little enemy fighter opposition or anti-aircraft gunfire. Naval casualties were regarded as being very light, especially when the magnitude of the operation is taken into account.
Völkischer Beobachter (June 7, 1944)
dnb. Berlin, 6. Juni –
Der seit langem erwartete Angriff der Briten und Nordamerikaner gegen die nordfranzösische Küste hat in der letzten Nacht begonnen. Wenige Minuten nach Mitternacht setzte der Feind unter gleichzeitigen heftigen Bombenangriffen im Gebiet der Seine-Bucht starke Luftlandeverbände ab. Kurze Zeit später schoben sich, geschützt durch schwere und leichte Kriegsschiffeinheiten, zahlreiche feindliche Landungsboote auch gegen andere Abschnitte der Küste vor.
Die Abwehr ließ sich an keiner Stelle überraschen. Sie nahm den Kampf sofort mit aller Energie auf. Die Luftlandetruppen wurden zum Teil schon beim Absprung erfaßt und die feindlichen Schiffe bereits auf hoher See wirksam unter Feuer genommen. Viele Fallschirmeinheiten wurden aufgerieben oder gefangen, andere von hochgehenden Minen zerrissen.
Trotz fortgesetzter heftiger Luftangriffe und schweren Beschusses durch die feindliche Schiffsartillerie griffen die Geschütze des Atlantikwalls ebenfalls sofort in den Kampf ein. Sie erzielten Treffer auf Schlachtschiffeinheiten und den sich einnebelnden Landungsbooten. Der Kampf gegen die Invasionstruppen ist in vollem Gange.
Auf Befehl Moskaus haben sich nun die Briten und Amerikaner entschließen müssen, das unabsehbare Risiko der so lange hinausgezögerten Invasion auf sich zu nehmen. Damit hebt eine ungeheure Kraftprobe an, für die der Feind seine seit Jahren gesammelten und aufgesparten Reserven in breitester Front einsetzen wird. Die deutsche Führung ist auf diesen Waffengang vorbereitet, in dem es um die Verteidigung Europas, seiner Freiheit und ewigen Größe geht. Das deutsche Volk ist sich bewußt, daß es seine ganze so oft bewährte Seelenkraft aufzubieten hat, um diese sieghafte Entscheidung, die nicht nur ein Kampf der Waffen ist, herbeizuzwingen. Es tritt in diesen neuen Abschnitt des Krieges mit dem unerschütterlichen Mut und Vertrauen ein, die es in nun fast fünf Jahren eines harten und opfervollen Ringens stets beseelt haben, die ihm große Erfolge schenkten und ihm die Kraft gegeben haben, auch allen Wechselfällen gegenüber in Ehren zu bestehen und nur noch entschlossener alle Energien anzuspannen, um seine Zukunft zu sichern.
In dieser Stunde wächst es erst recht an den Anforderungen, die der Generalangriff des Feindes an uns alle stellt, an der Größe der geschichtlichen Aufgabe, deren Bewältigung in unsere Hand gegeben wird. Wir gehen in diesen Kampf mit der leidenschaftlichen Entschlossenheit, ihn nicht früher zu beenden, bis der Sieg unser ist und damit Leben, Ehre und Freiheit unseres Volkes auf Generationen hin gesichert sind. Das deutsche Volk schart sich in dieser schicksalsschweren Stunde in festem Glauben an den Triumph seiner gerechten Sache um den Führer, den Garanten des Sieges und einer Zukunft, die, unserer Nation würdig, den Sinn unserer Geschichte erfüllt.
vb.
Von Helmut Sündermann
Berlin, 6. Juni –
In den gleichen Morgenstunden des 6. Juni – fast genau vier Jahre nach der britischen Dünkirchen-Niederlage – ist gleichzeitig eine militärische Entscheidung begonnen und eine politische Entwicklung mit dem Siege Moskaus abgeschlossen worden. Als die anglo-amerikanischen Truppen sich zum Angriff gegen den Kontinent aufmachten, hat die Sowjetpolitik einen außergewöhnlichen Erfolg errungen – sie hat eine Armada zweier großer Staaten für ihre Zwecke in Bewegung gesetzt.
Es war bereits in den ersten Augusttagen des Jahres 1941, als die britische Sunday Times die folgenden bemerkenswerten Worte schrieb:
Selbst wenn die Invasion den Engländern Zehntausende von Toten und Verletzten kosten würde – so bemerkt man in Moskau – dürfte eine derartige Offensive trotzdem nicht unterlassen werden.
Dieser vor nunmehr fast drei Jahren veröffentlichte Satz enthält alles, was auch heute noch zu sagen ist. Was man damals in Moskau „bemerkte,“ führen die Churchill und Roosevelt nunmehr nach langem Zögern, aber wortgetreu aus. Es ist wahrlich eine Sowjetoffensive, die wir im Westen erleben.
Dieses Wort gilt nicht nur für die Beweggründe, sondern auch für die Ziele der Operation, die der us.-amerikanische Invasionsgeneral Eisenhower eingeleitet hat. Wenn er den Krieg nach Frankreich hineinträgt, so tut er es mit de Gaulle im Rücken – dem Manne, der in Algier sich bereits als Intimus des Bolschewismus erwiesen hat. Und wenn Eisenhower das Ziel hat, vom Westen her den Krieg gegen Deutschland voranzutragen, so geschieht es auf Grund einer militärischen Konzeption, deren Hauptabsicht ist, die deutsche Kraft im Osten zu brechen. Ein bolschewisiertes Frankreich und ein den Sowjethorden preisgegebenes Europa – das sind die wahren Parolen, für die die anglo-amerikanischen Soldaten ihre blutige Aufgabe begonnen haben.
Die deutsche Auffassung, daß der europäische Lebenskampf, der um die Rettung des Kontinents vor der bolschewistischen Niedertrampelung geht, im Westen genauso entschlossen geführt werden muß wie im Osten, erweist sich heute als richtig und vorausschauend» Wenn sie unvermeidlich zur Folge hatte, daß manche Position im Osten und Süden aufgegeben werden mußte, so hat sich auch dies als zweckmäßig erwiesen: auch ein Söldnerheer ist gefährlich, auch das Landsknechttum, das für fremde Interessen kämpft, muß mit der gleichen Entschlossenheit bekämpft werden wie die Horden des Ostens. Deutschland und Europa sind durch die Ereignisse nicht überrascht worden. Sie erkennen das Gebot der Stunde, und das heißt im Westen ebenso wie im Osten: die Kulturvölker unseres Kontinents vor der sicheren Vernichtung retten!
Daß es eine Sowjetoffensive ist, die sie unternehmen, mag manchem einfachen anglo-amerikanischen Soldaten, der in dieses blutige Abenteuer gesandt wurde, heute noch nicht so klar sein wie den Völkern Europas. Auch in ihrer Heimat mag es manche geben, die – von Phrasen umnebelt – den wahren Kern der Sache noch nicht durchschauen. Aber – das dürfen wir heute sagen – es wird bei ihnen ein blutiges Erwachen geben, ein Erwachen, das sich heute schon ankündigt und das die Churchill und Roosevelt und ihre ganze Judengesellschaft, die zwei Reiche in das Fahrwasser des Bolschewismus gesteuert haben, hinwegfegen und eine neue, gereinigte Welt zum Aufstieg bringen wird. Das wird die Sache der Zukunft sein: Die Angelegenheit des Tages aber ist der Kampf, der leidenschaftliche Kampf um die Vernichtung des bolschewistischen Verbrechertums, das von Westen her die Tore nach Europa aufbrechen will, nachdem sie ihm im Osten durch die deutsche Wehrmacht verschlossen sind. Aber es wird sich zeigen, daß auch dort Deutschland auf der Wacht war und ist.
Berlin, 6. Juni –
Der durch wochenlange Bombardierungen von Befestigungen und Verkehrswegen angekündigte Angriff der Briten und Nordamerikaner auf die nordfranzösische Küste hat in den ersten Morgenstunden des 6. Juni begonnen. Kurz nach Mitternacht wurden bei Trouville, bei Caen und an der Nordostküste der normannischen Halbinsel zahlreiche Fallschirmspringer und Lastensegler beobachtet. Gleichzeitig erfolgten heftige Luftangriffe auf die wichtigsten Küstenplätze zwischen Cherbourg und Le Havre sowie im Abschnitt Calais-Dünkirchen. Die sofort alarmierte Küstenverteidigung nahm die Fallschirmjäger schon beim Landen unter Feuer und rieb in Gegenstößen starke Teile der sich laufend noch weiter verstärkenden Luftlandetruppen auf.
Andere Gruppen wurden durch hochgehende Minen vernichtet. Während dieser für den Gegner äußerst verlustreichen Kämpfe schoben sich zahlreiche Landungsboote an die Küste zwischen Orne- und Viremündung. Beim Hellwerden wurde ein starker feindlicher Flottenverband im Seegebiet westlich Le Havre erkannt. An den beiden Flügeln durch Schlachtschiffe, Kreuzer und Zerstörer geschützt, sammelten sich im Inneren der Seinebucht zahlreiche Landungsfahrzeuge aller Art und Größe. Deutsche Torpedoboote griffen diese Schiffsansammlungen entschlossen an. Bei ihrer Annäherung versuchten die feindlichen Streitkräfte, sich durch Einnebeln der Sicht zu entziehen. Fliegerstaffeln halfen ihnen dabei und legten im Tiefflug dicke Nebelbänke rings um die Schiffe. Dennoch schossen unsere Boote ihre Torpedos und ihre gesamte Artilleriemunition mitten zwischen die dichtgedrängt liegenden Fahrzeuge und erzielten gute Treffer. Dann kehrten sie zur Munitionsergänzung vollzählig zu ihrem Stützpunkt zurück.
An anderen Stellen der Seinebucht stellten Vorpostenboote den Gegner ebenfalls erfolgreich zum Kampf. Im Sperrfeuer der Küstenbatterien sanken weitere Fahrzeuge, darunter ein größeres Kriegsschiff. Die feindliche Schiffsartillerie erwiderte das Feuer und beschoß mit Spreng-, Rauch- und Nebelgranaten die Verteidigungswerke. Die Granaten wie die fortgesetzt über den Bunkern abgeladenen Bomben blieben ohne Wirkung. Inzwischen ging der Kampf gegen die im Raum von Caen abgesetzten britischen, Luftlandetruppen und gegen die bei Carentan abgesetzten nordamerikanischen Verbände weiter. Zahlreiche Gefangene fielen dabei in diesen ersten Stunden bereits in unsere Hand. Zur Ablenkung der Abwehr warfen britische Flugzeuge östlich der Orne lebensgroße, mit Sprengladungen versehene Puppen ab. Das Täuschungsmanöver wurde rechtzeitig erkannt, über die Kampfzone hinweg flogen ununterbrochen feindliche Fluggeschwader ein und bombardierten die Küstenwerke sowie die Bahn- und Straßenknotenpunkte im Raum zwischen Le Havre und Cherbourg. Aber ebenso pausenlos rollten die Salven der Batterien unseres Atlantikwalls und der Geschütze der Eingreifdivisionen.
Schon bald nach Beginn des Unternehmens war zu erkennen, daß die Briten und Nordamerikaner ihren Hauptstoß zunächst gegen die Räume Caen, Carentan und Cherbourg richteten. Unter dem Schutz massierter Bombenwürfe und dem schweren Feuer der Schiffsartillerie führte der Feind seinen an der Mündung sowie am Ostrand der normannischen Halbinsel aus der Luft und von der See her gelandeten Kräften laufend Verstärkungen und an einigen Stellen auch Panzer zu. Hiezu kamen aber auch dann die deutschen Gegenschläge.
Beiderseits Cherbourg waren die feindlichen Luftlandetruppen bereits zerschlagen, bevor sie sich noch zum Kampf formieren konnten. Hohe blutige Verluste hatte der Gegner vor allem im Raum von Caen, wo die Briten große Mengen von Sturmbooten einsetzten und die vernebelte Steilküste mit Hilfe von Enterleitern zu überwinden versuchten. Durch die Vorstrandsperren und das Abwehrfeuer wurden zahlreiche Boote vernichtet, und nur unter schweren Verlusten konnte der Feind einen Teil seiner Panzer an Land bringen. Im Gegenstoß waren hier bis zum Mittag auf schmalem Raum bereits 35 feindliche Panzer vernichtet.
Im ganzen Küstenabschnitt zwischen Cherbourg und Le Havre sind die Kämpfe in vollem Gange. Weitere Teiloperationen des Feindes richteten sich gegen die Kanalinseln Jersey und Guernsey. Neue starke Schiffs verbände näherten sich im Laufe des Vormittags auch der Küste zwischen Calais und Dünkirchen. Der große Waffengang an der nordfranzösischen Küste hat begonnen. Er fand die deutschen Truppen überall bereit.
Von Erich Glodschey
Wenn man den Schauplatz der jetzt erfolgten feindlichen Landung in Nordfrankreich auf der Karte betrachtet, dann wird es schnell klar, daß die Wahl des ersten Landungsplatzes stark von den Bedingtheiten des Seekrieges beeinflußt sein mußte. Wer nur die Entfernung zwischen der englischen und französischen Küste in Betracht zieht, mag sich vielleicht wundern, daß der Feind nicht die engste Stelle des Kanals, wo er nur 20 Seemeilen, also nicht einmal 40 Kilometer breit ist, zum ersten Sprung über die See gewählt hat. Ob sich die Landung in der Seinebucht nun als der Hauptstoß erweist oder was der Feind sonst an Landungen beabsichtigt, das muß sich noch erweisen. Für den ersten Stoß aber mußte der US-General Eisenhower danach trachten, möglichst viel Schiffsraum in greifbarer Nähe bereitzustellen und eine möglichst starke Unterstützung durch schwere Seestreitkräfte zu erlangen. Die Bereitstellung von Schiffsraum erfordert entsprechende Reeden und Häfen. Der Einsatz von schweren Seestreitkräften verlangt eine gewisse Bewegungsfreiheit. Dies ist in der Mitte und in der Westhälfte des Kanals in höherem Maße gegeben als an der Kanalenge, wo die Küstenbatterien über die Meeresstraße von Dover und Calais hinwegschießen.
Im Osten des Kanals bot nur die Themsemündung genügenden Raum für die Bereitstellung größerer Landungsflotten, denn die Häfen im Raume von Dover bis nach Brighton sind nur klein und im Wesentlichen auf den Verkehr der Eisenbahnfähren und Seebäderdampfer zugeschnitten. Von der Mitte des Kanals nach Westen aber sind von Portsmouth und Southampton über Portland nach Plymouth große Häfen vorhanden, die meist an tiefen Buchten liegen. Im Raume zwischen diesen Häfen und der französischen Küste, besonders der Seinebucht und der Bucht von St. Malo, entwickelte sich in den letzten Monaten eine Seekriegstätigkeit von zunehmender Stärke. Häufige Schnellbootunternehmungen und ein reger Minenkrieg zeugten davon. Dazu kam auf der feindlichen Seite das Erscheinen größerer Zerstörer und auch Kreuzer, besonders Flakkreuzer, die dort bisher nicht aufgetreten waren. Die heftigen Gefechte deutscher Torpedoboote und Schnellboote mit diesen Schiffen führten in den letzten Monaten zu manchen schönen Versenkungserfolgen.
Besonders trat in den- Meldungen die Insel Wight hervor, hinter der eine weite Reede liegt, deren schmale Zugänge einen guten militärischen Schutz und eine Deckung gegen schlechtes Wetter auf See bieten. Wie erinnerlich, war es im April eine Mitteilung des Wehrmachtberichtes über die Bombardierung feindlicher Schiffsansammlungen hinter der Insel Wight, die sehr frühzeitig auf das jetzt umkämpfte Seegebiet des ersten Abschnittes der Invasion die Aufmerksamkeit lenkte. Dies kennzeichnete die Wachsamkeit der deutschen Führung.
Von der Insel Wight zur Halbinsel Cotentin, wo zwischen den Kaps Barfleur und de la Hague der große Hafen Cherbourg liegt, ist der Kanal etwa 55 Seemeilen oder 100 Kilometer breit. Von der Halbinsel Cotentin schlingt sich dann in flachem Bogen ostwärts die weite Seinebucht bis zur Mündung der Seine mit dem großen Hafen Le Havre. Die Entfernung vom inneren Teil der Seinebucht bis zur englischen Küste beträgt 80 Seemeilen oder 150 Kilometer. Dieser Raum gestattet also die Entwicklung schwerer Seestreitkräfte, von denen jetzt eine Anzahl Schlachtschiffe außer Kreuzern und Zerstörern zur Seitendeckung der feindlichen Landungsflotte eingesetzt worden ist. In diese Masse von Schiffen, die sich zur Tarnung in starkem Maße des künstlichen Nebels bediente, sind die deutschen Torpedoboote und anderen leichten Seestreitkräfte in der Nacht der ersten Landung schon frühzeitig hineingestoßen.
Besonderen Wert hat der Feind zweifellos auf einen ausgedehnten Schutz der Seestreitkräfte und Landungsfahrzeuge aus der Luft gelegt. Auch dieser Schutz ist übrigens stark vom Wetter auf See abhängig. Auf jeden Fall hat schon das erste Landungsunternehmen an der nordfranzösischen Küste den Feind vor viel schwerere Aufgaben gestellt als bei seinen Landungen in Nordafrika und Süditalien oder gar auf den kleinen Pazifikinseln, wo er eine gewaltige örtliche Überlegenheit auf kleinem Raum konzentrieren konnte. Leichten Herzens werden sich die feindlichen Schlachtschiffe und Kreuzer bestimmt nicht in den Kanal begeben haben, der auch an seinen breiten Stellen für die schweren Seestreitkräfte ein enges Gewässer bleibt.
Es unterliegt keinem Zweifel, daß die Engländer und Nordamerikaner von Moskau gedrängt worden sind, alle ihre verfügbaren. Kampfmittel auch zur See für das Landungsunternehmen in Westeuropa einzusetzen. Seit Jahren haben sie ihre Werften auf Hochtouren arbeiten lassen, um Tonnage an Kriegs- und Handelsschiffen und Landungsfahrzeugen zu schaffen, um für die Landung und die Nachschubaufgaben gerüstet zu sein. Die Anglo-Amerikaner standen jedoch dabei unter der Belastung der vorangegangenen Schiffsverluste von vielen Millionen Bruttoregistertonnen durch den deutschen Unterseebootkrieg, dessen Erfolge die feindlichen Landungstermine erheblich verzögert haben. Dadurch wurde Zeit für die deutschen Abwehrvorbereitungen gegen die Invasion gewonnen. Ferner hat die Bindung feindlicher Kriegs- und Handelsschiffe im Pazifischen Ozean ihren Einfluß ausgeübt.
Das ganze weltweite Geschehen des Seekrieges im Atlantik wie im Mittelmeer, im Indischen Ozean und im Pazifik bleibt verbunden mit dem harten Kampf, der nun am Kanal begonnen hat und in dem alle drei Teile der deutschen Wehrmacht in einem entscheidenden Abschnitt des Krieges ihre Zusammenarbeit bewähren.
vb. Berlin, 6. Juni –
Seit heute Morgen um ein Uhr dröhnen an der französischen Küste die Geschütze, knattern die Maschinengewehre, zucken die Mündungsblitze der Schiffsartillerie durch den künstlichen Nebel, der den Umriß ihrer Leiber verbirgt. Die ersten Gefechte einer der größten Schlachten unserer Geschichte haben begonnen. Die Welt hält den Atem an. Sie fühlt, daß von diesen Stunden eine große geschichtliche Entscheidung ausgehen kann. Ob ein ganzer Kontinent, der älteste des Erdballs, unter die Herrschaft der rohesten Zerstörungskraft geraten soll oder ob er die Möglichkeit hat, sein eigenes Leben frei zu entfalten: Dies wird mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit in den nächsten Wochen an der Küste des Atlantischen Ozeans entschieden werden.
Jeder kennt aus seiner eigenen Umgebung in der letzten Zeit die Frage, die immer wieder gestellt wurde: „Werden sie kommen? Werden sie es wagen?“ Aber diese Frage hat nicht den Staatsbürger in Deutschland allein beschäftigt. Die Unsicherheit darüber, ob die Westmächte wirklich die Invasion beginnen würden, hat die gesamte internationale Diskussion der Fachleute während der letzten Monate beherrscht. Die deutsche Führung hat sich zu keinem Augenblick davon anstecken lassen. Sie hat alle politischen und militärischen und vor allem auch die psychologischen Gegebenheiten auf der Gegenseite gewürdigt, und sie ist seit langem zu dem Schluß gekommen, daß die Westmächte unter dem Zwange stünden, in Westeuropa zu landen. Die heutigen Ereignisse haben dies bestätigt und damit die Gesamtstrategie der deutschen Führung in den letzten anderthalb Jahren glänzend gerechtfertigt.
Die militärische Entwicklung während dieser Zeit stand im Zeichen deutscher Rückzüge. Diese Rückzüge wären zu vermeiden gewesen, wenn die deutsche Führung sich entschlossen hätte, ihre reichlichen operativen Reserven an den von Invasion bedrohten Stellen abzuziehen. Sie hat das nicht getan, und sie hat im Gegenteil aus der Ostfront Reserven herausgezogen, um sie an die Stelle zu werfen, von der sie wußte, daß hier eines Tages die Entscheidung fallen würde. Das hat manchen schmerzlichen Verzicht bedeutet – schmerzlich für die Truppe und schmerzlich für die Heimat. So ist Kiew, so ist Smolensk, so ist Odessa, so ist am Sonntag Rom verlorengegangen. Aber mit den Ereignissen dieses historischen 6. Juni gewinnen diese Preisgaben erst ihr eigentliches Gesicht.
Sie waren notwendig, damit da, wo in dem eisernen Würfelspiel die Entscheidung des Krieges fallen muß, die Deutschen die stärkste Zusammenballung ihrer Kraft besitzen, die möglich ist. Indem die Führung der Verlockung standhielt, die der Sorge um große Städte mit alten Namen, die aber auch der nie zu beseitigenden Ungewißheit über die Pläne der Westmächte entsprang, indem sie mit der äußersten Entschlossenheit an der einmal als richtig erkannten Gesamtkonzeption festhielt, hat sie die erste Voraussetzung für kommende Erfolge bereits geschaffen.
Es ist nicht wahrscheinlich, daß es bei der Landung an der nordwestfranzösischen Küste bleiben wird. Es ist eher anzunehmen, daß der Gegner nun nacheinander auch noch an anderen Stellen Westeuropas Truppen an Land setzen wird. Wo sich dann eines Tages der Schwerpunkt des Kampfes herausbilden wird, ob das an den Landestellen des 6. Juni, ob das weiter nördlich, ob das weiter südlich der Fall sein wird, das alles wird sich erst nach Tagen, vielleicht nach Wochen zeigen. Aber das eine ist bereits jetzt sicher: Die Kämpfe werden in mancher Beziehung ein anderes Gesicht tragen als die Rückzugsschlachten in der Ukraine und in Italien. Diesmal spielt sich die kriegerische Auseinandersetzung dort ab, wo die deutsche Führung seit langem die Entscheidung erwartete und wo sie darauf gerüstet ist. Sie ist im Osten wie in Italien ausgewichen, weil sie es so wollte und weil sie es für richtig hielt. Sie wird in Frankreich der Entscheidung nicht ausweichen, weil sie sie selber hier wünscht. Sie hat sich hier darauf vorbereitet, und sie wird sie auszutragen wissen.
Die Meldungen über die ersten Stunden des Kampfverlaufes, soweit sie uns gegenwärtig vorliegen, zeigen denn auch, wie entschlossen der Abwehrwille der deutschen Führung, wie überlegen ihre Maßnahmen und wie hart die ersten deutschen Gegenschläge sind. Die Kämpfe werden weitergehen, wochen-, vielleicht monatelang. Wir wissen alle, daß sie sehr schwer sein werden. Der Feind hat viel dazu getan, eine große Kriegsmacht aufzubauen, und wir zweifeln nicht an seiner Entschlossenheit, diese Kriegsstärke nun auch voll einzusetzen. Die ganze deutsche Nation erkennt den hohen Ernst der Stunden, die begonnen haben. Aber gerade darum, weil der Gegner sich nun endlich gezwungen sieht, auf dem seit langem sorgsam gemiedenen Schauplatz der Entscheidung mit seiner stärksten Kraft anzutreten, gerade darum glauben wir auch, daß von den Kämpfen dieser Wochen her das militärische Gesicht des Krieges sich wieder wandeln wird.
Die deutsche Defensivstrategie der letzten anderthalb Jahre war nichts Endgültiges. Sie war ein Mittel zum Zweck, nicht mehr. Der Plan unserer Gegner, durch eine ununterbrochene Offensive das Herz Europas zu lähmen und schließlich zu vernichten, ist seit heute Morgen in einen Abschnitt der Entwicklung getreten, der sich im Verlauf der Kämpfe zu seiner eigentlichen Krise wandeln mag. Wenn dem Gegner der Invasionsfeldzug gelingen sollte, dann wären für uns die Folgen unübersehbar. Sie würden wohl das Ende bedeuten. Wenn aber die deutschen Soldaten die Angreifer Zurückschlagen, dann sind die Folgen unübersehbar für die Gegenseite. Die Entscheidung über beides, das Schicksal unseres Vaterlandes, das Schicksal unseres Erdteils liegt jetzt in den Händen und den tapferen Herzen der Kämpfer am Atlantikwall. In dieser ungeheuren Tragweite der Ereignisse liegt die Rechtfertigung für das Aushalten, für den Widerstand und den Gegenstoß der deutschen Soldaten an der atlantischen Küste.
Wenn aber der Rauch der Geschütze sich endgültig von dem Strand der Felsenküste Frankreichs verzogen haben wird, dann wird sich auch zeigen, daß das Gesicht des Krieges ganz neue Züge erhalten hat. Militärisch gesehen aber wird dies bedeuten, daß die deutsche Führung dann freier geworden ist in ihren Entschlüssen, als sie es anderthalb Jahre lang sein konnte. Die Nation weiß, daß in der großen dramatischen Zuspitzung dieses Krieges auch die große Zuversicht liegt. Sie weiß, daß in dem Gewühl der schweren Schlachten dieses Sommers das blitzende Schwert des Gegenschlages zu finden ist.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 7, 1944)
Allied forces continued landings on the northern coast of France throughout yesterday and satisfactory progress is being made. Rangers and Commandos formed part of the assaulting forces.
No further attempt at interference with our seaborne landings was made by enemy naval forces. Those coastal batteries still in action are being bombarded by Allied warships.
At twilight yesterday, and for the fourth time during the day, our heavy bombers attacked railways, communications, and bridges in the general battle area. There was increased air opposition and twenty-six enemy aircraft which attempted to interfere were shot down. One Allied bomber and seventeen fighters failed to return from this operation. Other enemy air activity included an attack on our beach forces. This proved abortive and four of a formation of twelve Ju 88s were destroyed.
In addition to attacks on defended positions and other objectives in immediate support of land operations, railway centers, bridges, military buildings, and communications at Abancourt, Serqueux, Amiens, and Vire were attacked repeatedly throughout yesterday by our medium and light bombers. Allied fighter bombers and fighters flew low to attack enemy units and motor truck columns.
From dawn to dusk, the vast Allied fighter force maintained vigil over our shipping and over the assault area. This air cover was again completely successful.
Airborne operations were resumed successfully last night.
Coastal aircraft attacked German naval units in the Bay of Biscay.
A strong force of heavy night bombers attacked bridges and road and rail communications behind the invasion area, including the junction at Châteaudun. Thirteen heavy bombers are missing. Light bombers were also out against the same type of targets, and night intruders destroyed twelve enemy aircraft without loss.
The New York Times (June 7, 1944)
Big air armada aids; 10,000 tons of bombs clear the way – poor weather a worry
By Drew Middleton
Allied troops make good their landings in northern France
After parachutists had descended at Barfleur (1), according to enemy sources, amphibious forces converged on Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, just to the south, and are said to have straddled the Valognes-Carentan road (2). More airborne landings were reported made around Isigny (3), at the mouth of the Vire River, and troops went ashore near Arromanches (4). Allied forces, beating inland, fought in Caen (5). They captured Honfleur (6), said Berlin, and then fanned out south and east toward Pont-l’Évêque, Beuzeville and Pont-Audemer. The Paris radio spoke of fighting north of Rouen (7). In addition to the invasion of the mainland, the Allies were reported by the enemy to have landed in force on the Channel Islands of Guernsey (8) and Jersey (9).
SHAEF, England –
The German Atlantic Wall has been breached.
Thousands of U.S., Canadian and British soldiers, under cover of the greatest air and sea bombardment of history, have broken through the “impregnable” perimeter of Germany’s “European fortress” in the first phase of the invasion and liberation of the continent.
Communiqué No. 2, issued at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, before last midnight, reported that all initial landings, which had earlier been located on the coast of Normandy, in northern France, had “succeeded.” The Germans told of heavy fighting with Allied airborne troops in Caen, road and railroad junction eight and a half miles inland from the Seine Bay coast, and the enemy said there was heavy fighting at several points in a crescent-shaped front reaching from Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, on the west, to Le Havre, on the east.
The German Transocean News Agency said early Wednesday that the Allies had made “further landings at the mouth of the Orne under cover of naval artillery,” according to the Associated Press. The agency said “heavy fighting” was raging.
A British broadcast, recorded by Blue Network monitors, said Wednesday that “another airborne landing south of Cherbourg has been reported.” Another British broadcast said that Allied bulldozers were busy “carving out the first RAF airfield on the coast of France.”
At last midnight, just over 24 hours after the beginning of the operation, these were the salient points in the military situation:
Despite underwater obstacles and beach defenses, which in some areas extended for more than 1,000 yards inland, the Atlantic Wall has been breached by Allied infantry.
The largest airborne force ever launched by the allies has been successfully dropped behind the Atlantic Wall and has attacked a second echelon of German defenses vigorously. The Germans estimate this force at not less than four divisions, two American and two British, of paratroops and airborne infantry.
Most of the German coastal batteries in the invasion area have been silenced by 10,000 tons of bombs and by shelling from 640 naval ships. The shelling was so intense that a British destroyer, HMS Tanatside, had exhausted all her ammunition by 8:00 yesterday morning.
Against 7,500 sorties flows from Monday midnight to 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, by the Allied Air Forces during the first day of the invasion, the Luftwaffe has flown 50, and the main weight of the enemy air force in the west (estimated at 1,750 aircraft) has not entered the battle.
The first enemy naval assault on the Allied invasion armada was beaten off with the loss of one enemy trawler and severe damage to another.
There is reasonable optimism at this headquarters now, but there is no effort to disguise concern over several factors, among them weather and the shape of the first major German counterblow.
Navies 100% effective
Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay, Allied naval commander-in-chief, declared the Allied navies had “in effect” been 100% successful in the task of landing the invasion troops in France. These troops have now become the most important of the fighting services involved in the invasion, for there are indications that the enemy to some extent is withholding reserve formations for a general counterattack once he is certain yesterday’s landings constitute the main threat in Northwestern Europe.
The heaviest fighting in a 100-mile battle area appeared to revolve around Caen, according to the German news agency DNB. The enemy also admitted the establishment of an Allied bridgehead on both sides of the Orne estuary, and another in the area northwest of Bayeux, and the Germans said an Allied paratroop formation had a firm grip on both sides of the Cherbourg-Valognes road.
A group of light Allied tanks and armored scout cars was placed northeast of Bayeux by the enemy (Bayeux is about six miles inland from the southwest shore of the Seine Bay). Earlier, Allied tanks had been reported fighting in the area of Arromanches on the south coast of the Seine Bay. This group was attempting to join the main beachhead forces northwest of Bayeux, the enemy said.
A German military spokesman reported 15 cruisers and 50-60 destroyers were operating west of Le Havre last night covering a large number of Allied landing craft. The two naval task forces that led the invasion were commanded by RAdm. Sir Philip Vian, who won fame while commanding the destroyer HMS Cossack early in the war, and RAdm. Alan Goodrich Kirk of the U.S. Navy. The two naval forces plus a third force, which came from the north, included one 15-inch gun battleship (the HMS Warspite), an American battleship (the USS Nevada, a veteran of Pearl Harbor), the cruisers USS Augusta and USS Tuscaloosa and the British cruisers HMS Mauritius, HMS Belfast, HMS Black Prince and HMS Orion, and shoals of destroyers flying the Stars and Stripes and the White Ensign.
Steaming through the English Channel, swept by 200 British minesweepers, the men o’ war escorted thousands of landing craft, transports and assault craft bearing Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s landing forces to the beaches.
Shortly before the first soldiers “hit the beach,” three German torpedo boats and an undisclosed number of armed trawlers attacked. They were driven off with withering fire. One trawler was sunk and another severely damaged.
Then the destroyers turned their guns on enemy defenses, while the ships engaged enemy batteries already battered by high explosives dropped from the air.
The large airborne forces that were dropped and landed in the night were already assembling behind the Atlantic Wall as the first troops scrambled up the beaches. Dawn was the climax of the first phase of the invasion. Wave after wave of U.S. bombers – at least 31,000 Allied airmen were in the air between Monday midnight breakfast Tuesday – took up the task of flattening the German defenses and silencing guns. Fighters circled over the beachheads on defensive patrol, while fighter-bombers darted inland to attack German troops moving up to attack the airborne and seaborne invaders.
So feeble was the German Air Force opposition that one fighter force swept 75 miles inland without meeting opposition. In one of the few clashes, 300 Marauders ran into 20 Fw 190s, destroying a single enemy plane without loss. A great fleet of more than 1,000 planes, including gliders and towplanes, went almost unmolested when it carried the airborne force to its objectives, while some Flying Fortress groups reported neither fighter interference nor flak fire.
All day the weather forced medium and light bombers to attack at low level, 300 Marauders bombing from 3,000 feet during yesterday afternoon. Havocs on a similar attack jumped and halted a column of eight German armored cars. Road junctions and railway yards behind enemy lines were bombed repeatedly.
Allied integration of arms
Yesterday’s operations, the greatest yet undertaken by the Western powers, were marked by a complete integration of all striking arms. Tens of thousands of bombs and shells tore at the German defenses as air force and navy gave maximum support to the infantrymen struggling ashore or the airborne forces attacking the “Atlantic Wall” from the rear.
The Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force, the first Allied forces to strike at the heart of Germany in this war, had the honor of opening the assault. At 11:30 Monday night, the first of ten waves of Lancasters and Halifaxes swept in from the sea to begin bombardment of the German batteries along the French coast.
There were more than a hundred bombers in this and subsequent waves, and the total number of “heavies” involved was more than 1,300. Since on such a trip each of these heavies can carry at least five tons of bombs, the batteries were hit by around 7,000 tons of bombs before the sun rose to reveal the great invasion fleet gently rolling on the choppy waters of the English Channel.
The batteries attacked were of two types, with two different functions. There were long-range rifles – mostly 155mm and 177mm weapons – to engage shipping far out at sea. Equally important to the success of the landing were batteries of heavy howitzers sited on beaches or on areas just off the beaches where landing craft might congregate. Both types of batteries were strongly protected, with most of the 155s in casemates of reinforced concrete. The howitzers were in sandbagged emplacements or newly-constructed casemates.
The preliminary air attacks appear to have been successful, for reports from the front stressed the failure of German batteries to maintain determined fire. Many of the casemates were blown apart, while some of the howitzers were knocked over by the blasts and their gun pits were smothered with dirt torn up by the bombs.
This destruction was well underway by dawn yesterday, when more than 1,000 Flying Fortresses and Liberators of the U.S. 8th Air Force roared out from Britain to maintain the bombing. At the same time, far out at sea, gunfire flickered along the decks of battleships, monitors, cruisers and destroyers as they engaged not only gun batteries but strongpoints and blockhouses along the Normandy beaches.
By this time, troop carriers and gliders of the U.S. 9th Army Air Force and the RAF had flown paratroops and airborne infantry to their objectives and the two-sided battle of the so-called Atlantic Wall had begun on the ground as well as in the air and at sea.
All day the big guns roared from the sea to shore and from the shore to sea. All day Liberators, Fortresses, Marauders, Mitchells, Typhoons, Havocs and Thunderbolts of the Allied Air Forces bombed the German coastal defenses and troop concentrations sheltered in the lush orchards of Normandy.
All day Allied fighters patrolled the battle area and spread an air umbrella above the invasion fleet.
Air Chief Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Gen. Eisenhower’s deputy commander for air, was so proud of the work done by yesterday morning while the battle was still developing, he congratulated his forces on the “magnificent work… done in preparing for the invasion.”
As this order was flashed to the far-flung squadrons of the RAF and USAAF, the battle on the ground, where it will eventually be fought and won, was beginning with the first airborne landings. According to enemy radio reports, these were made “in great depth” in the area of the Seine Bay. British airborne units were dropped in the Le Havre area, while Americans floated to earth in the Normandy district.
The enemy has already identified the British 1st and 60th Airborne Divisions and the U.S. 82nd and the 101st Airborne Divisions, according to Axis broadcasts. Airborne troops landed at Barfleur, east of Cherbourg; Carentan, five miles from the Seine Bay on the Cherbourg Peninsula, and northeast of Caen between the estuaries of the Seine and Orne, the Germans said.
Air and naval losses for the first day were considered remarkably low at this headquarters, although it was emphasized the enemy had not attacked strongly in either element. One U.S. battleship, risking unswept mines and shore torpedo tubes, moved in to short range in order to silence a troublesome battery that was holding up operations with its fire.
The Allied seaborne landings began to develop along the coast of Normandy at the same time. The Germans placed the first attacks between the mouths of the Seine and the Vire, a stretch of coast about 75 miles long, beginning in the east at Trouville and Deauville, once filled with holiday crowds from all over Europe, and reaching to the Bay of Isigny in the west. The stretch of coast is the nearest to Paris and is connected with the capital by good rail and highway communications.
U.S. tanks poured ashore in the area of Arromanches, a small fishing village about 15 miles northwest of Caen, and Asnelles, in the middle of the Seine Bay south coast, the Germans said, adding that 35 tanks had been destroyed in the fighting around Asnelles. What the Germans described as “particularly extensive landings” were also made at the small coastal village of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, close to the tip of the Cherbourg Peninsula. The enemy also claimed the Allies had landed on Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands, the last bit of the British Empire held by Germany. As the infantry scrambled over the beach obstacles from the sea, airborne invaders were fighting a hot battle in the district of Caen, according to the enemy reports. Caen lies on the main railroad line running from Cherbourg to Rouen, Évreux and Paris and is a junction of nine highways. Other large airborne concentrations were around Le Havre and Cherbourg, and the enemy claimed they had been made in order to seize those ports for the invasion fleet.
The enemy claimed a battleship had been badly damaged and a cruiser and large transport sunk during a duel between shore batteries and the Allied naval escort. The enemy put the escort at six battleships and 20 destroyers, with well over 2,000 landing craft (some of them of 3,000 tons) participating in the landings along the Seine Bay.
Enemy claims hits
President Roosevelt said at his Tuesday press conference that Gen. Eisenhower had reported the loss of two U.S. destroyers and one LST, a tank-carrying landing ship.
Seaborne landings overcame intricate and elaborate German obstructions, mainly because Gen. Eisenhower took a chance and landed his forces at low tide when naval engineers’ parties could deal with underwater obstacles. These included mines moored below the low-water line, beach mines and hundreds of obstacles. The latter included a section of braced fences, concrete pyramids, and wood and steel “hedgehogs.”
All these obstacles were extensively mined, either with Teller mines or specially prepared artillery projectiles. But before the invasion armada could reach these defenses some 200 Allied minesweepers manned by 10,000 officers and men had to sweep a passage through extensive minefields with which the enemy had masked the approaches to the beaches.
It was officially called the biggest and probably the most difficult, certainly the most concentrated, minesweeping operation ever carried out. The most delicate and dangerous work was done at night in a cross-tide of two knots.
When dawn came, the landing craft moved slowly toward the beaches through the swept channels, and the minesweepers, were sweeping new areas.
It was through this sort of sea defenses that the invasion ships had to make their way before they grated on continental beaches.
Ashore the engineers and infantry found a variety of new obstacles. The entire beaches were guarded by bolts of wire. The exits from the beaches were blocked by an adaption of existing seawalls to become anti-tank walls, and steel obstacles were set up. Anti-tank ditches 50-60 feet wide were extensively employed and minefields had been laid up to a depth of more than 1,000 yards from shore, while inundations were employed wherever the ground was suitable.
SHAEF, England (AP) –
Allies troops swiftly cleared Normandy beaches of the dazed Nazi survivors of a punishing sea and air bombardment, and armor-backed landing parties ranged inland today in a liberation invasion. Reinforcements streamed across the white-capped Channel.
Some reports reached here that Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s men had cut at Caen the Paris-Cherbourg railway, a main route supplying Hitler’s defenses forces in the Cherbourg Peninsula.
Prime Minister Churchill first disclosed that Allied troops were fighting in Caen, on the Orne River. He said the invasion was proceeding “in a thoroughly satisfactory manner,” and with unexpectedly light casualties.
The German High Command asserted that no Allied troops had penetrated Caen.
Returning RAF pilots said:
We could easily tell the beaches were secure – we could see our soldiers standing up.
Caen was the only point specifically named here as a scene of fighting, although penetrations as deep as 13 miles were reported. Nazi-controlled radios, however, reported Allied landings at a dozen points, with the most important on both sides of the estuary of the Orne River.
From west to east along the 100-mile shoreline, Axis accounts said Allied seaborne and airborne forces struck at:
The port of Barfleur (15 miles east of Cherbourg), the fishing village of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue (five miles south of Barfleur) both sides of the Valognes-Carentan highway, a section of an important supply road to Cherbourg running five miles inland from the peninsular coast; the 27-mile-long area between Carentan and Bayeux, the Orne River estuary, a 15-mile stretch of beaches in the Villers-Trouville region across the Seine estuary from Le Havre, and the town of Honfleur (on the Seine six miles southeast of Le Havre).
The German-controlled Vichy radio also said that a vicious fight developed last night north of Rouen, on the Seine, 41 miles east of Le Havre, “between powerful Allied paratroop formations and German anti-invasion forces.”
Liberty Bell rings; Lexington and Boston’s old North Church hold services
By Lawrence Resner
Led by President Roosevelt, the entire country joined in solemn prayer yesterday for the success of the United Nations armies of liberation.
Over the radio networks at 10:00 p.m. ET, the President read the prayer which he had composed in the early invasion hours yesterday morning, the text of which had already been heard in both houses of Congress.
The prayer had been sent out throughout the country and printed in newspapers so that the millions who listened to the broadcast could recite the words with the President as he spoke.
The President’s prayer that the Allied forces be led “straight and true” in the struggle to liberate the suffering humanity of Europe was the climax of a day marked both by the solemn appreciation of the human values involved and exhilaration over the fact that the great battle had been joined.
His expression of faith that with the Grace of God, “and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph,” was echoed in the hearts of his countrymen, in special prayers offered in great cathedrals and small parishes, and in the ordinary conversation of Americans everywhere.
‘Heartbreaking days ahead’
In Congress, after the prayer was read, Joseph W. Martin (R-MA), House Minority Leader, warned that “many heartbreaking days lie ahead,” and Senator Alben W. Barkley (D-KY), the Majority Leader, said that:
All we need or ought to do or can do is pray fervently and devoutly for the success of our troops and those of our allies.
At Albany, Governor Dewey, accompanied by Mrs. Dewey, attended St. Peter’s Episcopal Church for a few brief moments of prayer, while here in New York City an estimated 50,000 persons who gathered at Madison Square were led in prayer by Mayor La Guardia.
The observance at Madison Square was typical of smaller gatherings called in many American cities and attended by persons of all faiths and creeds.
In Columbus, Ohio Governor John W. Bricker called the landings in France “the beginning of the end of the forces of evil and destruction,” and in Chicago, Bishop Henry St. George Tucker, president of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, suggested the words for a D-Day prayer.
In many communities the news of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first invasion communiqué was greeted with sirens or whistles.
The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, which heralded the nation’s independence, was rung six times to mark the landings. In Boston and Lexington, services were held in historic churches.
Both the Associated Press and the United Press reported a generally undemonstrative reception of the news. Groups gathered at newsstands, or stood before radio loudspeakers, eager to learn the fullest details of the actual military events, but, with very few exceptions the thousands of war workers in the principal industrial areas were credited with receiving with solemn intentness the confirmation of the Allied invasion, and in many instances were said to have worked with extra zeal thereafter.
The news was brought to workers on nightshifts over plant loudspeaker systems, but there was little shouting or any other demonstration.
Donald M. Nelson, chairman of the War Production Board, called upon the country to exert its “supreme effort.” He said “we’ve got a long way to go,” but also made the reassuring statement that the Allied forces were using secret weapons that “the public has never seen or even heard of” and which match “everything the enemy has been able to devise.”
In Washington, two men who might have been expected to be the busiest persons in the capital, Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, and Secretary Henry L. Stimson, were reported to have left their offices around 5:00 p.m. Monday and not to have returned until their usual hours yesterday morning.
Gen. Marshall’s work was said to have been done before the invasion started, a fact which seemed to sum up the War Department’s D-Day.
Gen. Marshall had gone to the Soviet Embassy Monday night to receive the Order of Suvorov, First Class, the Soviet Union’s highest military decoration, while Secretary Stimson was at home during the first stages of the landings.
Fiery renewal of battle for France; Britain recalls grimness of Dunkerque
By Raymond Daniell
London, England –
This was D-Day and it has gone well.
At daybreak, Anglo-American forces dropped from the skies in Normandy, swarmed up on the beaches from thousands of landing craft and renewed the battle for France and for Europe, broken off four years ago at Dunkerque.
And when darkness fell, on the word of no less than Winston Churchill, the King’s First Minister, who is still this country’s best reporter, they had toeholds on a broad front and were fighting as far back from the coast as Caen, which is eight and a half miles behind the Channel beaches and 149 miles from Paris.
At the time he spoke, the Prime Minister said that the battle which was just beginning was progressing in “a thoroughly satisfactory manner.” But even he, like most people in this island, had his fingers crossed.
The Germans’ resistance until now has been surprisingly, perhaps ominously, slight. Several obstacles to any amphibious operation have been surmounted. The concentration of ships has escaped serious bombardment from the air and the huge armada has crossed the Channel without encountering real enemy naval opposition. Submarine obstacles and shore batteries, which had been pounded relentlessly by the Allied air forces, were less lethal than had been expected.
Weather not favorable
The weather was uncertain but possibly a decisive factor. It was not favorable to the attacking forces. It was revealed at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force that the great blow had been postponed one day because the barometer had started to fall – not an unusual occurrence in this land of fickle weather.
On the basis of reports from his meteorologists, Gen. Eisenhower postponed the launching of his attack 24 hours. Then the weathermen assured him that an improvement was coming and he was faced with the problem of gambling on their science or postponing the attack another month. His was a grim decision, for it was learned at Supreme Headquarters that had the meteorologists been wring, the whole expedition might have met with disaster.
As it was, the weather was not good, but it improved. At the start, clouds obscured air targets and winds swept the Channel into one of its hellish moods, so a large part of the invading force must have been seasick when they landed to do battle with the enemy.
The tides of the Channel, which in the days of the Spanish Armada favored England, changed in the crucial hours between dark and daylight. Minesweepers had to switch their gear from one side to the other and never slow down or stop lest the cutting tools they drag behind them sink to the ocean floor.
The first communiqué merely said Allied troops had landed in northern France. Later, this was expanded unofficially to mean Normandy, where the apple trees have just shed their blossoms and begun to bear fruit.
Enemy describes arena
The Germans were more explicit and perhaps more tendentious. They identified the fighting zone as stretching from Cotentin Peninsula to the estuary of the Seine.
The Germans doubtless would like to know what the Allies planned to do next. It would help them a lot in their order of battle if they knew whether this landing was intended to become the main beachhead for a march on Berlin or whether it was the forerunner of new attacks along the coastline that stretches from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean.
The answer to that question is a military secret, but Prime Minister Churchill, who said when the Anglo-American forces landed in North Africa that it was the end of the beginning, hinted today that the assault in Normandy was only a foretaste of what was to come.
The Prime Minister, who about four years ago described the heroic retreat of the British Army from Dunkerque in terms of a strategic victory, reported twice in the course of the day to the Commons. In his morning address, completely factual and devoid of rhetoric, he said that “the first series of landings in force upon the European continent” had taken place.
Later, he said it was the hope of the Allied commanders to furnish “a succession of surprises” to the enemy. The battle now beginning, he said, would grow in scale and intensity for weeks to come.
Bares total of ships
In his speech, Mr. Churchill dealt specifically with many matters which newspaper correspondents had been told only a few minutes earlier were taboo. For instance, he disclosed that an armada of 4,000 ships, not counting the smaller landing craft, had crossed the Channel carrying the spearhead of the attack – Canadian, British and U.S. troops commanded by Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, who, Supreme Headquarters disclosed, was to lead today’s combined United Nations force.
The Prime Minister told the House of Commons – whose many empty seats bore witness to the success with which military secrets had been kept – that mass airborne landings had been “successfully effected” behind the enemy lines, and he said that the fire of shore batteries having been “largely quelled,” landings on the beaches were taking place.
Obstacles in the sea, he said, had not proved so formidable as had been anticipated. The Anglo-American offensive, he disclosed, was being supported by 11,000 first-line aircraft which would be thrown into the fray as they were needed.
“The commanders say everything is going according to plan – what a plan!” he said.
Between Mr. Churchill’s first statement in the morning and his postscript at the close of the parliamentary session, the people of this island worked a lot and prayed a little. There were services in the cathedrals and village churches, but everywhere work went on as usual, turning out planes and tanks to take the places of those lost in battle.
The people, who have worked and sweated and waited, seemed relieved that at last the die was cast and the Rubicon crossed.
These people, who four years ago accepted the collapse of France and decided to carry on the fight alone somehow, felt that their instincts had been justified and that their old decision was the right one. They know trouble may develop later, but they went to bed remembering these words of Mr. Churchill, who has never looked at wat through rose-colored glasses:
Airborne landings are well established and landings and follow-ups are all proceeding with much less loss than we expected – very much less. We have captured various bridges which are important and which have not been blown up by the enemy, and fighting is even proceeding in the town of Caen.
The attempt at liberation of the continent has begun auspiciously. Later the allies will count upon the help of the resistance movements of Europe but radio broadcasts by Gen. Charles de Gaulle (head of the French Committee of National Liberation), Dr. Pieter S. Gerbrandy (Dutch Premier), Hubert Pierlot (Belgian Premier) and Gen. Eisenhower have made it clear that the time is not yet. All these speakers advised the people of occupied Europe to wait for orders to rise against the Nazi occupation.
Allied mediums, fighters wreck foe’s communication, even shoot it out with tanks
By Harold Denny
London, England –
The Allied air forces hammered out the paths for yesterday’s invasion blow and held a shield over our forces at sea and ashore with an unprecedented power and skill that kept our losses well below the cost Allied commanders had been prepared to pay.
Beginning with attacks by more than 1,000 British heavy bombers on the French coast Monday midnight and followed at dawn by 1,300 U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators on the same targets, Allied planes of all sizes and types shuttled in and out of battle all day and were still at it last night.
About 31,000 Allied airmen flew on 7,500 sorties between Monday midnight and 8:00 a.m. yesterday. As many more sorties were flown over the French coast up to dark last night, and Supreme Allied Headquarters reported 1,000 troop-carrying planes had ferried the greatest airborne force in history into France. The total Allied loss for the day was 20 planes.
Aerial action unceasing
The air assault went on last night. The London sky throbbed with the passage of more great British bomber formations heading toward the continent.
The Royal Air Force struck in strength over France through Tuesday night in support of the ground operations, the Associated Press reported.
All day Tuesday, according to American air officials, our fliers over the invasion area encountered only about 50 Nazi planes and they shot down at least 26 of the foe. U.S. air losses our of more than 9,000 sorties by daylight were 50 planes: 25 bombers and 25 fighters.
In closely coordinated attacks before dawn and all day, U.S. and British airmen blasted German defenses and gun positions to silence them with bombs and rockets and diving machine-gun bursts.
Medium and light bombers and fighter-bombers of the U.S. 9th Air Force and the RAF roared down to treetop level far behind the German frontlines and smashed bridges, disrupted traffic centers, shot motor convoys and railway trains into flaming disorder, wrecked radio stations and made the greatest mess they could of enemy transport and communications.
Our fighters formed so tight an air cover that our advancing sea convoys and assaulting ground troops gained the beaches virtually unhampered by the Luftwaffe.
Fighters do thorough duty
Some fighters even shot it out with German tanks. And in all these operations, including the towing of thousands of parachutists and airborne infantry deep behind the enemy’s lines, our aircraft met astonishingly little opposition. The Luftwaffe hardly appeared, although sometimes there was sharp enemy fire from the ground, including rifle fire by enraged German infantrymen.
Fighter planes of the 8th Air Force shot down three Me 109s in a chase over Paris rooftops, the Associated Press reported.
The first wave of 9th Air Force Marauders, 350 strong, that bombed Nazi beach defenses met a few Me 109s that were soon routed, said a United Press dispatch. Two Marauders were missing from this operation.
In addition to their big dawn attack, the 8th Air Force’s Fortresses and Liberators made three attacks on targets near the French coast during the day.
The failure of the Luftwaffe as yet to fight gratified the Allied commanders, but it did not lull them into any confidence that the Nazi Air Force would not appear later in formidable numbers. The Luftwaffe is believed to have 1,500-2,000 fighters in the west and perhaps 500 bombers, and can still deliver a considerable sting.
Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and his German air aides face a difficult dilemma. The Allied aerial forces are strong enough to strike simultaneously deep inside Germany and give full support to the invading forces. The Luftwaffe must choose whether to protect the heart of the Reich or try to stem the invasion. It apparently cannot do both at once.
U.S. and British heavy bombers, in planting the aerial barrage ahead of our landing forces, rained more than 10,000 tons of explosives on hundreds of German defensive targets between Monday midnight and 8:00 yesterday morning.
Following up the great work of the 8th Air Force and the RAF’s Bomber Command, the mediums and fighter-bombers of our 9th Air Force had flown more than 2,500 sorties before 1:00 p.m. (local time). Commanders described it as “the most violent 12 hours in the history of aerial warfare.”
By 10:00 last night, the 9th Air Force had increased its total sorties to 4,750. The largest number ever flown before in one day was about 1,600.
In providing its share of air cover, the RAF’s Second Tactical Air Force flew more than 2,000 sorties yesterday.
As part of the all-out operations, additional formations of RAF “heavies” during Monday night bombed the major rail center of Osnabrück in Northwest Germany without loss of a plane.
Nazi seamen reach Britain along with Allied wounded
An invasion port, England (UP) – (June 6)
The first German prisoners and first casualties to reach this port were landed late this afternoon. The prisoners, who had been fished out of the Channel after their German craft was sunk by invasion warships, were brought in aboard a British light cruiser at 7:00 p.m. (local time).
They were immediately herded into a compound to be questioned by intelligence officers. These Nazis, who were among the first to fee the sting of the second front, straggled along the pier like half-drowned rats.
It was clear from the expression on their faces that they had had enough. In a subtle way, they seemed happy to be in the safety of Allied captivity.
The first wounded to be disembarked at this port were soldiers brought back from the French beachhead in a minesweeper. They were carried ashore by litter bearers and taken to an emergency hospital near the pier.
Tiny craft, in wake of sweepers, made surprise possible
Aboard a U.S. PT boat, off France (UP) – (June 6)
Thousands of vessels arrived safely at their rendezvous off the French coast this morning, and although the operation began in broad daylight yesterday, the Germans were kept so busy by our planes they never knew what was happening.
The tactical surprise was so complete that an hour after British and U.S. battleships and cruisers opened a gigantic shore bombardment the enemy had not fire one answering shot. Not until 5:30 a.m. did a lone enemy reconnaissance plane, with the help of flares, discover the Allied armada. And there was little its pilot could do by then.
So completely off-guard were the German defenders that British minesweepers, which were escorted by the PT squadron, cleared a broad highway right up to the French shoreline. A maneuver unprecedented in naval history, it was carried out without the loss of a PT, despite the extreme hazards. Without the run by the minesweepers and PTs to clear the Channel directly to the coast, the invasion would have been a most costly operation.
The rough seas left the PT crews battered and some acutely seasick, but the plywood navy shepherded the minesweepers along the charter route all night. Because of the slowness of the minesweepers, it was necessary to begin the operation in broad daylight yesterday.
The barrage began at 5:40 a.m., when the dreadnoughts let loose their first salvos. It was more like maneuvers than a historic invasion and a big disappointment to the PT crews, who were spotting for a fight.
Ralph Gaetter, a quartermaster from Malden, Massachusetts, said:
It’s more like the Poughkeepsie regatta than an invasion.
Populace sees invasion as another sign of Allies’ victory
Rome, Italy – (June 6)
The news of the invasion was announced to bewildered Romans over public loudspeakers at 1:00 p.m. CET today.
The people were prepared to believe it would succeed quickly after having seen the evidence of the power of the 5th Army. A few days ago, they saw a bedraggled, beaten army of Germans stream back northward. That has given them another idea of the outcome of the war.
There was no excitement. Yesterday the Romans had their excitement and today they were back to normal.
However, there is no doubt where the hearts of virtually all Italians lie, and that is with the allies. They hate the Germans and they hate war.
At the Vatican, the British Legation gave the news to the secretariat and the Pontiff. No one will follow the course of events more closely. The Pope received a large group of Allied officers this morning, greeting each one personally.
U.S. unit cut down on a beach until British pilot spots guns
A U.S. fighter-bomber base, Britain (UP) – (June 6)
“It was wonderful. There they were, marching in to die, just as if they were going to a ball game,” was the report of the opening of the invasion brought back by 1st Lt. Roy L. Saux, 23, of Gretna, Louisiana, a Thunderbolt pilot, who watched the drama on the French beaches from 4,000 feet.
With 1st Lt. Jay C. Bloom, 21, of Troy, Pennsylvania, Lt. Saux told how the determination of American infantrymen and the sharp eyes of British Spitfire pilots saved one landing group from being blasted back into the sea on the Normandy coast.
Lt. Bloom said:
The Germans had hidden themselves in cliffs facing the beach and were pouring deadly mortar fire down upon the advancing Americans.
They did not have any cover except bomb-made mounds, but they pushed forward, with men falling every way you could look. It was heartbreaking to hear their leader calling through his radio: “For God’s sake, get those mortars quick! Dig them out, boys, they are right down our necks.”
A Spitfire pilot was then heard reporting that he had sighted the mortar positions, and he was ordered by an Allied controller in a landing craft to blast them out. Several Spitfires did that quickly, and the infantry continued to push inland.
The troops also encountered landmines, and Lt. Saux described their devastating effects as one group of infantrymen rushed from the boats.
He said:
Suddenly there was a large blast and when it was over many soldiers were strewn on the ground. Others got up and just kept right on going.
London, England (UP) – (June 6)
Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, in an order of the day to the German Air Force, said today:
**The invasion must be fought off if it means the death of the Luftwaffe.
Stockholm, Sweden – (June 6)
A German military commentator in Berlin late tonight talked of “very extensive Allied landings, backed up by aerial forces vastly superior to ours.”
This is the first time that the Germans have made such an admission about the inferiority of the Luftwaffe in Western Europe.
British and Canadians at Bernières-sur-Mer protected by huge force of warships, bombers and fighters
By Desmond Tighe, Reuters correspondent
Aboard a British destroyer, off Bernières-sur-Mer, France – (June 6)
Guns are belching flames from more than 600 Allied warships. Thousands of bombers are roaring overhead and fighters are weaving in and out of the clouds as the invasion of Western Europe begins.
Rolling clouds of dense black and gray smoke cover the beaches southeast of Le Havre as the full fury of the invasion force is unleashed on the German defenses. We are standing some 8,000 yards off the beaches of Bernières-sur-Mer and from the bridge of this little destroyer I can see vast numbers of naval craft of all types.
The air is filled with the continuous thunder of broadsides and the crash of bombs. Great spurts of flame come up from the beaches in long snake-like ripples as shells ranging from four to 16 inches find their marks. In the past ten minutes, more than 2,000 tons of high-explosive shells have gone down on the beachhead.
At 7:25 a.m., through glasses, I could see the first wave of assault troops touching down on the water’s edge and fanning up the beach. Battleships and cruisers were steaming up and down drenching the beaches ahead of the troops with withering broadsides. The guns flashed and great coils of yellow cordite smoke curled into the air. Great assault vessels were standing out to sea in their hundreds and invasion craft were being lowered like beetles from the davits and heading toward the shore in long lines. They were crammed with troops, tanks, guns and armored fighting vehicles of all types.
Constant fighter cover
Fighters kept up a constant patrol protecting this great invasion fleet. Spitfires and Airacobras streamed overhead below cloud level. So far there has been no enemy air opposition at all.
The invasion fleet came over to the shores of northwestern France unmolested. Just ahead of us lay the little town of Bernières-sur-Mer; we could see the spire of the belfry rising out of the swirling smoke.
Some German shore batteries opened up on us, but their fire was ineffective and ragged. Away on our port beam, a destroyer had a dingdong duel with one battery, and great coils of water rose around her as the German gunners tried to find their mark.
Other destroyers were streaking up and down close inshore protecting the landing troops and plugging shore batteries with shells. the gunfire was so terrific that we were deafened.
The plans for the invasion allowed for four separate phases: landings by airborne troops and paratroopers in the rear; a tremendous full-scale night bombing by the Royal Air force on the landing beaches; a sea bombardment by more than 600 battleships, cruisers, monitors and destroyers, and finally a daybreak bombing attack by the full strength of the U.S. Army Air Forces just after dawn and before the initial landings went in.
As we plunged through the Channel on the last stages of our trip late last night, we heard the roar of plane engines as wave after wave of airborne troops passed overhead. It was just after 4:00 a.m. when we reached a position some 18 miles off France. The night bombing was in full swing, and from that distance we could see enormous blood-red explosions and hear the rumble of bursting bombs.
Diary of invasion kept
What followed is described by the diary kept on the bridge. It was cold and, wrapped in duffle coats and thick mufflers, we watched the dawn come in and the invasion start in all its intensity. The times are British Double Summer Time.
5:07 a.m.: Lying eight miles from the lowering position for invasion.
5:20 a.m.: In the gray dawn the great shapes of innumerable assault ships appear smudgily on our starboard beam.
5:27 a.m.: The night bombing has ceased and the great naval bombardment begins. The wind is high and from our position we can hear little sound.
5:33 a.m.: We move in slowly and the coastline becomes a thin smudge of gray.
5:36 a.m.: Cruisers open fire on our starboard bow. We can now recognize the Belfast and the Mauritius. They are firing tracers and we see the shells curving in a high trajectory toward the shore.
5:45 a.m.: The big assault ships start lowering their boats, crowded with troops. There are at least 1,000 ships of all sizes in our sector. The naval bombardment intensifies.
The big battleships join. On our port bow, we see HMS Warspite, the Old Lady of Salerno fame, belching fire from her 15-inch guns. The Orion, the Mauritius and the Black Prince are belting away with all they have. Fleet destroyers are darting around us.
5:50 a.m.: I saw the first flash from a German shore battery. Above us we hear the sweet drone of our fighter cover. The sky is cloudy but has a fairly high ceiling. Four Spitfires pass overhead. So far not one German plane has put in an appearance, but it is early. It appears that we have taken the Germans by surprise.
Minesweepers pull away
5:55 a.m.: On our port beam, I can see a thin line of stout tank landing craft heading toward the shore. Gray minesweepers that have been close in shore sweeping are returning.
6:00 a.m.: The coast is clearly visible. German batteries are opening fire spasmodically. The cruisers continue to belt away, taking on shore targets. One of Britain’s brand-new Captain-class frigates passes. The bombardment continues and by now big fires are burning ashore. Clouds of black smoke rise hundreds of feet into the air.
6:30 a.m.: The whole invasion fleet is now waiting just seven miles offshore.
6:50 a.m.: The destroyers are now close in on the shore, bombarding any target that they can see. A string of tank landing craft passes us. The troops wave. Weather is growing worse, the sky is turning grey and big clouds are coming up. Spitfires and Airacobras roar over.
The first wave of Fortresses – their wings gleam through small patches of clouds. Mostly they are invisible. The roar of the Fortress engines, coupled with the shriek of bombs and the crashing of shells is terrific. The coastline is by now covered with palls of smoke. One pattern of bombs flattens out the beach section opposite our destroyer. An inferno of battleships, cruisers, monitors and destroyers are giving the Germans all they’ve got. It is by now quite light. I can see the spire of the Bernières belfry. We are 900 yards from the shore and still closing. The town is covered the smoke. Buildings appear to be smashed and crumpled. Now 800 yards offshore.
The first wave of landing craft has reached the shore. I see them touch down. Red tracers from close-range enemy weapons are searing across the beach. Men leap out of the craft and move forward. Tanks follow them. By now, everything is an inferno. The Fortresses have moved their bombing behind the beachhead and continue to plaster the Germans. One little destroyer on our port beam starts a duel with a shore battery. I see splashes from the German shells as they fall wide of the mark. We move out on patrol.
Record-setting number of airborne heralds of invasion leap ‘Atlantic Wall’
By Frederick Graham
London, England – (June 6)
The greatest airborne invasion of all time accompanied the Allied assault on Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall” today. And tonight, almost 24 hours after the first airborne troops had hit French soil behind the German lines, the operation appears to have been spectacularly successful.
Thousands of tough, specially-trained U.S. and British airborne troops who floated to earth under silk parachutes or swooped down in gliders, bringing hundreds of tons of heavy equipment, arms and supplies with them, are now consolidating in the enemy’s rear areas.
Only the barest facts of the gigantic airborne operations, which dwarf similar efforts by the Germans in Crete and the Allies in Burma, have been released by Allied headquarters. But those facts are enough to show the skeleton of one of the most amazing stories of the first day’s operations.
Losses of men and planes, which some military men had contended would be too costly for the results obtained * if not suicidal – have been surprisingly low. One report is that only about a score of the hundreds of tow planes that participated in the initial “drop” were lost. Glider losses are not more than a small percentage.
Opposition was light
The first airborne troops to hit the ground in France landed early in the morning, and almost two hours later the last were on the ground.
Flying out of bases in Great Britain, the airborne army was transported in planes nine abreast. The formation stretched nearly 230 miles from end to end, and took almost one hour to pass over the target area. Some of the planes carried British and U.S. paratroops; others towed gliders.
Brilliantly and carefully planned, the entire operation was termed by Brig. Gen. Paul E. L. Williams, chief of the 9th Air Force Troop Carrier Command, as a “magnificent success, reflecting credit on pilots and crews.”
Most of the crewmen returning in tow planes reported no flak at all, no fighters and only ground fire from small arms – mostly .50 caliber machine guns.
The first three groups to return reported no losses, and said the landings had been made with neater precision than in practice missions flown here during the past few months. Most of the troops were put down in predetermined “drop zones.”
Doctors go with ‘chutists
The Germans announced that four divisions of airborne troops had been “badly mauled.” There is neither confirmation nor denial of this report here, naturally, but it is known that in addition to the thousands of fighting men, medical men and other troops with equipment and supplies were flown in by gliders shortly after the paratroops had landed. Jeeps, artillery and even motorcycle troops were included in the force now on the ground and fighting.
Col. G. M. Jones, operations officer for the mission and a resident of Lafayette, Louisiana, who worked with Gen. Williams in planning the troop carrier operations in Sicily, said this afternoon, “The whole thing is satisfactory beyond expectations.”
Other veterans of the Sicilian campaign said that the timing, navigation and dropping accuracy surpassed even the best practice tests under chosen weather conditions. To a man, pilots of the tow planes expressed amazement at the weakness of enemy opposition.
SHAEF, England (AP) –
Prime Minister Churchill told the House of Commons that airborne heralds of the invasion had been “successful” in the final softening up blow against Hitler’s “Western Wall” just before the huge waterborne force surged ashore under naval guns and air bombs.
Wielding sheath knives and Tommy guns, thousands of U.S. and British paratroops and glider troops swept down on sleeping Cherbourg Peninsula out of the pre-dawn blackness and immediately set about the task of disrupting Nazi rear lines by destroying key bridges, railyards and enemy strongpoints.
A military spokesman today praised the troop-carrier planes that had navigated through a rainy, stormy night to drop thousands of these specially-trained soldiers on vital objectives. He said:
The operation was on a very large scale and was carried out with great precision. Our losses in aircraft were extremely small. It was a fine job – very fine indeed.
Attack bombers flying back over the area in which the airborne troops had landed reported seeing a number of demolitions and many burning buildings.
Aboard HMS Hilary, off the invasion coast (UP) – (June 6)
The first ground forces to land on the French beaches today were Americans. They went ashore at 6:30 a.m., followed by Canadians and British an hour later.
