D-Day: Taking a Stand Against Nazi Germany

Transcription

1 D-Day: Taking a Stand Against Nazi Germany Madeline Simpson Junior Division Research Paper Paper Length: 2372 words Introduction When people watch the movie Saving Private Ryan, they often wonder if the opening scenes were based on a real battle and when that battle took place. While some of the events in the 1998 epic may not have been historically accurate, the film does have a number of factual pieces. An example of historically accurate scenes in the film is the infamous opening scene, which takes place during the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, better known to the world as "D-Day." This invasion was the Allies push to take back the Europe that Nazi Germany had overrun much of. Take a moment to imagine what the world might be like today if this Normandy invasion had not been successful, especially since the Third Reich aimed to overtake Europe as the major European power. With these views, it is quite possible that the United Nations may not have been formed, among other consequences that, had they taken effect, could have had a negative impact on the world we live in today. The Invasion of Normandy was

2 the greatest invasion in the history of the United States, turning the tides of World War II and dealing heavy damage to the Axis Powers. Not only did the invasion change the war for the better, but its success set the course for the world we live in today. The War So Far World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Just a year later the Nazis had complete control over France, and Japan and Italy had entered the Axis Powers, making the two nations allies to Germany. The United States originally wanted no part in the second World War, knowing how the first went and not wanting to have to partake in any sort of international conflict again. They also made a point of avoiding international politics, but they did agree to help Britain and the other Allied forces. The United States sent vehicles, artillery, and other such items to help keep the Nazis out of Britain and prevent them from taking control of British land in the same forceful manner as these Nazis had done in the rest of Europe. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill did agree, however, that if the Axis powers (specifically Germany) moved into the Pacific and began conquering there, they would need to be stopped by the Allies. The Axis powers did just that on December 7, 1941, when the United States was bombed by Japan in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The United States was forced to enter the war as one of the Allies, joining in on the fight against Hitler's ideals on what a perfect world would be. In the first years of the United States being involved in World War II, the idea of an invasion was circulated among leaders Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill. The question of who would lead this invasion soon followed. Their best candidate was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who

3 was named commander of the Allied Forces that same year. Eisenhower, as a commander in the United States, had many successful invasions during his service. Because of all of his successes, as well personality traits such as confidence and dedication, he was the optimal leader. Planning for this tide-turning invasion began in 1942, taking place over the course of two years. In that time, soldiers were worked into the best possible physical condition so that the invasion could be carried out efficiently and as successfully as possible. Each soldier would do 25 push-ups, run 300 yards in under a minute, crawl under barbed wire for 50 yards, carry a man piggyback for 25 yards, march 4 miles in under an hour without taking a single break, and swim at least 50 yards in full gear. In the meantime, General Eisenhower began to consider what might happen and what actions he would take should this invasion fail. He wrote a statement with orders on what should be done about a failed invasion in addition to an announcement to the public, informing the people about the failure to place a strong number of troops, vehicles, weapons, and supplies ashore. Due to the extensive planning and preparation, when the time came for the invasion to take place in Normandy, France, the Allies were as ready as they could ever be for the invasion, code-named Operation Overlord. D-Day Only a small window of days would work for the invasion to begin. The conditions required for success were very specific: soldiers needed a full moon so that in the early morning hours, they could see. A rising tide was needed in order for soldiers to take out the obstacles

4 set out to prevent any unwanted ships from landing on the Nazi shores. The weather needed to be optimal, or else the soldiers would have an even bigger disadvantage against the Nazis defending. Because of poor weather conditions such as heavy rain and strong winds, the invasion was nearly postponed for 2-4 weeks. However, Eisenhower believed that they could accomplish their mission in the existing conditions, so the invasion was only postponed for 24 hours. In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944 (otherwise known as D-Day), the paratroopers were ready to go. Paratroopers were soldiers who jumped out of airplanes, opening their parachutes when they came near to the ground. Since they were being dropped at night, they painted their faces black so that they couldn't be seen as well by Axis troops. The paratroopers were dropped over the beach at 1:30 am on D-Day, making them the first wave of soldiers to partake in the invasion. The landing, however, did not go as well as planned. The soldiers were scattered across the beach, rather than unified as one large group. During this catastrophe, the radios broke down, taking out their one source of communication. Eventually, they all managed to find each other, but the scramble wasted a lot of valuable time. Despite these challenges, the paratroopers were successful and accomplished their goal of taking over vital strategic roads and bridges. At 4:30 am, the order to go was given, and the LCVPs (Landing Craft, Vehicle, and Personnel) were launched. These ships left from a base in Great Britain and traveled approximately 80-miles to Normandy, where the troops on board would rush off and storm the beach.

5 Around 7:00 in the morning, the main wave of LCVPs came. The LCVPs were boats that carried men with their weapons. Each of these watercrafts held 32 men with their weapons, which were typically M-1 rifles that could hold 92 bullets at a time. These LCVPs had a door that would swing down, and the soldiers would get off the boat and into the water, wading ashore in water that was often up to their necks or higher. What made the ordeal more difficult for them was that they needed to hold their guns above their heads to keep the weapons dry; otherwise they wouldn't work properly. Therefore, the soldiers couldn't swim ashore, since both hands of each man were busy holding the guns out of the water. The men had no choice but to wade through the water and onto shore. These soldiers often became seasick, despite anti-seasickness pills they had taken to prevent it. Nearly every soldier became discouragingly seasick on the LCVPs. To try to inspire these soldiers, the commanders would read or recite poetry to the soldiers in hopes of encouraging them to stay alive through the invasion. Another vehicle used to get ashore was the underwater tank. There were 32 in total, but these tanks were very unsuccessful, as 27 of the 32 tanks sank. Fortunately, most of the men in these tanks had access to life preservers and were able to get out and survive the incident. A third type of vehicle used in the invasion was the duck boat. The ducks were like boats and automobiles all in one. They were designed to float in and propel through water, yet had wheels on the bottom so that the vehicle could be driven on land. These ducks carried 13 artillerymen (otherwise known as the gun crew), 50 shells, and all of the other equipment that the men needed to fire upon the enemy. These supplied included a radio, telephones and wires, picks and shovels to handle the terrain, a camouflage net with poles to set up a shelter,

6 sandbags to hold the shelter down and in place, K-rations, which were essentially instant food that didn't need cooking to be eaten, and musette bags for the artillery men's personal belongings. Thirteen of the amphibious vehicles were launched from the Portsmouth Harbor in Great Britain. Out of those thirteen, two of them sank shortly after launch. Three of them sank on the way to their destination. Another two sank while trying to land. In all, seven ducks sank - just over half the total fleet. Five sections of the massive Normandy beach were being invaded: Omaha and Utah, which were where the Americans were storming, Gold and Sword, which were invaded by British troops, and Juno, the one that Canada took. Of those 5 sections, soldiers storming Omaha and Gold took the heaviest fire, with Juno and Sword not being much better. Utah, on the contrary, was easier. Of the two most difficult beaches to storm, Omaha was the one of greatest difficulty; this beach had cliffs (as did Utah), while Gold, Sword, and Juno were relatively flat. When the first wave of soldiers reached the shore, they tried to destroy all of the enemy s weapons using various methods, including firing explosives, gunning down the operators and disassembling the weapons, etc. However, many soldiers were wounded as the Nazis scrambled to defend their territory. The Nazis weren t expecting the Allies to attack at all. Due to the poor weather conditions, the defending Germans had cancelled their air patrols. Therefore, the Axis soldiers were dumbstruck for a short while when the first waves of Allied soldiers began to storm the beach. What caused even more confusion was that the soldiers at the barracks were without a commander (the commander was absent), so soldiers could receive no orders.

7 As time went on, the day consisted of fighting long and hard with heavy casualties on both sides. Around 7:00 pm, the tide began to rise, and a line of dead soldiers began to wash ashore. The blood of the dead and wounded soldiers caused the water to become a cloudy red. About two out of every three soldiers involved in the invasion were killed, and more yet were wounded. By the end of the day, many soldiers had lost focus on the attack, and instead of taking over the beach, their main focus became staying alive. At around 7:30 pm, there seemed to be little to no firing happening, and many of the soldiers leaned up against a wall in a state of shock, barely able to move because of all of the traumatic imagery and events they had just witnessed. However, even though the soldiers faced many and suffered many casualties, they made great progress on that first day. By the end of the day, the Allied soldiers had taken over 80 square miles of land, and more than 155,000 soldiers were on land. These successes provided the strong foothold, as Eisenhower said in his statement in case the invasion failed, that the Allies needed to take back Europe. This was the stand the Allies needed to take to stop the Axis powers. After the Invasion The initial raid was not the end of the Normandy invasion. The Allies continued to fight hard in Europe for a long eleven months until Germany surrendered, just under a year after D- Day. During that time when the invasion pushed its way through Europe, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Axis powers, committed suicide with his wife. Axis powers tried to resist, but strong efforts on our side resulted in an Allied victory, though with heavy casualties on both sides. 17

8 The Allies continued to move through Europe, stumbling across the various death camps Hitler set up as part of his final solution and shutting them down. However, Germany insisted upon keeping its prisoners of war in some places, leaving victims like Anne and Margot Frank to die from illness or overexertion in harsh work camps like Bergen-Belsen. Starting in the January of 1945, many of these prisoners were also marched from camps on death marches. These marches were brutal, as the prisoners would be forced to walk many miles in a day. If the prisoners couldn t keep up or continue marching, they were shot. On average, between a third and half of those forced to march died. Eventually, the few remaining prisoners were driven into the sea and shot. The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945, bringing peace to Europe. The war would end for the United States on September 2, 1945, nearly a month after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended World War II in Japan. Legacy of the Invasion The Normandy invasion was the greatest invasion in our nation s history, and had the Allies not accomplished a successful invasion of Normandy, the world we live in today would be very different. We might still live under some of Hitler s ideals, and they may have spread to different areas of the world. Instead, we have come a long way in the world since the end of the second World War in terms of discrimination. The vast majority of minority groups and people in different professions and careers Hitler considered undesirable are accepted in most societies today, from artists to educators to people who are Jewish or homosexual to people with brown eyes or brown hair. If we lived in Hitler s world today, with Hitler s ideals and principles, these people would most certainly not be allowed to be a part of our society.

9 The Normandy invasion was a major turning point in the war for people all over the world, and without it, the Allies may not have had the successful outcome they did in the war, and we could be living in a very different world. Bibliography Primary Sources: A German Private. "D-Day." Letter to Himself. 6 June Invasion: The Story of D-Day. New York: Sterling Pub., Print. This German private explains more on the Nazi point of view on the invasion, providing an inside view on the other side and the situation as a whole. Leans more towards a pro-nazi point of view. "Allied Invaders Smashing On; Beachheads Secured Quickly." La Crosse Tribune 6 June 1944: n. pag. Print. La Crosse Tribune article telling about D-Day, has quotes from Churchill and tells about multiple D-Day related stories around the world. Provides a civilian point of view on D-Day. "Allies Smash Ahead in Normandy." Wisconsin State Journal [Madison] 6 June 1944: n. pag. Print. Wisconsin State Journal article talking about D-Day and stories about D-Day around the world. Has several useful maps and diagrams. Eisenhower giving orders to soldiers. Digital image. N.p., Web. 21 Dec

10 This image shows what kind of a leader General Eisenhower was. It's clear in this image that Eisenhower was a very strong leader. Image taken before or on D-Day. Eisenhower, Dwight D. "Message Eisenhower Wrote in Case the D-Day Invasion Failed." Letter to Citizens of the United States of America MS. N.p. This was a message General Eisenhower prepared to announce to the public in case the invasion failed. He ended up never having to read it, but he didn't know whether the invasion would be a success or failure at the time. Does not contain much information. Troops getting off boat and beginning invasion. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Dec Image shows soldiers getting off the LCVPs, wading through water to reach shore. Shows what LCVPs look like and how many soldiers were on a boat, in addition to what they looked like and what they carried. Winters, Dick. "D-Day: The Lost Evidence - In The Heat of the Battle." Interview. History Channel. History Channel, n.d. Web. 22 Dec Dick Winters was in the 101 st airborne division on D-Day. Tells about what he remembers and his experience. Secondary Sources: History.com Staff. "Anne Frank." History.com. A&E Television Networks, Web. 14 Feb Used to talk about Anne and Margot Frank as victims of the Holocaust and to find more details on the concentration and extermination camps in Nazi Germany. Gives a brief summary of Anne Frank s life without having to read the entire book.

11 Bliven, Bruce. Invasion: The Story of D-Day. New York: Sterling Pub., Print. Used for a good amount of the research, highly-acclaimed by many reliable sources. Good for facts about weapons and vehicles used, is somewhat vague on the events themselves. The author, Bruce Bliven, Jr., was a second lieutenant in the 29th Division Artillery on D-Day, which makes this information very reliable. "D-Day." History Channel. History Channel, Web. 22 Dec Documentary about D-Day and everything that happened on D-Day. "Death Marches." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 26 Mar Used to talk about the death marches before the liberation of the death camps. Very helpful resource for explaining what happened in Europe post-war. Hersey, John, Warren Chappell, and Edith Goodkind Rosenwald. Hiroshima. New York: A.A. Knopf, Print. Used in summarizing what happened after D-Day up to the end of the war. Helpful in describing how the war ended for U.S. and Japan. History.com Staff. "Auschwitz." History.com. A&E Television Networks, Web. 12 Feb Talks about the life of Auschwitz and its purpose, along with the other Nazi death camps. Helpful in talking about how the Allies shut down the death camps. History Channel Staff. "Saving Private Ryan Opens in Theaters." History.com. A&E Television Networks, Web. 22 Dec

12 Discusses the opening of Saving Private Ryan in theaters. Used mainly to prove when Saving Private Ryan was released, that Saving Private Ryan exists, and that Private Ryan was based off of an actual person. "Message Drafted by General Eisenhower in Case the D-Day Invasion Failed and Photographs Taken on D-Day." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, 23 Sept Web. 21 Dec Gives some background on what led to D-Day and the message Eisenhower wrote in case the invasion failed. Very helpful in giving background on the Roosevelt/Churchill/Stalin alliance. Reagan Speaks on 40th Anniversary of D-Day. Perf. Ronald Reagan. History Channel. History Channel, n.d. Web. 22 Dec United States President Ronald Reagan gives a speech on the 40 th anniversary of D-Day. "RESEARCH STARTERS: D-DAY:." The National WWII Museum New Orleans: Learn: For Students: Research Starters: D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy. The National WWII Museum, Web. 21 Dec National World War II Museum site with information on D-Day. Not as helpful as what I expected. The Portsmouth Area and D-Day." D-Day Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb Helpful in finding where the invasion was launched from. U.S. Department of State. "Isolationism in the United States." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, n.d. Web. 26 Feb

13 Discusses isolationism as a U.S. policy before our involvement in WWII, explains why we were avoiding this war. "US History in Movies : Saving Private Ryan." US History in Movies : Saving Private Ryan. Blogs.org, 18 Jan Web. 18 Jan Several images and facts about Saving Private Ryan. Compares facts I already found from credible sources to the film and talks about how historically accurate it is.