6th of June 1944
 

72 years ago today, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s troops.

I think it's a good thing to remember today all the people who came across the ocean to fight for a better World.

I'm reading an excellent book drawn from the British war diaries on the Normandy invasion.

Normandy 1944 The Road to Victory

This book's detail discusses not only the landings, but also the weeks that followed as the Allies consolidated, battled German tank corps and infantry and then fought their way to Paris.

Today, we tend to forget that none of this was a "sure thing" in 1944, and that there was always the very real possibility of Rommel and von Rundstadt driving the Allies back into the sea like a second Dunkirk.

Our fathers and grandfathers took this land one hill and valley, one bridge and river, one house and town at a time.

They make any mention of "great" and "greatest" about today's world seem trivial in comparison.

Marc

I agree 100%
I remember that when I was a child on tv they used to show WWII videos and films quite often, but I'm sure that if now we ask a teenager some questions about WWII we'd probably receive just puzzled looks... :grr:

A friend sent me this description of the scale of the operation, which is almost incomprehensible:

Saved it. Thanks!

Also my mom's 22nd birthday. My brother was busy being born while Pearl Harbor was attacked.