On this date in 1944, the largest armada ever assembled on this planet gathered off the shores of the Normandy region of Nazi-occupied France. Warships and freighters, landing craft and amphibians, they deposited American, British, and Canadian troops onshore and supported them with naval artillery fire and materiel.
Overhead the skies swarmed with warplanes, their wings wearing the "invasion stripes" of alternating black and white (see photos and explanation). Some dropped bombs, some dropped parachutists, and smaller planes shot up German vehicles and armor.
The landing was a success in spite of iffy weather, and the invasion continued eastward until the war in Europe ended some 11 months later. While all this was going on Soviet troops were attacking westward and the two attacks met in Germany in April, 1945, near the Elbe River.
----------
About WW II, the DrsC recommend two TV mini-series originally broadcast on ABC TV, based on books by Herman Wouk and entitled, like the books, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. The first covers the period before the US entered the ongoing World War II, and the second covers the war period. The first has 7 episodes and the second has 12.
Both series star Robert Mitchum playing naval officer Pug Henry, Polly Bergen as his wife Rhoda, and Victoria Tennant as Pamela Tudsbury. The continuing story follows a Navy family, the Henrys, a Polish-American Jewish family, the Jastrows, and a British family, the Tudsburys.
They includes portrayals of FDR and Eleanor, Churchill, Eisenhower, Patton, Hitler, Mussolini, Goering, many German generals, Pearl Harbor, D Day, El Alamein, extermination camps, the war in the Pacific, in Europe, and at home. In its 19 hours it literally has a cast of thousands.
We own the two series on CD, they also appear to be available on YouTube for streaming. A longtime DrsC family mid-winter ritual is to watch the two series in sequence over 10 or more nights. We recommend them, your experience may vary.
