The June 6, 1944, order of the day was issued by Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower to Allied forces on the eve of D-Day, the first day of the invasion of Normandy. The message was intended to impress upon the troops the importance of their mission which Eisenhower called a "Great Crusade". Eisenhower had been drafting the order since February 1944 and recorded a spoken version on May 28, that was broadcast on British and American radio on D-Day.
The invasion of Normandy and Operation Overlord as a whole was a significant moment in World War II. A British, American and Canadian Allied Expeditionary Force landed in northern France on June 6, 1944, (D-Day) to begin the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany. Millions of troops were massed in England under the command of Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Normandy landings were the largest amphibious warfare operation ever launched, with more than 166,000 crossing the English Channel to Normandy. [1] As part of the planning, Eisenhower began drafting an order of the day, to be distributed to the invading troops, in February 1944. [2]
The order is addressed to the "soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force ... about to embark upon the Great Crusade". It reminds the men that "the eyes of the world are upon you" and that the "hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you" before recognising the contributions made by those fighting the Germans on other fronts. Eisenhower warns the men that the enemy is expected to "fight savagely" but that the "United Nations" have defeated German armies elsewhere and that the Allied air offensive has inflicted great damage; he also notes the Allied superiority in men, weaponry and munitions. He concludes by asking his men to pray for God to bless "this great and noble undertaking". [3]
An earlier version of the order used plainer language, having "great undertaking" in place of "Great Crusade" and omitting mention of "liberty-loving people". [4] Eisenhower also changed the placement of phrases in the order. He was responsible for moving the "eyes of the world" and "liberty-loving people" sentences from the end of the speech to near the start and for using "march with you" where the original had "go with you". Eisenhower also replaced "you may expect him to fight savagely" with "he will fight savagely" and the original closing phrase "we can and we will win" was amended to "we will accept nothing less than full victory!" with an exclamation point added. [5]
On the eve of D-Day (June 5, 1944) the order was distributed as a printed leaflet to 175,000 members of the Allied forces. [2] The order was intended to impress upon them the importance of the mission they were about to undertake. [6] At the time of the invasion Eisenhower's order was widely distributed outside of the armed forces—it was read out to 50,000 people assembled in New York's Central Park on the evening of June 6—and has been reproduced since in books and films about the war. Eisenhower himself adapted the "Great Crusade" line for the title of his 1948 book about the war Crusade in Europe . [6]
Eisenhower recorded a version for radio broadcast on 28 May, at which point the invasion was intended for 31 May or 1 June (poor weather delayed the landings until June 6). The recording has been described by Timothy Rives, Deputy Director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, as "[ringing] with confidence", with Eisenhower sounding "reminiscent of the actor Clark Gable". [7]
Airborne elements of the Allied Expeditionary Force landed in Normandy from around midnight on 5/6 June but official notification of the invasion was withheld until the naval landings were known to have begun. This event began with the American landings at around 6:30 a.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST) and was confirmed to SHAEF headquarters by a radioman transmitting the codeword TOPFLIGHT. [7] [8] The British and Canadian landings began around an hour later. [8]
German radio stations in Berlin had been broadcasting the news of the invasion since 6:33 a.m. CEST (12:33 a.m. Eastern War Time in New York) but American media could not confirm this and warned that the messages could be false. [9] [10] : 198
In the United Kingdom the first official confirmation of the invasion was broadcast on the BBC by John Snagge, who announced that Allied Armies had started landing "on the northern coast of France" at 9.32 am in British Double Summer Time (equivalent to CEST). The actual location (Normandy) was not given. Eisenhower's order, received on disc via military courier, was broadcast soon afterwards. [11]
The American broadcast of the order was made almost simultaneously at 3:32 a.m. Eastern War Time, after the official SHAEF notification was made to the news corporations by Colonel Richard Ernest Dupuy. [9] [10] : 198 : 201 The order was followed, at 3:48 a.m. Eastern War Time by recorded messages from the leaders of the governments-in-exile of Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands (in their native languages and in English) and then Eisenhower's People of Western Europe speech. [10] : 203
Amid last minute delays caused by weather and disagreements over strategy and timing, Eisenhower wrote a short message to be issued in case the invasion was repulsed. [2] [12] The message was written with a pencil on a small notebook during the afternoon of June 5, Eisenhower having given the final order to proceed with the invasion that morning. [5] [2] He tore off the sheet and kept it in his wallet. Eisenhower rediscovered the note on July 11 and showed it to naval aide Harry C. Butcher, who persuaded Eisenhower to preserve the note for posterity; it is now in the collection of the presidential library. [5] The note stated that "if any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone". [12] In his haste Eisenhower misdated the message July 5. [5]
Operation Fortitude was a military deception operation by the Allied nations as part of Operation Bodyguard, an overall deception strategy during the buildup to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was divided into two subplans, North and South, and had the aim of misleading the German High Command as to the location of the invasion.
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a Theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945. It commanded Army Ground Forces (AGF), United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), and Army Service Forces (ASF) operations north of Italy and the Mediterranean coast. It was bordered to the south by the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), which later became the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (MTOUSA).
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in northwest Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. US General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF throughout its existence. The position itself shares a common lineage with Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Atlantic, but they are different titles.
Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) was the headquarters that controlled all Allied operational forces in the Mediterranean theatre of World War II from August 1942 until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.
The Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF), also known as the Allied Armies’ Expeditionary Air Force (AAEAF), was the expeditionary warfare component of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) which controlled the tactical air power of the Allied forces during Operation Overlord during World War II in 1944.
The First Allied Airborne Army was an Allied formation formed on 2 August 1944 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The formation was part of the Allied Expeditionary Force and controlled all Allied airborne forces in Western Europe from August 1944 to May 1945. These included the U.S. IX Troop Carrier Command, the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, which controlled the 17th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and a number of independent airborne units, all British airborne forces including the 1st and 6th Airborne Division plus the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade.
The Psychological Warfare Division of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was a joint Anglo-American organization set-up in World War II tasked with conducting (predominantly) white tactical psychological warfare against German troops and recently liberated countries in Northwest Europe, during and after D-Day. It was headed by US Brigadier-General Robert A. McClure. The Division was formed from staff of the US Office of War Information (OWI) and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the British Political Warfare Executive (PWE).
Ike: Countdown to D-Day is a 2004 American made-for-television historical war drama film originally aired on the American television channel A&E, directed by Robert Harmon and written by Lionel Chetwynd. Countdown to D-Day was filmed entirely in New Zealand with the roles of British characters played by New Zealanders; the American roles were played by Americans.
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.
In the military, D-Day is the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. The best-known D-Day is during World War II, on June 6, 1944—the day of the Normandy landings—initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate western Europe from Nazi Germany. However, many other invasions and operations had a designated D-Day, both before and after that operation.
Major General Ray Wehnes Barker was a United States Army officer of the Allied Forces, and served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Barker was a key member of the combined United States-British group, which became known as COSSAC. This group planned the Battle of Normandy, codenamed "Operation Overlord", also known as D-Day, which liberated Nazi-occupied France. He served as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the European Theater from 1943–1944, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF).
Julius Cecil Holmes was a US government official who served as Ambassador to Iran.
Lieutenant General Harold Roe "Pink" Bull was a general in the United States Army and served as Assistant Chief of Staff (G-3) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) from 1943 to 1945.
General Sir John Francis Martin Whiteley, was a senior British Army officer who became Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff (DCIGS). A career soldier, Whiteley was commissioned in 1915 into the Royal Engineers from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. During the First World War he served in Salonika and the Middle East.
Camp Griffiss was a US military base in the United Kingdom during and after World War II. Constructed within the grounds of Bushy Park in Middlesex,, England, it served as the European Headquarters for the United States Army Air Forces from July 1942 to December 1944. From here Dwight D. Eisenhower planned the D-Day invasion. Most of the camp's huts had been removed by the early 1960s, and a memorial tablet now stands on the site.
Operation Peppermint was the codename given during World War II to preparations by the Manhattan Project and the European Theater of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA) to counter the danger that the Germans might disrupt the June 1944 Normandy landings with radioactive poisons.
Colonel Richard Ernest Dupuy was a United States Army officer and military historian.
The "People of Western Europe" speech was made by Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the run-up to the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Addressed to the people of occupied Europe it informed them of the start of the invasion and advised them on the actions Eisenhower wanted them to take. It also addressed the Allies' plans for post-liberation government.
The Overlord planners for the invasion of Europe in 1944 specified suitable weather for the assault landing; with only a few days in each month suitable. In May and June 1944 frequent pre-assault meetings were held at Southwick House in Hampshire near Portsmouth by Eisenhower with Group Captain James Stagg of the RAF, the Chief Meteorological Officer, SHAEF, his deputy Colonel Donald Yates of the USAAF, and his three two-man teams of meteorologists. Stagg was a "dour but canny Scot.. " He had been given the rank of group captain in the RAF "to lend him the necessary authority in a military milieu unused to outsiders". The senior commanders were General Bernard Montgomery, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay and Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, plus Eisenhower's deputy, Air Marshall Arthur Tedder, his chief of staff Walter Bedell Smith and his deputy chief of Staff Major General Harold R. Bull.
John Ford's D-Day footage refers to the motion-picture film shot by 56 U.S. Coast Guard combat photographers and automated cameras mounted on landing craft under the direction of legendary Hollywood film director John Ford on Omaha Beach and environs during the Normandy landings and Battle of Normandy in summer 1944. Director George Stevens landed with the HMS Belfast and shot on Juno Beach. A Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) timeline reported that 344,000 ft (105,000 m) of film was processed by the Allied communications departments in June 1944.
