Today, June 6, is the 72nd anniversary of the Normandy landings. See the Wikipedia article for an overview. Arthur Seltzer, who was there, describes his experiences.
Don Sensing points out that success was by no means assured: the pivot day of history.
Two earlier Photon Courier posts: before D-day, there was Dieppe and transmission ends.
See Bookworm’s post from 2012, and Michael Kennedy’s photos from 2007
A collection of D-day color photos from Life Magazine
Neptunus Lex: The liberation of France started when each, individual man on those landing craft as the ramp came down each paratroop in his transport when the light turned green made the individual decision to step off with the only life he had and face the fire.
The Battle of Midway took place from June 4 through June 7, 1942. Bookworm attended a Battle of Midway commemoration event in 2010 and also in 2011: Our Navy–a sentimental service in a cynical society.
See also Sgt Mom’s History Friday post from 2014.
General Electric remembers the factory workers at home who made victory possible. Also, women building airplanes during WWII, in color and the story of the Willow Run bomber plant.
Also, a very interesting piece on the radio news coverage of the invasion
Thanks.
We should notice that this was the last war the Left considered a good and worthwhile war. For example, It’s the only war where Hollywood portrays American troops and the goals in a positive light. I assume it’s because that’s the one war where the capital of their ideology, the USSR, was under attack.
“success was by no means assured”
Had it not worked Stalin would’ve sued for peace quicker than you can say Molotov–Ribbentrop Part II.
While the Russians were doing fine running around in circles in the Pontic Steppe, the Red Army was dealt a serious blow when they were stuffed cold and defeated in the Baltics. The Soviet infatuation with envelopment too often allowed the Wehrmacht to squirt out to more defensible positions. Only after Hitler was forced to pull his best units out to fight the real war in France did the Red Army finally start progressing on their invasion and takeover of Central Europe.
“Well gentlemen, if we can’t capture a port, we must take one with us”
The critical importance of the Mulberry Harbors