Battle of Normandy

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Follow-On American Units To D-Day Landing

June 7, 2023 by 2 Comments

June 6th saw parts of six US divisions arrive in Normandy. The 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division had been dropped on the Normandy just after midnight while parts of the 1st, 4th, and 29th Infantry Divisions along with two Ranger battalions landed in the early hours of the morning on Omaha and Utah beaches. A beachhead was established on Utah Beach by mid-morning and elements of the 90th Infantry Division began arriving by early afternoon. It took longer to establish a beachhead at Omaha Beach due to heavier resistance with many exits from the beach not opened until almost evening.

The first units ashore or on land have gotten most of the attention in the Battle of Normandy. They rightly deserve this attention as landing on a hostile beach or behind the beaches in the dark of night is a terrifying task. That said, this post will given attention to the follow-on units that arrived in June and July of 1944. Part of my reasoning is that they don’t get this attention and the other part is that my sister-in-law’s father who passed away in April at age 102 was a member of one of these units.

June 7th or D + 1 saw the first of what would be a total of five infantry and two armored divisions arrive in Normandy. That was the 2nd Infantry Division which landed on Omaha Beach. The entire division was ashore by June 12th. They were soon joined on June 9th by the 2nd Armored Division who attacked towards to Cotentin Peninsula. D + 4 saw both the 9th and 30th Infantry Divisions arrive in France with the 9th headed towards Cherbourg and the 30th into the bocage. Two days later the 79th Infantry Division arrived and likewise headed towards Cherbourg. The final two units to arrive in June were the 83rd Infantry Division on the 18th and the 3rd Armored Division on the 23rd. Both of these units fought in the hedgerows or bocage of Normandy and helped with the breakout.

Early July saw both the 8th and 35th Infantry Divisions arrive in France. The 8th was soon in action helping to capture the cities of Brest and Rennes. As July progressed, three armored divisions, the 4th, 5th, and 6th, landed in France and were instrumental in closing the Falaise Gap. The final infantry division to participate in the Battle of Normandy was the 28th Infantry Division which arrived on July 22nd to join Operation Cobra.

Of particular interest to me is the 8th Infantry Division. Walter Driscoll, my sister-in-law’s father, was assigned to 3rd Platoon Mortar Squad, Co. A, 1st Battalion, 121st Regiment, 8th Infantry Division as a PFC. He passed away at the age of 102 on April 1st just short of his 103rd birthday. A native of Massachusetts, he was married for 58 years, raised three daughters (two of whom served as officers in the USAF Nurse Corps), had eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Walter was wounded in action in Normandy and carried the shrapnel in his hand throughout the rest of his life. That shrapnel was recovered after his cremation by the funeral director and presented to the family. He tells the story of how he was wounded in the oral history video below. The French subtitles are due to this being a project of the World War II Veterans Memories located in Normandy.

There are not many of these veterans still alive and that Walter made it to 102 was remarkable in and of itself. We should be grateful that a number of their stories have been captured either in video or audio format. Without that, the human element would be lost and our knowledge of these events would be confined to the history books.

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Time-Lapse Map Of Allied Armies In Normandy

June 14, 2020 by

The above is a time lapse map of the Allied advance in France starting with the Normandy Invasion and then going for the next 87 days. Click on the map to set it in motion.

If you look closely at the 7 second mark, you will see the Falaise Pocket as it closes around a number of German divisions.

The color code is as follows:

  • Black = German
  • Blue = American
  • Orange = British
  • Red = Canadian

I found this on the “map porn” subreddit of Reddit which has a plethora of interesting maps from across the centuries.

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“Embark Upon The Great Crusade”

June 6, 2020 by 1 Comment

Embarking upon a great crusade is how Ike described what the soldiers, sailors, and airmen were about to do on June 5-6, 1944.

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Ike released this statement at 9am British Double Summer Time which would make it 3am in New York and Washington, DC.

At noon, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced to the House of Commons that the invasion of Normandy was well underway and that the Allied Forces had captured Rome on June 4th.

I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place. In this case the liberating assault fell upon the coast of France. An immense armada of upwards of 4,000 ships, together with several thousand smaller craft, crossed the Channel. Massed airborne landings have been successfully effected behind the enemy lines, and landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time. The fire of the shore batteries has been largely quelled. The obstacles that were constructed in the sea have not proved so difficult as was apprehended. The Anglo-American Allies are sustained by about 11,000 firstline aircraft, which can be drawn upon as may be needed for the purposes of the battle. I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details. Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place. It involves tides, wind, waves, visibility, both from the air and the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen.

By 6pm local time, all five invasion beaches – Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword – had beachheads established and troops were starting to move inland.

By 9pm local time, ground troops were starting to link up with paratroopers and glider troops from the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, the British 6th Airborne Division, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, and other smaller units. At the same time, the first reinforcements are starting to arrive from England.

The invasion of France was not without cost. The number of first day casualties is estimated at around 10,000. It has been a challenge to get a precise figure. Many units didn’t file their “morning reports” until days later. Fighting to get off the beach and move inland was of greater importance as one might imagine.

The number of killed in action had previously been put at about 2,500. However, research by the US National D-Day Historical Foundation has provided a much higher and more accurate total.

The number of people killed in the fighting is not known exactly. Accurate record keeping was very difficult under the circumstances. Books often give a figure of 2,500 Allied dead for D-Day. However, research by the US National D-Day Memorial Foundation  has uncovered a more accurate figure of 4,414 Allied personnel killed on D-Day. These include 2,501 from the USA, 1,449 British dead, 391 Canadians and 73 from other Allied countries. Total German losses on D-Day (not just deaths, but also wounded and prisoners of war) are estimated as being between 4,000 and 9,000. Over 100,000 Allied and German troops were killed during the whole of the Battle of Normandy, as well as around 20,000 French civilians, many as a result of Allied bombing.

I look back on D-Day 76 years after the fact and am still amazed how such an operation could not only be organized but succeed. There was no computers, there was no Internet, and operations research was done using slide rules. My graduate degree is in project management and this was the project of all projects.