June 6 1944 6:30, north coast of France, the begining of the end of WW2, operation Overlord is launched. Tomorrow is the 60 anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, the 60 aniversary of a day which made history as the largest land invasion in history, the day that over 2500 men lost there lives. Not everyone knows the remaining 4 beaches, Gold, Juno, Utah and Sword. But everyone knows Omaha, the most bloody of the beaches, where couragious men made that 300yard dash across the beach towards cover, many did'nt make it. All those that participated in the invasion are heros, hats of gents.
Thank you for posting that. There are quite a few of my family that are in the military service and a few who served in World War II. Always remember just what that war was fought for. And, I hope that that memory can be a testament for mankind's greatest and worst attributes.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
I'm very passionate about this event. So much bravery was involved with the whole operation, we should honour everyone who was part of it! Looking at the images on tv today, where they were having the parade was where i was a few years ago. I just wish i could have been there today to commemorate it. If you havent been to the graves over in normandy u should as its one of the most awesome sites ive ever seen. The rows upon rows of crosses, each representing one fallen man, is absolutly amazing.
I second this, I am very interested in all the events of that war. Having been to Arramaches, i also wish i could have been tehre today, makes you proud to be British that all these men gave up there lives so that we could be here today. The pardades were pretty spectuacular, as it will undoubtedly be the last even of its kind becuase of the ageing of the veterens. The graveyards in Normandy are quite unreal, but do not have the impact of the First World War graveyards i have visted, which are huge. I think its a great shame that we are forgetting about this even, it was after all ONLY 60 years ago, and yet we (or I certainly) didnt get taught a thing about it at school. We should learn from the great sacrifice these men laid down, they gave their lives so that we could live in a peacefull and untroubled world, yet we seem to have forgoten all this already. To quote someone (i forget exactly who) present at the signing of the Treaty of Versailes (the war to end all wars...) "I fear this is not the end, but it may be as soon as 20years before we need another war to sort all this out". His guess was only 40days out, for 20years and 40days later the Second World war began. Only makes you wonder about the world today. Another peice of my useless history knowledge there, but i think its all soemthing we should consider, did, or should these men have died in vain if we let all the troubles in the world today develop further? Dont forget, tehy died for peace and we seem to be forgeting that.
Indeed. We shouldn't forget the other nationalities that gave their lives too. There were Americans, French, British, and no doubt others too. In fact, spare a thought for all the lives that have been lost to war and violence. Sam
You forgot Germans, alot of them fought and died for something they were propagandised into beliveing, but something they belived in never the less (admittign obvious execptions of course). In my mind they were just as honourable as any of the other troops there, and if you talk to British troops, like some of the ones that are in my familly they will say just the same. I agree we should spare a thought for all of the lives lost to war.
Sword beach: Brittish 3rd division (light casualties) Juno beach: Canadian 3rd Infantry division & 2nd armoured brigade (heavy casualties) Gold beach: Brittish 50th division & 8th armoured brigade (heavy casualties) Omaha beach: US V corps (1st infantry & 29th infantry divisions) (massive casualties - it's said that only 1 in 15 soldires made it with >4000 dead) Utah beach: US VII corps (4th infantry & others) (lightest casualties) Supporting roles: Painte du Hoc: US 2nd Rangers Vierville: US 101st Airborne Sainte-M glise: US 82nd Airborne Gold beach west flank: No. 47 Commando Pegasus bridge: Brittish 6th airborne Ouistreham: No.4 Commando & various French troops I'm sort of a WWII history buff Anyone else here see the specials on the Discovery Channel and History Channel last night? Amazing stuff.. EDIT:: Thought everyone here might be interested in these figures. They list the numbers of casualties by country... Code: Country Military Civilian Total Soviet Union* 8,668,000 16,900,000 25,568,000 China 1,324,000 10,000,000 11,324,000 Germany 3,250,000 3,810,000 7,060,000 Poland 850,000 6,000,000 6,850,000 Japan 1,506,000 300,000 1,806,000 Yugoslavia 300,000 1,400,000 1,700,000 Rumania* 520,000 465,000 985,000 France* 340,000 470,000 810,000 Hungary* 750,000 Austria 380,000 145,000 525,000 Greece* 520,000 Italy 330,000 80,000 410,000 Czechoslovakia 400,000 Great Britain 326,000 62,000 388,000 USA 295,000 295,000 Holland 14,000 236,000 250,000 Belgium 10,000 75,000 85,000 Finland 79,000 79,000 Canada 42,000 42,000 India 36,000 *** 36,000 Australia 29,000 29,000 Spain** 12,000 10,000 22,000 Bulgaria 19,000 2,000 21,000 New Zealand 12,000 12,000 South Africa 9,000 9,000 Norway 5,000 5,000 Denmark 4,000 4,000 Grand total: ~61,000,000 lives lost
Whats even more scary is the idea that those figures are not entirely accurate, nobody *really* knows how many people died. Estimates range from around the 48Million mark up to 61-2 Million from what I can see on Google.
Sorry -- the *'s are an average from 3 different sources which were quite different. The *** doesn't take into account the 3,000,000 people in India who died of famine in '43 because of the war.
3,393 Soldiers lost there lives at "Bloody Omaha" to be exact. Many of us would never gain enough bravery to repeat what they did, and let's hope we won't have to find out. God bless the heros of WW2 and other conflicts.
I stand in error -- I ment > 4000 dead or missing. To expand, according to the Encyclopedia Britanica, there were 550,200 casualties (including Germans) durring Normandy.
