June 6th, 80 years ago; D-Day - "First Wave at Omaha Beach" - Atlantic Magazine

UPDATE: Ugh. The Atlantic is no longer allowing free access to this article. You have to subscribe or do a free trial. There is a synopsis of the article here or better, email me and I will send you a pdf of the article. Or if you hit the link to the article in the posting you can print a pdf yourself. Well worth reading.

I have posted this the last two three years. When you have 15 or 20 minutes sit down and read it.

A great piece of writing from their November, 1960 issue. Absorbing reading; terrifying and heroic...

An account of the “epic human tragedy” that unfolded when Allied troops landed on the shores of Normandy on D-Day

Unlike what happens to other great battles, the passing of the years and the retelling of the story have softened the horror of Omaha Beach on D Day.

This fluke of history is doubly ironic since no other decisive battle has ever been so thoroughly reported for the official record. While the troops were still fighting in Normandy, what had happened to each unit in the landing had become known through the eyewitness testimony of all survivors. It was this research by the field historians which first determined where each company had hit the beach and by what route it had moved inland. Owing to the fact that every unit save one had been mislanded, it took this work to show the troops where they had fought.

How they fought and what they suffered were also determined in detail during the field research. As published today, the map data showing where the troops came ashore check exactly with the work done in the field; but the accompanying narrative describing their ordeal is a sanitized version of the original field notes.

 

Comments

[Kathy]

I watched the live feed of todays event at Normandy. A very powerful and moving event. Reminding us that freedom isn’t free. ABMC did a remarkable job of putting it together. (Our sons employer.)

[Kathy]

I watched the live feed of todays event at Normandy. A very powerful and moving event. Reminding us that freedom isn’t free. ABMC did a remarkable job of putting it together. (Our sons employer.)