The Normandy Landings

June 6th 1944 marked the fateful day when two forces of immense size clashed on the beaches of Normandy. The operation, OVERLORD, is known as the largest amphibious assault in history. The Allies would pierce through tough resistance from the Axis forces spread across the North-West border of France. But there were not two armies in this battle, in fact, there were six: America, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, and Poland. ¹

Prelude to Battle

Few places were more idyllic than Normandy, France the May of 1944. Despite heavy miliatary activity. Normandy had not been fought over during the initial invasion of France a few years prior. The agricultural land boasted rich, loamy soils and lush fields with orchards. All soon to be tarnished by the war impending. A site that served as a component to the German Atlantic wall, Normandy's coastline consisted of coastal defences and batteries from the previous year. The troops that manned these structures were largely veterans taken from the Eastern front and fresh recruits. Bunkers, mines, and offshore structures decorated the extent of the Atlantic wall from the Spanish frontier to Denmark and Norway. ^{1, 2}

Each side was shepherded by famously by the leaders General Dwight D. Eisenhower for the Allies and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel for the Axis Powers. Eisenhower was the head of the War Plans Division. Prior to the assault, he drafted the Marshall Memorandum, a plan presented to the White House. The plan proposed two distinct operations: a full-scale invasion of the European continent on April 1st, 1943 by 1.5 million men on 7,000 landing craft. This date would soon face delays due to logistics. The second was a contingency plan to be undertaken in Autumn of 1942 if Russia seemed to collapse or the German position was 'critically weakened'. Experienced from the African campaign, Rommel endlessly travelled around the threatened zones in France to raise the will of his commanders. Certain German forces were positioned in France to provide respite for their attacks in the Eastern front.¹

Interestingly, the beaches of Normandy were not the expected landing destination of the Allied forces according to the Axix Powers. Calais marks the nearest location between the United Kingdom and France across the English Channel. It was here and at Norway that the Germans anticipated the full extent of the attack. The well-known work from Alan Turing and his team of experts in cracking the German Enigma Code ensured that the Allies had the upper hand in terms of espionage tactics. The Double Cross system specialised in converting German spies into double agents and successfully deceived the German opposition. ³

Over the course of May and early June of 1944, 150,000 Allied troops travelled with vehicles in vast columns known as sausages towards the British lands closest to the beaches of Normandy. ⁴ As the German Wehermacht anticipated invasion, Hitler remained in his Alpine residence, confident that the Atlantic Wall would repel any form of barrage. Unanticipated, the sounds of planes humming could be heard throughout the skies above Southern and Central England. Three airborne divisions took flight in over 1,200 aircraft, the American 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, and the British 6th. Landing craft and assault ships numbering nearly 5,000 were escorted by 6 battleships, 4 monitors, 23 cruisers, 104 destroyers, and 152 escort vessels across the English channel on the morning of June 6th, 1944. ⁵ There were five beaches designated as assault areas during the operation. From West to East, they were Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. A different story was told at each of these five iconic locations:

Utah beach saw the American 4th Infantry Division approach on the morning of June 6th. The coastline here was like no other part of the OVERLORD coast, for it was a classic sandy beach. Low-lying terrain behind the sand dunes was flooded at least a mile in width by the Germans. There were distinct dissimilarities between what transpired on Utah and Omaha beach. ^{6, 7, 8}

The American 1st and 29th Infantry Division were destined for Omaha beach. This was noted as one of the more formidable positions along the front, leading to a long and costly six hours. Proceeded by massive naval and aerial bombardment, the attack began half an hour before dawn. The first wave of soldiers in the landing craft were peppered with German machine-gunner fire as soon as the ramps were dropped. The more experienced coxwains from both the US Coast Guard and Royal Navy cut their engines at the right moment to allow the backwash to carry the crafts to the beach. Scenes of pure chaos ensued: 'It was just one big mass of junk, of men and materials.' one officer stated. After a while, nearly 3 hours, explosives and tanks finally breached the defenders line. ^{5, 8}

Close to the ancient Norman city of Caen situated Gold and Juno beach. The British 50th Infantry Division and Canadian 3rd were deployed at Gold and Juno respectively. ^{5, 7} Sword beach lay to the South East, where the British 3rd Infantry Division landed following a deafening naval bombardment. After suffering from sea sickness, troops waded through knee-high water with rifles held above their heads. The casualties, while a definite blow to the Allies, were astonishingly low due to the subterfuge employed in the leadup to the battle. Around 09:00 hours, the Allies along the invasion front secured a tentative foothold. One by one, strongpoints along the defensive line were knocked out. The day was young, and uncertainty remained high amongst the Allies, but the D-Day landings proved to be the pivotal shift in the tide of war. ^{2, 3, 5, 7}

The Irish at D-Day

Despite its neutrality during the Second World War, some of Ireland's citizens fought in the battle amongst the predominantly American, British, and Canadian forces. Some of the Irish soldiers had interesting stories to be told, such as Regimental Sergeant-Major Sean O'Donavan who escapted from a number of prisoner of war camps and fought alongside Italian and Russian partisan resistance groups. Or Sergeant Patrick 'Paddy' Gillen, who came ashore at Sword Beach and connected up with the 7th Parachute Regiment. Paddy and his unit held vital high ground on the west flank of the invasion area for forty-two days. The First World War was barely two decades in the past when the second began. Men would fight in both and, although wearing the uniform of another country, the Irish contributed to the fight for freedom and democracy. ⁸