D-Day Facts

[Pete123]

1. The allies suffered far fewer casualties than expected.  Two big reasons:
   1. We fooled them into thinking we were going to invade elsewhere.  Allies put up a massive force of inflatable tanks, planes etc...  We had a double agent in France, who convinced the Germans that the invasion would not be Normandy.
   2. That was the worst weather in years that summer. The Allies had weather stations in the North Atlantic and toward the US that the Germans didn't have access to.  Because of this we knew there would be a lull in the bad weather, which is why Eisenhauer made the call.  Rommel was back home celebrating his wife's Bday as he didn't think we could land.  The Germans didn't believe their own troops when they radio'd that the invasion was happening.
   3. Omaha Beach had the worst casualties, about 2000.  The death rate was 50-50 for the first wave of soldiers, after that it wasn't too bad.  Contrast that with the battle for Stalingrad, where the average death rate was 12,000 soldiers per day - and that was a six month battle.
2. Unrelated to D-Day, one of the most dangerous jobs for Americans was being on a bomber crew flying from England to Germany.  70% death rate for our guys in that role.

 

Edited June 13, 2016 by Pete123

[WindHawk]

Very true about the bomber crews.  I had an uncle who was a radar-navigator in the 379th Bomb Group.  He flew 21 combat missions between Oct '44-Apr '45; 20 were over Germany; Berlin twice, Mannheim, Cologne, Hanover and several other cities.  As a radar navigator, 18 missions were with the 526th Squadron lead crews.  He said that, except for their next to last mission in April '45 to Bordeaux-Royayl (France) which he called a "milk run", they returned with a flak damaged plane every time. 

Some of his more interesting stories involved the German's ME-262 jet fighter.  He said they were deadly and when you saw one attacking your formation a bomber was going down. The only thing you could do was hope he didn't pick your plane.

All the men and women that fought WWII have my greatest admiration and appreciation.  I'm not sure we could again do it today.

 

[Taylor]

"The Greatest Generation" title was earned and deserved.  I don't think most people today realize the size and scope of WW2. Today's military actions are a drop in the bucket compared WW2. 

[Major Kong]

2 hours ago, Taylor said:

"The Greatest Generation" title was earned and deserved.  I don't think most people today realize the size and scope of WW2. Today's military actions are a drop in the bucket compared WW2. 

Absolutely, I'm in Germany right now and spent the day yesterday in Bastogne touring the WW2 museum and memorial. It's amazing the sacrifices made by that generation and the lasting gratitude from the people of Belgium.