D-Day

I note that the BBC has not seen fit to commemorate D-Day, the Invasion of Normandy that started on 6 June 1944.

Can I suggest that you have a quick read of Wikipedia if you know little of this momentous day, but for more detail take a visit to the US Army site, this site devoted to the events on "Omaha" beach, this recollection by a then 19 year old Lieutenant, Tony Lowndes, as recounted on the BBC WW2 Peoples War website, where you will also find these recollections of D-Day and beyond, this recollection by Eric Patience, then a rifleman that includes this passage:

"I remember the terrible smell. The stench of cordite burning buildings but most of all was the stench of dead animals. There were hundreds of them laying dead on their backs. It was a hot day and the smell was terrible, never have I seen such terrible slaughter of animals. It made you feel sick. We pulled into a orchard for a rest for a few hours and have a meal. We hadn't eaten since we left Tilbury....

More and more animals were being killed, towns and villages were being destroyed and hundreds of men were being killed or wounded but we still had to carry on. We had to eat and sleep when we could, washing was a thing of the past and eating was rare. Every section, which consisted of nine men, had their own rations which we had to cook and eat when we could. By now I had been in action for about 3 weeks and at no time had any of us taken our clothes off or had a decent meal. You slept when and where you could. We lost a lot of our tanks by anti-tank guns, one being the 88mm. The Shermans we had were called Tommy cookers because after being hit they would blow up. Sometimes the crew were able to get out and sometimes they were killed or wounded but the very worse was when a crew member was wounded and couldn't get out their screams were terrible and it was terrible to listen to, knowing we couldn't do anything to help. I remember when one of our carriers hit a mine the driver lost both his legs and it was terrible but thankfully over quick. We buried him in his carrier which was a wreck. He was only 21. We had two brothers in our company. The elder one was badly wounded and sent back via the mobile hospital. He was put on a landing craft which was to carry him and the other wounded soldiers to the hospital ship laying off shore. We later heard that the landing craft hit a mine and no one survived. The younger brother was devastated but he had to go on."

and this reminiscence by a then 18 year old sapper, including this passage:

"We landed on Sword beach at approx 7.30 and a major Barber, originally in the Northamptonshire Regiment, said “Well done engineer” when he saw that I was still with them as we cleared the beach to move inland. Sometime later I was lying next to him and his batman when he told him to wait there whilst he went to see what was happening. Seconds later I heard a shell or mortar coming . It landed between the two and both were killed instantly."

Here's a piece of video from the History Channel about D-Day...






Here's an interesting piece of German propaganda about the D-Day landings...





And here's a piece of video produced as a tribute to the men that fought on 6 June 1944 whether they survived or died...






The WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar