D Day 6th June 1944

[rocker959]

We must never forget the brave men who fought on this day from many nations for our freedom. There would maybe be no BHAFC history let alone the much , much broader history of our country. Remember them. This was no XBOX or playstation game.


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[Lady Whistledown]

Saw Saving Private Ryan again the other day. I know it's a movie, but given the facts about the casualty levels on D-Day, it must depict a fair degree of realism in terms of the utter carnage on those beaches.

 

[Coleby1007]

Saw Saving Private Ryan again the other day. I know it's a movie, but given the facts about the casualty levels on D-Day, it must depict a fair degree of realism in terms of the utter carnage on those beaches.

Was about to post something similar. Amazing film!

 

[Tricky Dicky]

It may be because I'm getting older, but I come to appreciate what these people did more and more. Whenever I see these documentaries about D-Day I am amazed at the levels of courage and bravery shown - even if they had little choice.

The other day, we had a thread on here about peoples' heros - I don't really do heros, but these guys & gals would do it for me.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

'We knew we were building up to invade Europe. We had lots of weapons training and also manoeuvres where we would charge out of landing craft and up beaches. Eventually we were stationed just outside Southampton. We used to regularly get off trucks and march through the centre of the city, down to the docks to board our liberty ship, the HMS Empire Spearhead. Then we'd be off on exercise again. We did that for months.

Then, a full week before D-Day, we were shown detailed plans of our objectives and immediately sent to the docks in darkness under covered lorries straight onto the ship. No marching through town, we just knew this was it. We set sail and they kept us at sea for a week, tucked away near the Isle of Wight. We were all apprehensive. We came off the liberty ship at about 5.30am and lowered ourselves into landing craft. It took two hours for the landing craft to reach shore. As soon as the German positions could see us they started opening up with everything they had. We were lucky. Ours wasn't hit, but I know others were hit with all aboard killed.

We hit the beach at 7.25am. Off the platform, it was chest deep in water. I got onto the beach and all hell was let loose. Machine gun fire, mortars, small arms and artillery all raked the whole beach. Once I'd got some cover I had to start running around again to deliver messages to the various platoons. We were pinned down on the beach for about an hour and we were losing men at about two a minute. We were out of position and needed to get ourselves together to attack our first pillbox objective.

I ran, zig-zagging between the units, delivering a message that must have been the order to move at a set time because at one point we all got up and charged. The pillbox position was knocked out and we made it through the other defences and off the beach.

I think it must have been about 6pm in the evening after a full day of fighting when we actually managed to dig in a slit trench to sleep in for the night. We were all completely exhausted. D-Day was over.'

 

[strings]

I went to Normandy a few years back. Although some of the places have changed, it is still clear that the beaches were a leathal place to be on that morning, with the German pill boxes at the top and a long unprotected climb to reletive safety at the top of the beach.

As well as the troops on the beaches, it is also worth remembering the glider-boune troops - such as the ones at Pegasus bridge - that suffered the first fatality of D-Day on French soil and the paras that jumped behind enemy lines. Also remember the Naval and Air Force casualties

A day well worth remembering.

 

[The Hon Sec]

I suspect a lot of us had family members who were involved and they deserve so much respect. My father never spoke to me about it.

Had a short holiday last spring touring some of the sites with my son.

 

[Hillian1]

My Grandfather landed on Sword beach in the assault wave, he rarely spoke about it.

After watching "Saving Private Ryan" i understood why, although this was set on Omaha beach i suspect it was similar.

Anyway, jumping out of a landing craft in full battle dress, carrying 60 pounds of kit, running up a beach with people shooting at you is something i hope never to expeience.

They have my deepest respect.

 

[rocker959]

Thanks for posting edna.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

 

[8ace]

My Grandfather landed on Sword beach in the assault wave, he rarely spoke about it.

After watching "Saving Private Ryan" i understood why, although this was set on Omaha beach i suspect it was similar.

Anyway, jumping out of a landing craft in full battle dress, carrying 60 pounds of kit, running up a beach with people shooting at you is something i hope never to expeience.

They have my deepest respect.

Sword Beach:

 

[Hillian1]

Sword Beach:

View attachment 25141

Thanks for that.

I asked him once if he wanted me to take him to Normandy,, he said "No". when I asked him why he just replied "I killed men and I'm not proud of that"

 

[Surrey Seagull]

Saving Private Ryan was a great film but historically (even the beach landing scenes) were total garbage. The only thing Spielberg got right was the supreme effort the American soldiers made at Omaha beach (and it was a supreme effort!)...oh and the fact it was on a beach. He managed to ignore any historical facts concerning the overwhelming failure in American command and organistation but found time to slag off the British.

Whilst we're remembering the brave soldiers on Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword and Juno. I'd like to pay tribute to the Colonel Otway and the British paratroopers that night who took out the Merville battery. Not only did they attack the battery with less than a quarter of the 600 plus soldiers who were briefed to attack but they also had to clear a minefield without most of their mine clearing equipment...they actually had to mark the route through the minefield scraping the heels of the boots along the route as even the white mine tape was missing!

If you've never been to the Normandy beaches and landing areas...it's well worth doing so.

 

[8ace]

If you go to the Imperial War Museum in London there is whole room about D-Day, I didn't get a chance to look at it properly when I last went as there were too many foreign students standing about in the way and pissing me off.

 

[User removed 4]

Saving Private Ryan was a great film but historically (even the beach landing scenes) were total garbage. The only thing Spielberg got right was the supreme effort the American soldiers made at Omaha beach (and it was a supreme effort!)...oh and the fact it was on a beach. He managed to ignore any historical facts concerning the overwhelming failure in American command and organistation but found time to slag off the British.

Dont want to start a binfest, but where/how did he slag off the british ? People complain about american films ignoring british efforts etc, but i think its natural that if a film is being made about the war, with american backing etc, its going to concentrate on the american involvement.

 

[Hillian1]

Dont want to start a binfest, but where/how did he slag off the british ? People complain about american films ignoring british efforts etc, but i think its natural that if a film is being made about the war, with american backing etc, its going to concentrate on the american involvement.

To be fair, there was a reference to Monty's inability to take Caen and holding up the advace into France. Although maybe not neccesary it was accurate. there is another school of thought however that the British troops were being used, sacrificed if you will, to tie up German troops in order for the Americans to re-organise.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Omaha Beach was a disaster for a whole number of reasons starting with one of the naval commanders not getting close enough before releasing the floating DD tanks almost all of which that should have gone up Omaha Beach first sank. The Americans also rejected the range of 'Hobart's Funnies' tanks, all with crazy attachments designed to clear mines, barbed wire and barriers. A wave of rockets that were meant to blow creators on the beach to act as fox holes for the troops also failed, on Omaha these all fell short and landed in the sea.

As I've got older I've come to appreciate more what really went on, and read a lot more about it than I ever did. The unbelievable sacrifice is difficult to comprehend, but also how small errors can have such catastrophic consequences.

As for Saving Private Ryan, would agree with Surrey Seagull, for starters the tide was out and the beach was probably twice if not 3 times the distance shown in the film.

 

[Surrey Seagull]

Buahy, what most people aren't aware of is the fact that there was a special screening just for D-day veterans months before the film was released. After the very short scene, Spielberg saw how upset the British and Canadian veterans were about the scene and promised to delete it. Somehow that scene still made it into the film.
I couldn't care less that the film makes no reference to the British and Canadian efforts that day, afterall it's an American film about American soldiers...that's fine by me. What upsets me is the fact it's upset our veterans for no reason whatsoever. Can you imagine the uproar if we produced a film about D-day and then had a go about the American commanders' decisions?
I've been to Omaha beach at low tide and let me tell you what the American soldiers did that day was nothing short of a miracle.

Just to let you know, I had the honour last year of laying a wreath at the American cemetery you see in the film.

 

[Albion 4ever]

Saw Saving Private Ryan again the other day. I know it's a movie, but given the facts about the casualty levels on D-Day, it must depict a fair degree of realism in terms of the utter carnage on those beaches.

Having recently been on a Battlefield Tour of Normandy, they reckon that less than 2,000 soldiers were killed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. Whilst it was a terrible sacrifice, SPR exagerates the carnage substantially. For a comparison approx 4,000 soldiers were killed taking Caen.

 

[The Hon Sec]

Wasnt it the case that the British and Canadians were used to attract and hold in place a significant part of the German forces whilst enabling the Americans to breakout in the west and pivot south and east?