The Tide Has Turned: An 80th Anniversary Tribute to D-Day
“Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force. You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”
Thus begins General Dwight D. Eisenhower's famous pre-invasion statement to the Allied Expeditionary Force. And though victory was an uncertainty upon its deliverance, Eisenhower and the entire world knew the future of democracy was at stake. Bringing an end to Axis tyranny depended on our faith in and the bravery and sacrifice of more than 160,000 Allied soldiers on the beaches of Normandy during one fateful day in June 1944.
These warriors were the last line of defense against those who threatened democracy.
“They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.” — President Franklin D. Roosevelt
80 years later, D-Day remains one of the most significant events in world history. The largest amphibious invasion mankind had ever witnessed, Operation Overlord’s swift and bloody advancement on a lonely 60-mile stretch of beach along the French coastline of Normandy in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944 commenced from land, sea and air across five divided beachheads. Combining coordinated efforts and manpower from more than a dozen Allied countries, it was an unprecedented feat of courage and valor as 160,000 Allied soldiers stormed the Normandy coastlines of Northern France to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation.
“These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.” — President Ronald Reagan
In the British and Canadian sector, 83,115 troops and nearly 8,000 airborne paratroopers were landed on the Gold, Juno and Sword beachheads, each facing opposition from German coastal defenses commanded by Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt and General Johannes Blaskowitz. On the beachheads of Omaha and Utah, 57,500 American troops faced unrelenting opposition from German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s 352nd Infantry Division. Heavily armed with Maschinengewehr (MG) 42V machine guns and fortified high in the bluffs within immense and deeply embedded gun emplacements, German troops were ordered to resist the Allied landings at all cost. Retreat was not an option and these German soldiers were directed to die at their posts in a valiant effort they knew would do nothing except slow down the inevitable invasion.
Another 15,500 American paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, dropped out of more than 830 Douglas C-47 Skytrain carriers behind enemy lines under cover of predawn darkness, serving as vanguard for inland Allied operations. Their task was to disrupt German defense lines, capture the coastal cities of Cherbourg and Sainte-Mère-Église (both serving as Allied supply ports), blockade local causeways German infantry could possibly use as escape routes, and, most important, establish crossings over the Douve River in the town of Carentan to ultimately unite the U.S. V Corps, currently separated on the Utah and Omaha beachheads.
As Germany’s fortifications were weakened by the successful troop advancements and constant bombardment from the sea by an armada of British warships, the Allies ultimately prevailed. The victory, however, was not without cost as 4,413 Allied soldiers perished on D-Day — including 2,499 Americans — before the Allied advancement rallied and the torrent of battle shifted in their favor.
June 6, 1944 will forever stand as a solemn and enduring testament to individual acts of heroism and sacrifice, one that transformed daunting uncertainty into decisive victory.
The heroes of D-Day were ordinary citizens from ordinary lives, each thrust into a World War that threatened the very foundations and values they were raised to believe and fight for at all cost. They were the brave men and women — soldiers, nurses, pilots, spies, codebreakers, war correspondents and other critical roles — each serving their country selflessly for what they believed in. Freedom for one, for all. Forever.
And right now, on this 80th anniversary of one of the watershed events of the 20th century, we salute not only their heroism and courage, but also their grand sacrifice.
The chronicles of history shall never forget that fateful day of days.
