July 4, 2019 ▸ History, War & Conflict

Episode 400: D-Day: “The Beginning of the End”

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On this 400^th episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the largest invasion effort in all of human warfare, the “Day of Days,” D-Day. On June 6th, 1944, the allied armies made a bold move to finally break Hitler’s Europe and establish a foothold on the continent as part of Operation Overlord. D-Day (also called Operation Neptune) took two years of planning, and what went into the effort is absolutely amazing. The scale of this battle, the lives lost, the missions flown, all of it boggles the modern mind since it is a type of warfare that no longer exists.

Before the allies could invade, they had to do a lot of spy work to fool the Nazis into thinking that the invasion was coming somewhere else (the beaches of Pas de Calais) later in the summer (July instead of June). They did this with the help of a Spanish spy name Garbo as well as an inflatable fake American Army, and some James Bond type MI5 spy work getting rid of all the spies in London. The Brits came through again with their work code breaking at Bletchley Park with Alan Turing. Once this happened, the allies trained and also convinced the Germans they were training for totally different things.

Eventually, the day arrived. There was a bout of weather so bad that Field Marshal Rommel left for Germany since nobody could attack in such a storm. But attack we did. General Eisenhower said we were a go, the next day a force of 3,000 troop transports, 2,500 small ships, and 500 major naval vessels headed across the British Channel. Roughly 160,00 troops from several nations made to Normandy beach that day, but it was far from easy.

Several beaches were attacked, each with its own code name. Utah and Omaha were American, and Juno, Gold, and Sword were Canadian. Omaha was the worst, and 2000 died within hours.

The invasion was ultimately a success, but a hard won success. The bombers missed a lot of their targets, making the beaches more robust than anyone thought. The storms sank a lot of US tanks before they could get to shore. The 101st Airborne was scattered all over the place, and even sea sickness hindered a lot of troops. This was the greatest day of the Greatest Generation, one reflected in song and film and TV shows. The men who died on that beach were truly heroes in a world where such things are lacking.

Please take the time to watch these short videos as survivors tell their accounts of this monstrous day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP_Xdc6Oj90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilbf0Q56pf8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCv5qCyO8uM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1HaaPRG3jk