June 5 1944 D-Day -1
June 5 1944
American troops of the 1st Infantry Division leaving the port of Weymouth, Dorset in Southern England en route to Omaha Beach in Normandy.
Photo by Robert Capa
June 5, 1944
Lt Col Robert William Dawson aboard LSI 'Maid of Orleans' briefing D & E Troops of 4 Commando, 1st Special Service Brigade, just before embarking for Normandy.
Lt Col Dawson was awarded the DSO for "gallant and distinguished services in Normandy." He was wounded twice during the action at Ouistreham on the 6th June 1944 but continued to lead the attack. The citation adds that "It was due to his leadership and direction that the attack was successfully pressed home.
In the centre of the group (with moustache) is 7365489 Private Orlando Raffaele Farnese
Royal Army Medical Corps and No. 4, Commando
who died age 24 on 06 June 1944
Remembered with honour at OUISTREHAM-RIVA-BELLA COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Following close behind the 8th Brigade on Sword was Brigadier The Lord Lovat's 1st Special Service Brigade. No.4 Commando, with two French Troops of No.10 Inter-Allied Commando in hand, were the first to arrive on the beach, landing an hour after the assault troops. The Commandos had produced their plan on the assumption that the beach would be cleared of opposition by the time that they arrived, leaving them free to push inland with great speed. They were not pleased, therefore, to find that control of the beach was still in dispute. No.4 Commando and their French comrades entered the fight immediately and, as their excellent offensive training had instructed them, went about clearing the beach defences with tremendous speed and aggression.
This vanguard of the Brigade was to be detached from Lovat's command for the initial period of the invasion. While the remainder of the Brigade raced to the aid of the 6th Airborne Division, No.4 Commando went about clearing opposition from the town of Ouistreham, bordering the eastern end of Sword Beach. Here, the French Commandos became engaged in protracted and vicious street fighting, which intensified as they arrived in the Casino area, their objective. No.4 Commando proceeded through the town in a similarly hard-fought fashion, but when they reached the site of their own objective, a coastal battery, they found nothing. The battery had been withdrawn, some days previously, to a point a few miles away, and from there its guns fired upon the Commandos at the original site, causing some losses amongst them. In all, Nos. 4 and 10 Commandos suffered some one hundred casualties in Ouistreham.
Paratroops of the 22nd Independent Parachute Company, British 6th Airborne Division, with their toy mascot 'Pegasus' at RAF Harwell, 5 June 1944.
During the Second World War it was found necessary and advantageous to form small groups of parachute soldiers into ‘pathfinder’ units, to parachute onto the selected drop zone ahead of the main force. Their tasks were to mark the drop zone, establish directional radio beacons to enable the coming transport aircraft to ‘home’ in on the exact drop point and to clear and protect the area as the main force parachuted or air landed.
The Pathfinder Company also acted as an early warning if the selected drop zone was heavily defended, possibly enabling diversion to an alternative. Once the main force was down the pathfinders were employed as a small reserve or reconnaissance force.
The 22nd Independent Company the Parachute Regiment was formed between May and September 1943 to serve the 6th Airborne Division. Like its sister unit the 21st, the Company consisted of a Company Headquarters and three platoons, each with one officer and 32 men. Each platoon was sub-divided into three sticks, commanded by a sergeant or Corporal. These operated Eureka ground to air radio beacons to Rebecca receivers inside the incoming transport aircraft of the main force. Coloured panels were used to mark DZs by day and 6v battery powered Holophane lamps by night.
22nd Company jumped on D-Day on 6th June 1944 achieving limited success with the subsequent scattered main lift insertion. It fought around Breville and remained as line infantry in Normandy until the break out to the Seine in August.
The Company fought in the Ardennes during the winter fighting of 1944-5 and took part in Operation VARSITY, the Rhine Crossing in March 1945. After the war in Europe the Company was attached and accompanied the 5th Parachute Brigade to the Far East in 1945-6.
Glider pilots of 6th Airborne Division and RAF crews are briefed at RAF Harwell in Berkshire, UK for the D Day invasion, 5 June 1944.
"....the Airborne troops made their final preparations, and for the first time their RAF crews were briefed."
D-Day was scheduled to take place at dawn on the 5th June, with the paratroopers taking to the air on the previous evening, however bad weather resulted in the invasion being postponed for twenty-four hours. The weather had been perfect in May, but now that the Allies were at last ready, the worst storm for years broke out over the English Channel. Good weather was essential for a successful attack, not just for the troops at sea, but also for those in the air. High winds would account for many casualties amongst the paratroopers before a shot was fired, whilst the gliders would be at a greater risk of their tow ropes breaking before they reached the landing zone.
The invasion had to take place some time between the 5th and 7th June, because it was a period that favoured the airborne troops with a late-rising full Moon and also gave the correct tide conditions for a sea-borne assault. The tide at the time was high enough for the troops to be landed as close to the German defences as possible, but also low enough to reveal many of the underwater mines and obstructions that had been laid. The next period when this same tide would be available was the 19th June, but to attack then would mean the paratroopers jumping in total darkness. To further complicate matters, the invasion fleet was already at sea and it did not have enough fuel to wait until the 7th June. If the attack was not launched on the 6th June, it would mean the postponement of Operation Overlord until July. General Eisenhower, out of regard for the morale of the men under his command and also keeping the invasion of Normandy a secret, regarded such a delay as "too bitter to contemplate."
In the closing hours for the 4th June, however, Eisenhower was informed by his meteorological staff that there would be a gradual improvement of conditions during the day which would continue through the morning of the 6th June, after which the weather would again deteriorate. The Allies had only previously launched an invasion in ideal weather, but the conditions available for Normandy were far below what was the accepted minimum requirement. Eisenhower, after consultation with his Generals, thought silently for several minutes before declaring, "I am quite positive we must give the order. I don't like it, but there it is. I don't see how we can do anything else." Operation Overlord was on.
The order to proceed was circulated. To many of the soldiers waiting with the invasion fleet in the English Channel, having struggled with terrible sea sickness for three days, the order, to go anywhere but stay on a boat for another moment, came as something of a relief. Back in England, the Airborne troops made their final preparations, and for the first time their RAF crews were briefed.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower meeting with men from Co. E, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (Strike) 101st Airborne Division, just before they load up for the drop on Normandy, June 5, 1944. The majority of the men in this photo were killed or wounded in battle a few hours later.
They were designated in drop zone 'A' scheduled for jumping off at 00.48 hours 6/6/44. Although the 2nd Battalion 502nd PIR was dropped as a compact unit, it jumped on the wrong drop zone, while its commander, Lt Col. Steve A. Chappuis, came down virtually alone on the correct drop zone. Chappuis and this stick captured the coastal battery soon after assembling, and found that it had already been dismantled after an air raid.
The 502nd jumped into Normandy with 792 men. After six days of desperate fighting, only 129 were still standing and able to make the road march back to St. Come-du-Mount.
1st Lt. Wallace C. Strobel, centre, seen here talking to Eisenhower, wears a placard around his neck indicating he is the jumpmaster for chalk 23 of the 438 TCG (troop carrier group).
"The picture was taken at Greenham Common Airfield in England about 8:30 p.m. on June 5th 1944, my 22nd birthday. It was shortly before we were to leave the tented assembly area to which, for security reasons, we had been confined for about 5 days. We had darkened our faces and hands with burned cork, cocoa and cooking oil to be able to blend into the darkness and prevent reflection from the moon. We were all very well prepared emotionally for the operation
