[quote user=“tango35”]
1.)
Airborne troops begin the invasion.
Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe, began in the first minutes of today with the landing by glider of men of the British 6th Airborne Division to seize the bridge over the canal at Benouville, north of Caen.
These few men, a small part of a force scattered by high winds, were the advance guard of a huge airborne army. No less than 23,400 men of Britain’s “Red Berets” and the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions have been landed begin Utah Beach in the southern part of the Cotentin Peninsula, by parachute and by towed glider.
The high winds have caused chaos with the drop. Parachutists and gliders are spread over the Normandy countryside, and many of the men have been blown into trees.
Commanders are struggling to gather their units together, using any men they can find to attack their vital initial objectives. However, the very disorganization of the drop is making it very difficult for the Germans to respond. To them it seems as if the whole of Normandy is swarming with aggressive troops, and they cannot see a pattern to the movements. Small groups of paratroopers are attacking the Germans wherever they come across them. One group from the 82nd has ambushed General Falley, the commander of the German 91st Division. His division is now paralysed and cannot respond to the landings on Utah Beach.
In one of the most courageous and bloody actions fought today, the British 9th Parachute Battalion, led by Lt-Col Otway, stormed the heavily defended German battery at Merville, although Otway could muster only 150 men. So tonight the airborne warriors have secured both flanks of the invasion.
RAF 108 Transport Command Dakotas from Broadwell, Down Ampney and Blakehill Farm dropped the main body of the 3rd Parachute Brigade and also towed the Horsa gliders in actions. They were joined by RAF Short Stirling IVs of Nos. 190 and 622 (Fairford Common) and Nos. 196 and 299 (Keevil) Squadrons of Transport Command. Amongst the heavy-lift capability are 70 General Aircraft Hamilcar gliders, each capable of carrying a light tank into action.(22)
The US 101st Airborne Division was assigned the mission of securing four causeways over the marshes leading from Utah Beach at which the US 4th Infantry Division would land. The 4th would need these causeways in order to leave the beach and move inland. The naval bombardment was effective in neutralizing many of the defensive works that the Germans had built in the area. The 8th Infantry Regiment, along with 12 Sherman tanks which had been made amphibious for the journey to the beach landed at 0631, one minute behind schedule. They overcame the remaining resistance and began their move inland. The causeways had been secured by the 101st and elements of both divisions met at 1200 hours on the first road south of the beach
Further to the east the US 1st and US 29th Infantry Divisions were assigned the mission of securing Omaha Beach. In March 1944, the 352nd Infantry Division had moved into the Omaha Beach area. Allied intelligence discovered this only a short time before the landings. The move of the 352nd was to make Omaha a much more difficult operation than had been foreseen. There was a high bluff behind Omaha Beach. At the base of the bluff there was a wall about six feet high. At high tide there was a beach of only 10 feet. In order to get off the beach the Americans had planned to use the four roadways (exits) that led inland. The naval bombardment had not been effective at Omaha and the defenders of those exits were prepared when the Americans began their landings. Many men became casualties from the German fire as they crossed the water from their landing craft. There was much confusion and disorganization and men huddled behind the wall not daring to move. Much of the grass on the bluff had been set on fire. The smoke from this fire reduced the visibility of the German defenders. At about 1000 hours small groups began using bangalore torpedoes to make breaks in the barbed wire and moved up the bluff to attack the Germans from the flanks and rear. By nightfall the Americans had moved inland from between 1,000 yards to 2 miles.
Further to the east at the British and Canadian beaches, Gold, Juno and Sword, high tide was one hour later, as was H-Hour. The Germans did not fire on the landing craft as they approached the beaches. The UK 50th Infantry Division had the mission of securing Gold, then moving inland in order to seize Bayeux, blocking the Bayeux-Caen road so as to prevent Germans from approaching Omaha. The assault was conducted by the 231st Infantry Brigade which led with the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the Dorset Regiment. In addition, the 47th Royal Marine Commando landed at Gold. It’s mission was to secure Port-en-Bessel. By 1200 it was in position on the high ground above Port-en-Bessel. At the end of the day, while not securing all their objectives, the British had established a beachhead of six miles by six miles.
At Juno, H-Hour for the Canadians of the 3rd Infantry Division was 0735 but they were unable to land until 0805 because of the vicious weather.The division’s mission was to move inland 11 miles, join in the attack on Caen, and seize the airfield at Carpiquet, five miles east of Caen. Because of the late arrival and the tide had covered obstacles and the mines placed on some of them. Therefore demolition parties were unable to remove the mines. German fire and mines took out 90 of the their 306 landing craft. The Canadians were accompanied by the 48th Royal Marine Commando which had the mission of linking up with the British at Sword Beach, further to the east. They would be stopped by Germans in the heavily fortified town of Langrune for a day. The 7th Canadian Brigade landed a battalion each of the Royal Winnipegs and the Regina Rifles. This force overran German defenses at Courseulles but because of crowding on the beach follow on forces were slow getting off the beach. At Bernieres, the 8th Canadian Brigade landed a battalion of the Queens Own Rifles. After heavy casualties it secured the town.
Sword was the most easterly beach and the closest to Caen, the capture of which would open much of the countryside to British and Canadian forces. The capture of Sword was assigned to the UK 3rd Infantry Division and two Royal Marine Commando brigades, the 1st and the 4th.The commandoes were to join up with the Canadians at Juno and link up with the UK 6th Airborne Division, including the forces of the Oxs and Bucks at Pegasus Bridge. The first few minutes of the landing was the worst. In one hour the 1st of the South Lancs, the 1st of East Yorks and the commandos had seized the beach. The South Lancs led the movement inland and by 0930 were through Hermanville, a mile and a half on the road to Caen when they ran up against the leading elements of 21st Panzer Division coming out of Caen. Three anti -tank guns on Periers Ridge had caused the halt. The South Lancs dug in, and waited for the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry to arrive from the beach. The Shropshires were waiting for the 65 tanks of the Staffordshire Yeomanry. The brigade commander finally ordered the Shropshires forward at about 1400. Some of the tanks arrived soon after and the force moved forward. However, the German corps commander seeing the chance to drive a wedge between Sword and Juno ordered the 21st Panzer to drive for the beach. The British and German forces collided and both veered off and were halted, even if a small element of the 21st Panzer did reach the beach at 2000, it soon had to withdraw.
101st Airborne: D-Day just before dark at 2100 (might have been confused by some with 0001, or later, on D+1) 32 large Horsas attempted a landing on an LZ near Hiesville. They were carrying 165 soldiers about 1/3 of whom were lost with 14 KIA. There was considerable loss among the gliders.
At dawn on D+1 a Horsa carrying soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division crashed in the zone of the 101st near Holdy. There were 18 KIA.
On D+1 at 0630 an aerial resupply mission was flown by USAAC aircraft which dropped supplies to a force of 250 soldiers led by Colonel Johnson, commander of the 501st Parachute Infantry, at the La Barquatte Locks. The nearest bundles landed in swamps one mile away and were covered by German fire.
2.) at the landingstsrips, especially on omaha beach the american troops has tp pay a high price - some historians say for the lack of reconissance, later see 1.)
- ) No
4.) I think we should honor VE-day for liberation and ending the war; D-Day was a milestone and dont misunderstood me, but there were other locations which had the same meaning for the liberation of europe, e.g. the first american landings in N Africa, so they had the ability to bomb in 2 directions, or the battle for Italy - the germans had to secure this area, and on the eastern part i would say the battle of kursk, where the backbone of the german panzer forces were broken.
And not to forgotten the airbattle over europe,cause without air supriority no one can operate on land ( e.g. the failed " invasion" at Dieppe )
So D-day was important, but it was one aspect.
5.)No, iam not a WW2 vet, born 1966, but interested in this phase of the history.
I forgot , her the german reaction, so the young lady should have a double sided view :
D-Day Countdown The German Perspective Tuesday, 6 June, 1944 It is midnight (GCT). Thousands of Allied aircraft swarm towards the northwestern coast of France, following the routes the pathfinders have taken an hour ago. From the northwest come planes carrying the advance elements of the American 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. From the northeast come paratroops of the British Sixth Airborne.
On the ground, thousands of the French Resistance make their contribution to the war effort. Cities all over northern France begin experiencing communications problems.
At 12:15 A.M. An hour after the pathfinders and the dummies have arrived, the airborne troops are jumping into France. The overcast, gray-black skies fill with hundreds of silk chutes as paratroopers fall into the dark of night. ---------
Speidel’s party finally breaks up after midnight…The guests finally thin out. At 1 A.M. Speidel turns in to go to bed. Admiral Ruge decides to stay up a while.
Just after 2:09 A.M., a couple of the surviving German radar stations are seeing large areas of “snow” all across their screens for a good part of the night. There appears to be two very large bomber groups headed for Germany. And a number of vessels have been picked up by surface radar, apparently headed for Le Havre.
In the next hour, these contacts turned out to be a hoax as they disappeared back into the English coastline. But now, one of the repaired radar sets, has picked up a large number of ships in position off the Normandy shoreline. Naval Group West in Paris is contacted.
General Marcks is at his headquarters in St. Lo. The quick, modest birthday celebration given to him at midnight by his staff is now over, and he is wrapping up his plans for tomorrow’s -kriegspiel- at Rennes. But there are other things to explore. Like all these enemy aircraft flying slowly overhead. Airborne troops? Probably.
At 1:10 A.M. (GCT) he gets a call from the operations chief of the 716th Division headquarters in Caen. Marcks’ whole body stiffens as he is told of airborne landings east of the Orne estuary, around Ranville. The enemy objectives appear to be the Dives and Orne River bridges.
After a moment of silence, Marcks’ Intelligence Officer tells him, “Sir, this is the invasion.” Marcks puts his corps on alert and contacts Pemsel at Le Mans.
Over the next five hours, they plot the landing reports and issue orders, but in their minds, they have no doubts about what is happening, and where the landing will be.
After a brief rest, Speidel is woken up and told about the airborne reports. He notifies all major commands. Reports now coming are perplexing and often contradictory. Some are illogical. Not having a clear picture yet, he decides to wait and see what develops. It will pretty much be his drill for the whole night.
By 1:30 A.M., reports are reaching General von Salmuth, at 15th Army headquarters in Tourcoing. Supposedly, enemy paratroops were landing near the 711th’s head- quarters at Cabourg on the coast, and that fighting was going on all around the buildings.
To von Salmuth, this sounds crazy. His army was on full alert, and enemy air raids were hitting Calais, but nothing much else seemed to be going on. So he calls Reichert at Caen. Finally getting through, he growls, “Reichert, what the devil is going on down there?!?”
Reichert replies plaintively, “My General, if you’ll permit me, I’ll let you hear for yourself.” Von Salmuth waits a moment, listening sullenly, his eyes rolling upwards. Suddenly, he distinctly hears from the receiver machine gun fire in the background. “Thank you,” he promptly responds, and hangs up. He calls Speidel and tells him that, at the headquarters of the 711th, “the din of battle can be heard.”
OB West first gets the word at 1:23 about the paratroop landings from Naval Group West, and that LXXXIV Corps is on full alert. Blumentritt and von Rundstedt are woken up at their villa.
They monitor the incoming messages for the next three hours, before von Rundstedt decides that it is time to bring up the panzers. He orders -Panzergruppe West- at 0425 to “reconnoiter in force into 711th Division sector.” Keeping OKW informed, they first call and inform them of what they are doing, and then follow up with a message at 0445, formally requesting that the panzer reserves be released.
Panzer Lehr and 12th SS are already starting to move, when Jodl, at OKW, refuses to release the panzers. He too wants to wait and see what develops. Von Rundstedt, infuriated, throws his hands up in disgust and walks outside to prune his flowers.
Around 2:50 A.M., Admiral Theodor Krancke, is awakened in his hotel room down in Bordeaux by a phone call. It is from Admiral Hennecke, in Cherbourg. Hennecke reports that airborne landings are occurring in the Normandy area, close to the St. Marcouf naval battery. Krancke tells him to alert his forces.
Krancke calls for an update from his headquarters in Paris, orders a full alert and naval sortie, and then makes imme- diate arrangements to return. He will get there around noon.
At 3:15, General Kraiss, commanding the 352 Infantry Division, summons his regimental commanders. Telling them about the airborne drops, he turns to -Oberst- Meyer, commanding the 1700 men in his reserve regiment, the 915th. He orders him to lead his away from Bayeux locality and probe inland behind the division’s left for paratroopers. The companies would have to load up, some by tired old French trucks, some on confiscated bicycles, and many simply on foot. They are to head towards the Cerisy Forest.
One thing is critical, Kraiss adds. If Meyer’s men do not meet any real resistance and the invasion comes, they are to return as fast as possible to augment the men on the coast. So Meyer is going to have to stay in contact with division headquarters by radio Meyer acknowledges, and promises to stay in touch.
It will take him almost an hour to move all of his men out. He will in the course of his movements get lost, stay out of contact, and withhold vital reserves for the beachfront defenses for many hours.
By 3:40, .Max Pemsel is busily filtering messages as they came in to 7th Army headquarters. A major airborne drop has come down along the Orne River on the right, and another has landed over on the left, near the Vire and Merderet Rivers. Marcks is probably right. Chances are, the landing will be on the coast, somewhere in the middle.
A dispatch is passed to Pemsel. Communications have been lost with Ste.-Mère-Église.
Dawn at Berchtesgaden. It is about 5:45 A.M., and the birds are just starting to sing.
At Jodl’s headquarters, von Rundstedt’s message notifying them that he is releasing the panzers has been received. He has also received a number of calls from General Warlimont on the other side of town. Not sure at all of what is going to be landed and where, he decides to hold off releasing the reserve panzers, knowing that is what the Fuehrer would do, and reserving for him the option of letting them go. True, OB West is mad as hell, but that’s too bad. They are the Fuehrer’s to use, and it will be HIS choice as to whether they go into combat, or wait and see what is going on. This could be a ruse. If von Rundstedt wants to go over his head, let HIM wake Hitler up.
At the Berghof, Admiral von Puttkamer, Hitler’s naval aide, has been told about the airborne drops. Does he wake up Hitler after only a few hours rest?
Hitler at this point in his life is an insomniac. He staysup into the early morning hours, and then only turns in when he can no longer stay awake, to sleep fitfully for a few hours. On the evening of June 5th, as was his custom of late, he had stayed up well into the early morning hours, entertaining Eva Braun some of her young female friends with his stories and trite chit chat. He had finally gone to bed at 3 A.M. To make sure that he slept well, his personal doctor Professor Morell (ll.149) had given him a sleeping potion. Obviously, the Führer would be in no mood to receive any news, good or bad, after less than three hours sleep. And the admiral felt that Hitler should be in good spirits before hearing about some paratroop landing in France.
He decides not to wake him. “Besides,” the admiral comments, “there isn’t much to tell him anyway.”
By now the Allied fleet and air force has pummeled the target beaches, and thousands of Allied troops are hitting the shores of Normandy.
D-Day has come. =======
- In an interview after the war, General Richter told Cornelius Ryan that he himself had made the call.
It is quiet at the Rommel home in Herrlingen. Dawn has broken. The peaceful silence of another day in a small town.
The field marshal is up early. Manfred, home on leave a Luftwaffe anti-aircraft defence unit in Stuttgart, is still asleep. This is a special day. It’s Lucie’s 50th birthday. He has arranged with the servants to have bouquets of sweet-smelling flowers from the fields in each of the rooms. The night before, he had carefully gathered his wife’s presents into the drawing room table.
Later that morning, he would lay them out and prepare them, putting last minute touches here and there. Naturally, the handmade Parisian shoes that he has bought for her will be the centerpiece of the gift array. They are a special edition of platform-style, gray sued pumps, with black heels. And of course, they are her size: 5-1/2.
Some time around 6:20 A.M., the phone rings. Surprised, Rommel answers it, still wearing his dressing gown.
It is Speidel at La Roche-Guyon. Rommel He goes numb as his chief of staff reports that some sort of an attack' has been made. There have been a number of airborne drops in the Normandy area. Speidel concluded that he was not sure whether or not this was just a Dieppe-type’ of raid (possibly to divert their attention) or the actual invasion.
Rommel replied tersely, “Well, find out — and FAST.”
An invasion? In lousy weather? Can it be? Rommel calls Lang and tells him to pack, they may have to go back. In the meantime, Speidel calmly calls Tempelhoff in Munich.
Staff members at Rommel’s headquarters are optimistic about this whole landing thing. Many of the staff, up most of the night, have gone to bed.
OB West has ordered the reserve panzer divisions towards the coast. No one knows that Jodl and OKW have counter- manded the order.
The 21st Panzer Division, alerted since midnight, is now moving towards their jumpoff points against the enemy. The target is the British paratroopers on the east bank of the Orne, holding the two bridges near Bernville. The 21st units are,awaiting Feuchtinger’s word to advance. So in addition to the units mobilized and ready on the coast, three full panzer divisions are thought to be on their way into the troubled area.
Unfortunately, no one remembers General Pickert and the rest of his III Flak Corps, on the other side of the Seine. The flak units would not get the word until mid-afternoon.
8 A.M. General Feuchtinger is mad as hell. He and his men had just begun to engage the British on the east bank of the Orne… Now it was all for nothing! He had just gotten off the phone with General Marcks. That one-legged bastard had told him that he had spoken to Berlin, and that the 21st Panzer was now a part of Marcks’ Corps, and his to command. That being the case, Feuchtinger was now to turn his entire division around and to go back to Caen (which was probably a traffic madhouse by now), because it was being threatened by the British landing at the beaches. From there he was to advance towards the British beachhead and crush it. The beachhead, Marcks tells him, is the highest priority. The paratroopers will have to wait.
When Feuchtinger snidely pointed out that somebody has to keep the airborne troops at bay, Marcks agrees. Reconsidering, he allows him to leave behind one panzer recon company from the 22nd Panzer Regiment. Feuch- tinger leaves one, but he also decides to leave von Luck’s 125th Panzer-Grenadier Regiment behind as well. No matter what, a lot of time will be wasted as the rest of the division moves back, southeast to Caen, where it will cross the river and the canal and then move up along the WEST bank towards the beachhead.
At 8:30, General Marcks talks to General Kraiss, commanding the beleaguered 352nd Division. Kraiss is nearly frantic. His units are taking heavy casualties and are starting to run low on ammunition. It is true that the enemy is still well-pinned down on the beaches, but he does not think that he could keep them there. The enemy has taken severe casualties, but they just keep landing, jamming themselves at the base of the cliffs. Sooner or later, the Americans are going to break out.
Kraiss tells him with disgust that Meyer’s group is lost, and Meyer’s radio must not be working. Kraiss has scouts out looking for them. Marcks shakes his head, and orders Kraiss to keep him posted.
In front Marcks, the enemy has apparently landed in five main areas. The two areas on the left are American, and of the three on the right, two are British, and the third is either British or Canadian. The assault troops are supported by a massive fleet, whose size hax dum- founded his observers. The hundreds of aircraft flying overhead gave testimony to the air support that the enemy has committed.
At 9:00 A.M. Baron von der Heydte, commanding the 6th Parachute Regiment, calls Marcks. His men are moving towards Ste-Mere-Eglise. He has seen the invasion fleet, and is stunned by its panorama.
“This is the invasion,” von der Heyte tells Marcks.
At 09:10, Pemsel at Seventh Army calls Speidel. He has been calling all night with reports, trying to get Speidel to understand what is happening. Finally, he stirs the man out of his complacency by tensely reporting that a massive landing had taken place on the Normandy beaches, and that the beach defence zone has been breached in several areas. They discuss what to do for a good half hour.
A few minutes later, Blumentritt calls to tell them that Jodl has again forbidden movement of the reserve panzers until Hitler releases them. Still, Rommel’s headquarters stays optomistic.
At 10:10, Speidel decides that it is time to call Rommel back and tell him the news.
At Herrlingen, the hours go by slowly. Trying to kill some time, Rommel fusses with the gift arrangements on the table. The more he tries to act normally, the more con- cerned he becomes. He had no appetite, so he talks some with Manfred, trying to explain to the boy what is going on.
Finally, at 10:15, the phone rings. It is Speidel. It is 10:15 A.M. He confirms Rommel’s worst fears. The invasion had begun. It was in Normandy. As the Chief adds some early details, Rommel listens in silence, the blood draining from his face. He must return at once.
He hangs up and tells Lucie the shocking news. Standing there, still stunned, he finally comments softly, “How stupid of me… How stupid of me.”
Regaining his composure, he yanks the receiver up again. He calls OKW and tells them where he is at, and that he was returning to France at once. Then he tells his servant to call Lang and tell him to meet Rommel at Freudenstadt at noon, instead of 11 A.M. Tempelhoff will just have to manage to somehow return on his own.
Rommel is out of the house in fifteen minutes. Lucie, still in shock, will later discover that the birthday shoes do not fit her.
Some time after 9 A.M., General Schmundt, Hitler’s army adjutant, had woken the Fuehrer up to tell him about the landings. Hitler calmly listens to Schmundt’s report, and then sends for Keitel and Jodl. By the time they arrive, he is dressed, but not so pleasant. They talk about the little information that has come in. It seems though, that between Le Havre and the port of Cherbourg some large enemy landings have occured in the early morning. Jodl added that more were expected, but they did not know where.
Jodl also tells him of von Rundstedt’s order to move the reserve panzers forward, and that he personally has countermanded the order until they have a better overall picture of what is happening, and the F=FChrer can decide himself where to move them.
Hitler approves of that, and Jodl is relieved to hear it.
The F=FChrer at this point is not sure if this is the primary landing. Twice he had said, “This is NOT the main invasion,” and once that it might be.
The briefing quickly over, he suddenly looks up at them. “Well?!?” he barks, “Is it or isn’t it the invasion?!?” Before they can reply, he turns and walks out of the room.
Later, as he is being driven to Klessheim Castle for his formal briefing, he is back in a good mood, bragging about how he would destroy the Anglo-Americans.
By late afternoon, things have reached a strange pinnacle. At OKW, optimism reigns. NOW the enemy would pay for daring to step ashore on occupied Europe! Happy, Hitler releases the reserve panzers at 3:30 P.M. Now ordered to move in broad daylight, they will be harassed and pummeled mercilessly from the air by an overpowering enemy air force as they struggle up roads they could have travelled easily the night before.
Rommel has picked up Lang and is being driven hell- bent-for-leather back to his headquarters. Crazy with impatience and concern, he will stop once to get an update, before he finally arrives back at La Roche- Guyon some time after 9 P.M., too late to do much of anything until the next morning. His staff is now crushed over the day’s events - except for Speidel, who stays calm and above it all.
At the front, the Germans have played their last card at destroying the beachhead. The 21st Panzer Division, finally in place to attack the British late in the afternoon, surge ahead into the long-awaited counterattack, with Marcks himself leading one of the columns into battle.
Von Oppeln-Bronkowski’s panzers attack on the right, and Rauch’s 192nd Panzer-Grenadiers fan out to his left.** The tanks themselves are stopped cold by a well- protected, well-camouflaged, ridge of enemy tanks and anti-tank guns. Von Oppeln’s own tank is shot out from under him, as are a couple dozen new but antiquated PzKw IVs.
The 192nd though, gets lucky. Breaking through between the Canadians on the left and the British on the right, they smash through to the sea, relieving some beleaguered units there. But no help comes to support their advance, and sitting out there on the beaches, they feel exposed.
Stopped on the right, von Oppeln has not given up. Part of his men were dug in and the rest were ready to follow the 192nd up the middle. Oppeln ordered his defensive line to hold their position, and he began to brief the other group of nearly 50 panzers on how to follow the panzer-grenadiers to the shoreline. General Feuchtinger comes up and agrees with his plan.
But Feuchtinger’s confidence goes away at about 8 P.M. when, looking up, he sees the unmistakable sight of hundreds of parachutes falling in front of and behind the dug-in forward positions of his panzers.*** He panics, thinking that this is an airborne attempt in reaction to his counterattack, with the paratroopers intending to cut his men off. Concerned about his rear, he calls off the entire attack on the beachhead, and orders the withdrawal of the 21st to a new position behind them.
Marcks’s men cannot stop the enemy coming ashore. Even at Omaha, the crisis ends as the Americans manage to get off the beach. The clearing weather makes it worse, as the Allied air force and navy pitch in to support the men beneath the cliffs. The Germans, low on ammo, shocked by the day’s fighting, and seeing little relief, slowly begin to fall back.
Von Rundstedt, infuriated over the panzer episode, is in bad temper all day as he struggles to get a hold of the situation.
And on the beaches, the Allies, far from being in a celebrating mood, move at breakneck speed to consolidate their beachheads. They are pretty sure that they are there to stay, but you just never know. The wise ones keep looking over their shoulders for a swarm of German tanks to descend upon them.
Besides, there is not much to celebrate at this point. There is a long road ahead of them, the fight has just begun in France, and thousands of their comrades already lay dead or dying at their feet.
- Many sources, including Speidel himself, state that he made the first or only phone call between 6 and 6:30 A.M. The headquarters war diary logged only one call to Rommel, at 10:15; But interviews by Cornelius Ryan with Manfred Rommel, Lang, and Tempelhoff bear out that there was indeed an early morning phonecall, and that the second one came at the generally-acknowledged time of 10:15. This 10:15 time is given further credence by the fact that General Speidel was only informed by Pemsel of the naval bombardment at 06:15, but not notified of any actual landings until Pemsel called him around 0910. Other unsupported works support the 10:15 call tim
