We now assume that our victory over the Nazis in this invasion of France was inevitable, but like many military battles, the battle could have gone either way. How were the Allies able to land enough troops and tanks, plus sufficient food, water, gasoline, and ammunition, on the Normandy beaches to overwhelm the German forces and push forward, first to Paris, and then to Germany itself? Why were the Allied forces not thrown back into the sea?
YouTube video for this blog: https://youtu.be/eg-sokYmr48
The historian William Manchester tells us that “Hitler’s intuition had told him from the first that the landings would come in Normandy. Then he listened to his advisors and changed his mind.” They advised him that the Allies would land in Calais in Northern France, which was a short distance from Dover in England. “The main force will land near Calais; Normandy was just a feint.”
How did the Allies deceive the Germans? They feared General George Patton most, so they put him in charge of a phantom army of inflatable tanks and wooden ships, painted steel-grey, with lots of radio chatter in Dover, prompting the Germans to post their Panzer divisions near Calais, waiting for the main invasion. Plus, the British compromised the entire German spy network in England, confirming that the main invasion force would come from Calais.
Double Agent Garbo: The Ordinary Person Who Played a Major Role in Defeating Nazi
https://youtu.be/-ccnaGxrAWA
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/double-agent-garbo-the-ordinary-person-who-played-a-major-role-in-defeating-nazi/
The Normandy invasion was originally scheduled for June 5, 1944, but the weather was windy, rainy, and horrible. The Germans expected the bad weather to continue. However, the American meteorologists, based on weather observations west of Europe that Nazis could not access, predicted that there would be a break in the weather. Surprising the Germans, D-Day commenced before daybreak on June 6, 1944.
On the evening of June 6, 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the hundreds of millions of Americans listening on the radio:
“My fellow Americans:” At this “moment, troops of the United States and our allies are crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with 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 by 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 good will 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 arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.”
“Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.”
Why were the landings successful? William Manchester explains: “Much has been made of the rough weather, and how it hampered landing operations. It was really a blessing. Because the weather was poor, key German officers were absent from the headquarters when the blow fell. Rommel, the most gifted of Hitler’s field marshals, had taken the day off to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Ten highly mobile panzer tank divisions were available to throw the invaders back into the Channel.”
“On D-Day, only one of the panzer tank divisions saw combat. Even so, it broke the British line at Caen and drove through to the beach. That force was too small,” but other military historians speculate that “the Allied footholds could have been dislodged before they were joined up and consolidated” had they faced more panzers.”
“If Rommel had not been so faithful a husband, he would have remained in France, and the Allies might have been liquidated.”[1]
We quoted some passages in FDR’s prayer for the Allied soldiers in our reflection on FDR’s First Inaugural Address and St John Climacus’ discussion of Fear & Cowardice in Rung 21 of his Ladder of Divine Ascent, but we feel that FDR’s prayer is worth reading in its entirety.
FDR’s First Inaugural Address and St John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, on Fear & Cowardice, Step 21
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/fdrs-first-inaugural-address-and-st-john-climacus-ladder-of-divine-ascent-on-fear-cowardice-step-21/
DISCUSSING THE SOURCES
I read William Manchester’s Glory and the Dream many decades ago, and I remember his superb painting of the struggles many Americans faced during the Great Depression, and later when fighting the Second World War. This history reads like a novel, Manchester is a superb writer, a master craftsman.
[1] William Manchester, The Glory and The Dream, A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972 (New York: Bantam Books, 1973, 1975), Chapter 1, The Cruelest Year, p. 331 and https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/prayer-d-day
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