Overview - D Day

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D Day: An Overview

The Allied Invasion of Normandy, 6 June 1944

On 6 June 1944 the greatest amphibious assault to that date took place on the beaches of Normandy, in France.

British, American and Canadian forces participated in the D-Day landing. They were assisted by paratroops who had landed during the night to seize key points, and by huge naval and air forces. The Allies managed to secure a foothold against sometimes fierce resistance by the defending German forces.

A new Allied front

This gigantic operation marked the opening of a new front in Europe. It came at a time when Germany's fortunes were beginning to wane. On 4 June 1944, Rome had fallen to Allied forces, including 2 NZ Division, which had been pushing up the Italian peninsula since the previous September. [See Italian Campaign feature]

But this setback paled in comparison to the threat that was mounting in the east. There Germany was about to reap the whirlwind of its decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941. Recovering from disastrous early defeats, the Russians had inflicted major defeats on the German Army at Stalingrad and Kursk and, as the Allies landed in Normandy, were preparing to launch a massive offensive that would shatter the German eastern front.

Vital prelude

Operation Overlord, as the Western Allies' assault on 'Fortress Europe' was called, was made possible by Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. This long struggle, which began on the first day of the war, ensured Britain's survival as a staging point for the invasion. It also ensured the huge potential strength of the United States could be brought to bear in Europe. By early 1944 Britain was bulging with US troops and squadrons preparing to open what was then called the 'Second Front' (somewhat misleadingly as there was already a second front in Italy).

Eisenhower's forces

American general (and later US President) Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded this huge array of force, which included nearly 6000 ships and 199 air force squadrons. Despite some worries about weather conditions, which had caused a brief postponement, he unleashed his force to land on 6 June.

By the end of that day the success of the operation was apparent, though there were thousands of casualties at several beaches. Once a toehold had been secured, the huge machinery of reinforcement and supply, so carefully prepared in preceding months, swung into operation. By 5 July 1944 one million Allied men were ashore.

[See also web links page for maps of the Normandy landings.]

New Zealand role

Although no New Zealand army units took part in the D-Day invasion, nearly 10,000 New Zealanders took part in Operation Overlord as members of the Royal Navy, the Merchant Navy, and the RAF.

Kiwis in the Royal Navy

'We kept putting more and more troops ashore, and they had to force their way up the terrible cliff to the top where the machine guns were firing. They had a very rough time and a lot of the landing craft were destroyed and men's lives vanished in a second - a terrible business, but that is war.

RN Flotilla Officer, O'Brien Reeve describing Omaha Beach.' See and hear and more of his D-Day memories

Many of the 4700 New Zealanders serving in the Royal Navy were present, commanding or crewing landing craft or motor torpedo boats, serving in the escorting warships, troopships, and supply vessels, or flying missions over the area as part of the Fleet Air Arm.

One of New Zealand's leading literary figures, Denis Glover, commanded a landing craft, and later wrote about his experience.

Landing craft commander Denis Glover, a New Zealander attached to the Royal Navy, describes the approach to the beach on 6 June 1944:

'Now eyes for everything, eyes for nothing. The beach looms close, maybe a mile. There are people running up and down it. There are fires, and the bursting of shells. Yes, and wrecked landing craft everywhere, a flurry of propellers in the savage turf and among those wicked obstructions....

We are on those bristling stakes. They stretch before us in rows. The mines on them look as big as planets. And those graze-nose ones pointing towards us on some of them look like beer bottles. Oh God I WOULD be blown up on a mine like a beer bottle! Now for speed and skill and concentration. Whang, here it comes - those whizzing ones will be mortars - and the stuff is falling all round us. Can't avoid them, but the mines and collisions I can avoid. Speed, more speed. Put them off by speed, weave in and out of these bloody spikes, avoid the mines, avoid our friends, avoid the wrecked craft and vehicles in the rising water, and GET THESE TROOPS ASHORE. Good, the Commando officers have their men ready and waiting, crouched along the decks. Number One is for'ard with his ramp parties ready. Everything is working as we've exercised it for so long....

Don't jump, you fool. It was near, but you're not hit. Straddled. All right, keep on. And here's where I go in, that little bit of clear beach....

Slow ahead together. Slow down to steady the ship, point her as you want her, then half ahead together and on to the beach with a gathering rush. Put her ashore and be damned! She's touched down. One more good shove to wedge her firm. Out ramps.'

Denis Glover, D Day (The Caxton Press, Christchurch, 1944), pp.10-11.

RAF support

'I soon discovered when I heard clings and dongs on my aircraft that he was a pretty good shot, and the Germans had tracer so you could see them coming towards you. To be on the receiving end of bullets that you can see coming straight at you is not a very nice feeling and certainly the hair on the back of my neck was sticking and I was sweating with tension.'

Fighter pilot, Maurice Mayston, NZ 485 Spitfire Squadron. See and hear more of his D-Day memories

There were nearly 6000 New Zealanders serving in the RAF in June 1944, many of whom were involved, directly or indirectly, in providing air support to the landing forces. The most prominent was Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Coningham, commanding the 2nd Tactical Air Force, which provided close air support to the invasion force and included three 'New Zealand' squadrons, 485, 487, and 488. Another New Zealand squadron, 486, also took part in the initial stages of Overlord. A New Zealand pilot, Johnnie Houlton, was the first to shoot down an enemy aircraft during the landings.

Some well-known New Zealanders at D-Day

Arthur Coningham

Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Coningham commanded the 2nd Tactical Air Force, which provided close air support to the invasion force. One of his squadrons, 487, spent the months before D-Day blasting enemy airfields with its fast Mosquitos.

Denis Glover

Poet, journalist and publisher Denis Glover was a landing craft commander in the Royal Navy during D-Day. See his biography here: www.dnzb.govt.nz

James Hargest

Brigadier James Hargest was a senior 2NZEF officer who was present as an official New Zealand observer with the British 50th Division on D-Day. He was later killed by a shell on 12 August 1944. See his biography here: www.dnzb.govt.nz

Lawrence Hogben

Serving in the Royal Navy, Auckland-born Rhodes Scholar Lieutenant-Commander Lawrence Hogben, was right at the heart of invasion decision-making as a member of the Admiralty meteorological team whose weather forecast played a crucial role in the timing of the onslaught.

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