D-Day and the courage of sacrifice

 

It was 77 years ago today that one of the most significant military operations of recorded history began, eventually marking the beginning of the end of World War II.

My personal interest in this era stems partly from the fact that my mother was a German citizen. She was in her late teens as the war came to its climax, living with her mother and brother in southern Germany. I have tried to see the conflict from two sides – that of a German citizen living in Nazi-controlled Germany, and of the Allies trying to contain the growing influence of Hitler's aggressiveness.

By the early summer of 1944, the conflict had been raging across Europe for five years. Nazi forces controlled much of France and other areas of the continent. "Operation Overlord" was planned to provide a massive invasion of Allied forces into northern France, in hopes of forcing the German armies back. "Operation Neptune" was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion that began on June 6, 1944. We are used to the more common name, "D-Day."

How can we conceive of the emotions each soldier must have felt as they approached the beaches of Normandy and looked up at the massive cliffs defended by German gunners? The logistics of the operation are stunning. Diversionary tactics helped in large measure to catch the Nazi forces unaware and unprepared; bad weather helped hide the invasion (but also made it more miserable for those involved).

Statistics say there were over 160,000 Allied soldiers who landed on June 6, 1944 - including about 73,000 Americans, 61,715 British, and 21,400 Canadian troops. Those numbers are astonishing in themselves. An estimated 10,000 German solders had a far superior defensive position on the cliffs overlooking the shoreline.

This iconic photograph shows troops from Company E, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One) wading onto Omaha Beach early on D-Day. The cliffs they have been asked to take, defended by Nazi forces, are seen through the clouds and haze. Two-thirds of the soldiers from this company were casualties.

In military terms, the word "casualty" refers to all losses suffered by a group: killed, wounded, missing (bodies never found), and prisoners of war. Traditional estimates of the Allied casualties on D-Day are 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers. Among those are at least 2,500 dead; some more recent studies claim to have identified over 4,400 Allied deaths. German casualties are even harder to pin down, but are estimated to be somewhere between 4,000 and 9,000 men. For the entire Battle of Normandy that extended well into July, well over a quarter million Allied and German casualties are confirmed.

On the 40th anniversary of the invasion, President Ronald Reagan stood at Normandy Beach and gave a powerful and moving tribute to the event, concluding with these words:

"Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: 'I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.' Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died. Thank you very much, and God bless you all."

I #GiveThanks for courage beyond my conception that was in the hearts of these noble soldiers, and so many like them before and since - on both sides of the conflict - who loved their country, who loved home and family, but who (in far too many cases) were not given the choice on HOW to fight for their freedom. We are given that choice today; we should use it carefully and wisely while we can, since for any of us, the day could come when our choices are as limited as were these tens of thousands of young men in Normandy. I pray that day will never come again.