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JUNE 2019
June 14th at 7:30pm
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75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAYADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
LINDA JOHNSONExecutive Director
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Community Relations Director
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JODI KIMBALLActivity Director
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In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the Allies launched an attack by sea, landing on the beaches of Normandy on the northern coast of Nazi-occupied France. The first day of this major undertaking was known as D-Day; it was the first day of the Battle of Normandy (code-named Operation Overlord) in World War II.On D-day, an armada of approximately 5,000 ships secretly crossed the English Channel and unloaded 156,000 Allied soldiers and nearly 30,000 vehicles in a single day on five, well-defended beaches (Omaha, Utah, Juno, Gold, and Sword). By the end of the day, 2,500 Allied soldiers had been killed and another 6,500 wounded, but the Allies had succeeded, for they had broken through the German defenses and created a second front in World War II.
Although D-Day is famous for being an amphibious operation, it actually started with thousands of brave paratroopers.Under the cover of darkness, the first wave of 180 paratroopers arrived in Normandy. They rode in six gliders that had been pulled and then released by British bombers. Upon landing, the paratroopers grabbed their equipment, left their gliders, and worked as a team to take control of two, very important bridges: the one over the Orne River and the other over the Caen Canal. Control of these would both hinder German reinforcements along these paths as well as enable the Allies access to inland France once they were off the beaches.The second wave of 13,000 paratroopers had a very difficult arrival in Normandy. Flying in approximately 900 C-47 airplanes, the Nazis spotted the planes and started shooting. The planes drifted apart; thus, when the paratroopers jumped, they were scattered far and wide. The scattering of the paratroopers had a benefit for the Allies – it confused the Germans. The Germans did not yet realize that a massive invasion was about to get underway.
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SecrecyThe Allies desperately worried about German reinforcements. An amphibious attack against an entrenched enemy would already be incredibly difficult; however, if the Germans ever found out where and when the invasion was to take place and thus reinforced the area, well, the attack might end disastrously.That was the exact reason for the need of absolute secrecy. To help keep this secret, the Allies launched Operation Fortitude, an intricate plan to deceive the Germans. This plan included false radio signals, double agents, and fake armies that included life-size balloon tanks. Anything and everything was used to deceive the Germans, to make them think that the Allied invasion was to occur somewhere else and not Normandy.
Once a location had been chosen, deciding upon a date was next. There needed to be enough time to collect the supplies and equipment, gather the planes and vehicles, and train the soldiers. This whole process would take a year. The specific date also depended on the timing of low tide and a full moon. All of this led to a specific day – June 5, 1944.Rather than continually refer to the actual date, the military used the term “D-Day” for the day of attack. According to the U.S. military, “D-Day” was an Army designation used to indicate the start date for specific field operations. In this case, the “D” in D-Day doesn’t actually stand for anything—it’s merely an alliterative placeholder used to designate a particular day on the calendar.
The youngest D-Day vets are in their middle-90s; a few more years will find the last of them
gone from us.
The D-Day invasion took Months of PlanningAllied leaders Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill knew from the start of the war that a massive invasion of mainland Europe would be critical to relieve pressure from the Soviet army fighting the Nazis in the east. Initially, a plan called “Operation Sledgehammer” called for an Allied invasion of ports in northwest France as early as 1943, but Roosevelt and Churchill decided to invade Northern Africa first and attack Europe’s “soft underbelly” through Italy. This plan was called “Operation Overlord.”
Anna Moss 6/02Robert Wilhoyte 6/12Helen Weinkauf 6/17BJ May 6/20
S W O R D Z K V R O M L Q H L
Y R T N A F N I E L O H X O F
J U T Z C Y D N A M R O N D O
C O M A H A A S D O W H O Z Z
T I O P E R A T I O N Z X Q R
E L G U I D R O L R E V O C P
M V E R E P O O R T A R A P M
I I R V J W B B Q Q Y Q U K Z
L N M H E C A I R B O R N E Z
I V A C P S J U N O U T A H G
T A N A B E O O A L L I E S O
A S Y E Z Z L O J I B Y Q T L
R I J B L U N Q R G S I R S D
Y O Y Z S U O I B I H P M A Z
P N G O M R E W O H N E S I E
NormandyOperationOverlordAlliesGermanyMilitaryAmphibiousInfantryParatrooperAirborne
BeachUtah
OmahaGoldJuno
SwordInvasion
RooseveltEisenhower
Foxhole
Brigadier General Roosevelt, at 56, was the oldest man and only general in the first wave to storm the beaches of Normandy. In addition he was the only father to serve with his son on D-Day. His son Capt. Quentin Roosevelt II landed at Omaha beach.
Toledo During World War IIWhen World War II began, Toledo was ready. In June of 1940, nearly a year before the United States entered the war, the Toledo Board of Education began to emphasize vocational
programs for high school students in an effort to ensure that Toledo plants would receive defense contracts. Their efforts (and Toledo's already present industrial base) paid off when, during the summer of 1940, Toledo industries began to receive defense contracts. In July 1940 the E.W. Bliss company, parent of the Toledo Machine and Tool Company, announced a $9.5 million dollar contract about the same time Willys-Overland announced a $25 million dollar contract. In all, Toledo received over $900 million dollars in defense orders, enough to put employment figures at the highest they'd been since 1929. Many plants, including Acklin, went to 24 hour, 7 day a week production.With many men going to war, women began going to work by the thousands. In 1942 the first nursery opened in Toledo in order to meet the demands of mothers working in the factories. These women didn’t only work in factories however, in fact they filled a variety of positions from auto-mechanics and bus drivers to freight handlers for the Railway Express Agency.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower pulled few punches while addressing his troops ahead of the massive Allied invasion of France. The “German war machine,” he said, was fierce, well-trained, well-equipped and capable of fighting “savagely” — but not as strong as it once was.“Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men,” Eisenhower said. “The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!”"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, you are
about to embark upon the Great Crusade, towards which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and
prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."
D-Day 6th June 1944 Timeline00:00 – First airborne troops land06:20 – Allied landing craft approach the beach06:30 – Landings start on Utah and Omaha Beach06:45 – US Rangers attack Pointe du Hoc07:25 – British 3rd Division land on Sword beach07:35 – British 50th Division land on Gold beach08:00 – Canadian 3rd Division land on Juno Beach
A Weather DelayAll was set for D-Day being on June 5, even the equipment and soldiers had already been loaded onto the ships. Then, the weather changed. A massive storm hit, with 45-mile an-hour wind gusts and lots of rain.After much contemplation, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, postponed D-Day just one day. Any longer of a postponement and the low tides and full moon wouldn’t be right and they’d have to wait another whole month. Also, it was uncertain they could keep the invasion secret for that much longer. The invasion would begin on June 6, 1944.Due to the poor conditions, the Germans believed that no invasion would occur in early June. As a result, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel returned to Germany to attend a birthday party for his wife and many officers left their units to attend war games at Rennes.
Success!The Allies had been able to keep the invasion a surprise and, with Hitler believing the landings at Normandy were a ruse for a real landing at Calais, the Germans never reinforced their position. After initial heavy fighting along the beaches, the Allied troops were able to secure their landings and break through German defenses to enter the interior of France. The success of D-Day was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. By the end of August 1944, the Allies had reached the Seine River, Paris was liberated and the Germans had been removed from northwestern France, effectively concluding the Battle of Normandy. The Normandy invasion began to turn the tide against the Nazis. A significant psychological blow, it prevented Hitler from sending troops from France to build up his Eastern Front against the advancing Soviets.
