The D-Day Invasion: the Greatest and Riskiest Military Invasions - Research Paper Example

 The D-Day Invasion, was one of the greatest and riskiest military invasions of all time. The invasion was nicknamed Operation Overlord by those in charge (Churchill, 642). By 1944, it was time for the Allied powers to begin to put an end to Hitler's evil empire. An invasion had been launched through North Africa and eventually Italy; now it was time to strike through Western Europe and press on to Berlin. The war had been going on for so long, and at such cost, that leaders and soldiers were wary of a new engagement, but they also knew that a great sacrifice would still be required in order to destroy Hitler and the German army. The men who were assigned to the D-Day invasion were some of the most valiant. Some died on the beaches, some fought on throughout Europe to secure peace. They made a lasting contribution to the world which we enjoy today. But few soldiers in the operation were as valiant as the Bedford Boys. They came to represent the very best of American sacrifice for peace in this world. They were ordinary, small-town men who made an extraordinary contribution. By 1944, World War II was grinding to a halt. Allied forced had a toe-hold in Italy; in the Pacific, the United States had turned the tide against the Japanese. The Germans and the Japanese were reeling from a series of defeats. On the Eastern Front, Hitler had lost his Sixth Army at Stalingrad, and the Russians were pushing back and taking the land that Germans had captured only a few years earlier. Still, there was no talk of surrender from Berlin. Hitler was in a delusional mood and intended to fight to the last man. Fortunately, the Allied forced had earlier agreed that there was to be an unconditional surrender of Axis powers. It is not possible to say if this policy was definitively responsible for ending the war on the excellent terms that it was ended, but it seems probable (Armstrong, 86). The Allies were not going to make the mistake of permitting a rump Nazi regime to hang on with the promise of peace. They knew that they could not trust the Nazis about anything. As a result, the Allies steeled themselves for a full-on invasion and plans were soon underway for an invasion of France through the beaches of Normandy. This would also make Stalin happy. For years now, he had been fighting tooth and nail with the Germans on the Eastern front, and badly needed relief from their viciousness. He wanted the United Kingdom and the U.S. to open up a second front in the west (Gilbert, 544). The operation was to be a secret from the Germans and was to involve overwhelming force. On the morning of June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied planes bombarded German defences on the beaches of Normandy; soon after, thousands of soldiers arrived by boat to begin the invasion. In preparation, Supreme Allied Commander, the American Dwight D. Eisenhower, wrote to his generals and soldiers: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world (Garamone). It is clear that inspiration was needed, as the fight to come was to be a brutal one. Eisenhower did his best to put things in perspective and encourage his men. It was important for them to understand just why they were fighting. D-Day was an incredibly bloody invasion for U.S. servicemen. More than 2500 lost their lives on the beach that day (Fry). The air cover that the generals intended to use as cover and to soften up the German artillery positions did not meet with much success. The result is that when the men landed on the beaches of Normandy, many had German weapons immediately trained on them. It was only through sheer fortitude and courage that they kept coming, eventually finding shelter beneath the cliffs, and clawing their way forward, one inch at a time. Few men had a more difficult time during this initial invasion than the Bedford Boys who would suffer miserably before the day was finished. The Bedford Boys came from Bedford, Virginia and there were 34 of them participating in the D-Day invasion (Kershaw, 1). These men were part of the 29th Infantry Division. Nineteen of them died in the first fifteen minutes of the launch, attacking one of the most fortified parts of Omaha Beach (Baumgarten, 173). They barely had a chance. The men represented the best of small-town America. They were a cross section of the kind of men who had grown up in the Depression and enlisted in the national guard because they truly believed in the idea of America and were willing to defend that idea with their very lives. The men included husbands, three sets of brothers, pool-hall hustlers, a couple of highly successful Lotharios, a minor league baseball player destined for great things, and several Bible-reading, quiet young men who desperately missed their mothers and dreamed of home cooking (Kershaw, 4). It is the very ordinariness of the men who died on the beaches of Normandy that tells the whole story. These men could have chosen to do anything with their lives. They were not professional soldiers or from a class of men who fought in Imperial Wars—instead they were the kind of men who raised families in bucolic towns and managed hardware stores. They were ordinary Americans doing what they believed was right. They were not seeking glory or hoping that there names would be added to some grand memorial. This added a real poignancy to the loss of Bedford, Virginia. Virtually all the men in the Company were wounded (Ambrose, 328). Ray Nance was one of the very few who survived that day. Ships were sinking, many were being struck down all around him. He got through the fighting on the beach. “There was a pall of dust and smoke,” Mr. Nance recalled in a 2001 interview with WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va. “In the distance I could see the church steeple we were supposed to guide on. I waded out of the water up on the beach. I could not see anybody in front of me. I looked behind, and there’s nobody following me. I was alone in France” (Goldstein). Nance was one of the lucky ones. Although shot and injured, he recovered and lived a long life as a rural letter-carrier (LeDoux). He was an exemplary World War II veteran: modest and long-living, he represented the men who went before him with grace and dignity. It has been said that the town of Bedford, Virginia, lost more men in D-Day per capita than any other town in the United States (Goldstein). The story of such heavy losses weighed on the minds of Congressmen who chose Bedford as the site of the National D-Day Monument. It is a fitting tribute to the sacrifices of American heroes. The American war effort was won by ordinary men like the boys from Bedford. It was not won through superior strategy, but through hard and honest work by modest men who wanted only to live in peace. The spirit of the Bedford Boys lives on in America today. They fought for their country and for what was right. Today's world is in many ways more complicated than it was in the 1940s; nevertheless, American servicemen and women continue to strive to represent freedom and democracy abroad. They are willing to sacrifice anything for their country. The Bedford Boys are a proud part of the American military tradition and will continue to be so for many years to come. Work consulted Ambrose, Stephen. D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. Simon & Schuster, 1995. Armstrong, Anne. Unconditional surrender: the impact of the Casablanca policy upon World War II. Greenwood Press, 1974 Baumgarten, Harold. D-Day survivor: an autobiography. Pelican Publishing, 2006 Churchill, Winston Spencer. The Second World War: Closing the Ring. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1951. Fry, Angela K. “Virginia's 'Bedford Boys' carry history into deployment.” Black Anthem. May 22, 2010. http://www.blackanthem.com/News/Military_News_1/Virginia-s-Bedford-Boys-carry-history-into-deployment22188.shtml Garamone, Jim. The Passing of the Torch.” American Forces Press Service. June 8, 2000. http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45278 Gilbert, Martin. Second World War. Phoenix 1989. Goldstein, Richard. “Ray Nance, Last of the Bedford Boys, Dies at 94.” New York Times. April 22, 2009 Kershaw, Alex. The Bedford boys: one American town's ultimate D-Day sacrifice. Da Capo Press, 2004 LeDoux, Julia. “Last of the 'Bedford Boys' dies.” Inside Nova. April 20, 2009. http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2009/apr/20/last_of_the_bedford_boys_dies-ar-444170/ Read More