1. Americans had 70,000 soldiers and airmen participate in the battles at Omaha & Utah Beaches.
The British had 61,000 soldiers and airmen participate in the battles at Gold & Sword Beaches.
The Canadians had 21,000 soldiers and airmen participate in the battle at Juno Beach.
2. The total number of naval combat ships was 1213.
3. Robert Capa and Charles Turner were two of the war photographers present on the Normandy beaches on Jnne 6, 1944.
4. The location of the D-Day landing was a heavily guarded secret until the last minute. Catching the Germans off guard was essential given that they had 55 divisions in France at the time. The Allies had only eight divisions.
5. About 17 million maps supported the mission. Training maps used fake names.
6. The United States shipped 7 million tons of supplies including 448,000 tons of ammunition.
7. There are 9,386 graves in the American cemetery at Colville-sur-Mer. Each grave faces west towards the United States. The British suffered 4868 fatalities, all buried at Bayeux Cemetery. There were 946 Canadian casualties on the Normandy beaches.
8. If not for the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, the death toll would have been much higher.
9. By July 4, one million men had been landed on the Normandy beaches.
10. D-Day was postponed by a day due to bad weather.
War is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
ReplyDeleteYour article is very well done, a good read.