Eisenhower gave signal in trailer
Directs operations from camp in country; weather was his biggest ‘headache’
London, England – (June 6)
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower pressed the button for the invasion of France from a camp set deep in the heart of the sleeping English countryside. There, in a motor trailer, he is directing the first phase of the most gigantic amphibious operation ever conceived.
Surrounded only by a nucleus of his field commanders and staff officers, the supreme commander made his decision after the final weather forecasts had been handed to him. The general had had little sleep in the preceding 24 hours. But it could never be guessed, watching his stride, fresh and alert, between his office on wheels and his wardroom lined with maps.
Prior to making his momentous decision, Gen. Eisenhower called at the mansion headquarters of one of the airborne units, where the big Douglas airliners were assembling with their loads of troops, destined to land in France. Then it was only a few hours to the “hour.” The ships were in mid-Channel, the Navy was concentrating a bombardment power never paralleled and every airfield was reverberating with the sound of aircraft.
Radiating calm confidence, Gen. Eisenhower spent a great part of yesterday laughing and chatting with troops waiting to cross the Channel by sea and air to open the assault on German-occupied Europe. Later, he watched from a rooftop the mighty airborne armada form up preparatory to winging its way toward France.
Yesterday afternoon, Gen. Eisenhower met a small group of British and American press and radio representatives in his command shack, a plain, bare-walled structure about 20 feet square, with canvas roof and walls of stained pine boards. The general told his audience that the weather had been the biggest Allied headache in the selection of D-Day.
Gen. Eisenhower, slouched in a chair behind his big, tattered desk, talked with the correspondents for nearly two hours. The only sign of the weighty decision on his mind was an occasional tap of his finger for emphasis and the lighting of one cigarette after another.
London, England (AP) –
Gen. Eisenhower is directing the invasion of Western Europe from an advance outpost in England, SHAEF said early today, denying a report broadcast by the Brazzaville radio that the commander had established headquarters on French soil.
Patriot armies put at 8 million
London, England (UP) – (June 6)
The Allies placed on the alert today – ready for action when needed – an underground army estimated at eight million European patriots organized to strike mighty blows for the liberation of their own countries.
A statement broadcast by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against premature uprisings, counseled patience and ordered the patriots to prepare and stand ready for the signal. Reports from underground leaders said that the underground armies were prepared and awaited only the Allies’ signal.
Soon afterward, the first broadcast orders to underground forces since the invasion began went over the air. They advised the peoples of Northern and Western Europe that a new phase of the air offensive had started in which special leaflets would be dropped, perhaps only one hour before attacks were made, warning populations of areas to be raided.
Patriots were ordered to leave towns when such leaflets were dropped and to go into the country, keeping off main roads. All residents within 22 miles of the coast were told to leave this area, taking only what they could carry.