Wednesday, June 06, 2007

13 Facts Concerning the D-Day Invasion

Today is the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, so I thought it would be appropriate to remember those who took part in the amazing invasion.

1. Many disagree about the meaning for the letter D. What did it stand for? Why was it used? U.S. Army manuals dating as far back as WWI used the terms H-Hour and D-Day to indicate the time/date of an operation’s start.

2. The military also used the code name Operation Overlord to refer to the movement of men, planes, ships, supplies, and equipment across the English Channel along a beach front that stretched over 60 miles.

3. Approximately 5,000 vessels transported 150,000 men and 30,000 vehicles across the English Channel.

4. Six parachute regiments including 13,000 men were transported in over 800 planes.

5. Approximately 300 planes dropped bombs along the coast of Normandy immediately before the invasion began.

6. June 5, 1944 was the designated day, but poor weather held the invasion off.

7. Over 7,500 sorties (missions) were made across the channel on June 6, 1944.

8. War planners projected 5,000 tons of gasoline would be needed daily for the first 20 days after the initial invasion

9. Planners also projected 3,489 tons of soap would be needed for the first four months after the invasion.

10. By the time dusk fell on the evening of June 6th more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were dead and wounded. 100,000 soldiers had made it ashore.

11. Within weeks supplies were unloaded at UTAH and OMAHA beaches at the rate of 20,000 tons per day.

12. From D-Day through Christmas, 1944 over 30,000 Germans were captured and sent to American prisoner-of-war camps. Many POW camps were located in the United States….33 detention facilities were located in Texas.

13. FDR offered a prayer regarding the invasion in a radio address to the nation. Michael over at American Presidents Blog has posted the entire speech. It is very inspiring to read. He’s also posted a video from You Tube that has the actual audio from the speech with various pictures from the invasion. (Once the video is activated you might see some images at the bottom of the video screen…leave your cursor off the images or the video will switch and you will be watching something else.)

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16 comments:

Special K ~Toni said...

I almost did this! You did better than I would have! Thanks for reminding people! Mine is up at Being An Air Force Wife

Anonymous said...

Thanks for keeping this important moment in history alive for all of us.

My list is up too: 13 phobias.

Anonymous said...

GREAT list.

Mine's up.

Unknown said...

great list..thanks for the information

Crimson Wife said...

My grandfather was part of the invasion of Normandy but fortunately he didn't have to go until the 2nd day. If he had gone on D-Day, there's a good chance that my mom wouldn't have ever been born.

We all owe a debt of gratitude to the brave soldiers who fought and died to liberate Europe from the Nazis!

DigiscrapMom said...

Thanks for some a great review of history lessons. Loved your post this week!

Happy Thursday!

Sparky Duck said...

This was a great post, since this is a day that is so easily forgotten.

Anonymous said...

I was blessed enough to go to Normandy in 2004 (60th anniversary) and spend three days going from St. Mere Eglise all the way northeast to Pegasus Bridge. Unfortunately, I wasn't there in June 04 (I was there in Oct 04). Met a lot of veterans there and even guys who jumped into Normandy with the 101st and 82nd. (I was an Airborne trooper in the Army).

Anyway, what an awesome place. As a retired Army veteran it was the best place I've ever been, and I've been to a lot of countries and touristy spots.

I managed to bring back some sand and rocks from the beaches. It was the most moving experience being there. St. Mere Eglise, Pointe du Hoc, Pegasus Bridge, etc, etc, etc

D-Day is still used today in military operations. Additionally, H-Hour was used as well.

Operations Overlord was the main operation. There were many, many other operations that supported it and were "subordinate" to it. For example Operation Fortitude was the deception operation the Allies set up with Patton "in charge of." It deceived the Nazis into believing there were many more allied troops then there were and that the location of the attack would be further north.

Great bits of information though.

EHT said...

Thanks for visiting everyone.

Eric, thanks so much for the extra details. I had forgotten about the decoy operation Patton was in charge of....He was quite a character.

My uncle was in the first wave of gliders that went in and I really intended on giving his story on this anniversary, but I didn't have it ready and I didn't want to hurry it....it would disrespect his memory and the memory of all the men to not tell the entire story. I'm going to make sure I have it ready for next year.

Anonymous said...

you got these from pbs

EHT said...

I use many different sources to verify my facts for my postings here. If the facts I post can be found in more than three sources I rarely cite them.

What exactly is your point?

"Y"ou got these from "PBS""."

Anonymous said...

Hi everone i am in 8th grade and i thought this stuff was very informational!!!

Even if it was from pbs!!!

Anonymous said...

i am in 8th grade like i said and i am going to be using this information for my National History Day project.

Nice list!!!
Very informational!!

Anonymous said...

wow this stuff is cool

VERY INFORMATIONAL!!!

Anonymous said...

it's sad to think that some day people will deny the fact that the holocaust and World War II happened. Thanks for keeping it alive because if we forget it will happen again because history will repeat itself if we don't learn from our past mistakes.

From:
8th grade student

Anonymous said...

Thx for the facts