 In December 1943, at Tehran, Persia, the date for the liberation of the people of Europe was set on the Allied calendar of operations. Chosen to be supreme commander was General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Destroy Hitler's empire, smash it by air, break it wide open, then invade by sea. That was the directive. The cross-channel assault was the crux of our plan. Early capture of a large port was of the utmost importance. Considered were Calais, Dieppe, Le Havre, Cherbourg, Brest. Cherbourg was selected. For more than one full year, they're poured into Great Britain a torrent of war implements, tanks, guns, weapons beyond description. And men, American soldiers at the rate of 150,000 every month. Assault training included every phase of the coming battle. In the early spring of 1944, joint maneuvers of the ground, sea and air forces, which were to make the attack, were held along the southern coast of England. Every duty was performed as if this were the real thing. British shores chosen for their similarity to the coastlines of the Normandy Peninsula were the staging areas for these maneuvers. Meanwhile, the Allied Strategic Air Assault on Fortress Europe went on with ever-mounting power. Day and night, the Allied air forces sent their bomb cargos into the vitals of Hitler's self-proclaimed kingdom. Targets, factories, air drones, synthetic fuel plants, crude oil refineries, munitions works, railroads, canals, power plants. The climax of the air war came in February 1944 when the Luftwaffe made a desperate all-out effort to sweep our daybombers from the sky. The battle raged for a week. The cost to us was high, but the German Air Force came out of the battle crippled beyond redemption. Our attacks continued with unafated fury. At Bibowak and training areas, ground troops received their alert orders. Men and equipment started to move. 65,000 men and 7,600 vehicles from Bibowak areas all over Great Britain were moved to marshaling areas in southern England without a hitch. Highways were kept clear of all civilian traffic during this period. Rumor that the Great Invasion was at last underway flew through the length and breadth of Great Britain. In the marshaling area, each man drew a new gas mass of the latest type, an instantaneous life belt. Field rations were issued, including cigarettes and candy. When the men received French folding money, they knew what was what. Now special briefing officers took over. Each unit was briefed individually. The movement of the initial invasion task force from the marshaling areas to the embarkation points in southeastern England began on 30 May 1944. The timetable called for all troops, vehicles and supplies to be aboard their transports within five days. This transportation and embarkation schedule so vital to the whole invasion plan required the closest possible coordination of times of departure and arrival. The operation was executed with expert skill and efficiency. Morale was high, toughened, skilled, easy under discipline. Our men knew they were ready. Embarkation of men and equipment took place simultaneously at nine seaports along the southern and southwestern coast of England. All vehicles and tanks were loaded backwards on LSTs and LCIs. Concrete and cobblestone embarkation lanes known as hearts have been constructed to speed loading. All vehicles embarked with gas tanks filled and sufficient extra gas for 150 miles. And the foot soldier was on time and in place. All English seashore towns through which our military forces passed were quarantined as a precaution against the leakage of information. Had the Luftwaffe commanded the skies at this juncture, it could have inflicted great damage to our men and ships concentrated as they were in this relatively small area. Each man carried one K and one D ration. No extra clothing or barracks bags on this trip. General Eisenhower said of these men, there is no question at all as to the readiness of the troops. They are well trained, fit and impatient to get the job started and completed. Small assault boats ran a continuous shuttle service from the hards and docks to the transports lying at anchor in the harbor. This shuttling was a necessary expedient because of the huge amount of men and equipment that had to be loaded in a four day period and the limited dock facilities available in the ports of southeast England. But every factor in this vast transportation problem had been envisaged and worked out in advance. The arithmetic of logistics, however, could not have clicked without the spirit of frictionless teamwork which prevailed among the staffs and men of the Army and Navy. The job was everybody's job. Army, Navy, Air Force. As each ship was completely loaded with its men and equipment, it pulled out into the harbor to take its place in the forming convoy. A board ship, the men sweated out the hours of waiting, each in his own way. Naval gun crews received individual briefings. The success of this tremendous undertaking depended vitally upon the naval bombardment that would precede the assault of ground forces. Crew units rehearsed their objectives from D-Day to D-Plus-3. Everything known about the enemy's defenses was thoroughly analyzed by officers and men. Preventive maintenance service of arms and equipment was highly stressed in all branches of our military forces. An important problem was how to prevent guns and equipment from becoming followed by saltwater and sand. On 4 June, with the convoys fully loaded and ready to sail, the weather forecast for D-Day caused grave concern. A last-minute conference took place aboard the Augusta. D-Day was postponed 24 hours to 6 June. Airborne troops, the men who were to spearhead the invasion, had meanwhile been assembling at command departure points. These tough fighting men who were to drop behind the enemy's coastal defenses in parachutes and gliders had the extremely critical mission of preventing enemy counterattacks from upsetting the plan of our main assault forces. These airborne troops would be fighting the enemy and destroying his lines of communication five hours before the main assault forces hit the beaches. Covered by watchful air fighters, the American units left their various harbors in southeastern England to meet the British units and a rendezvous off the Isle of Wight. Our strategic air bombardment never let up. Through endless attacks on key bridges and rail centers, the ability of the enemy to shift reserves was fatally restricted. Under complete radio silence, each ship took its proper place in the vast Armada. At twilight came the signal for the dash across the channel. At command departure points, gliders and their tow planes were standing ready for the night's operation. Speeds and altitudes were assigned to tow plane pilots and glider pilots were given a final briefing on all that was known to our intelligence regarding the conditions likely to be found in the drop zones. Each unit's mission was clearly defined. Earlier in the day, General Gavin had a final talk with his men. General Eisenhower paid a visit to the airborne infantry. These men were assigned to six Pathfinder units. Takeoff, 2310 hours of D minus 1. Time for the airborne spearhead to get going. At more than a dozen fields, paratroopers filed out of hangars on schedule and marched to their planes. Each combat team carried adequate equipment to complete its mission independently, for it was recognized that a night drop into heavily defended enemy territory by such large forces was bound to create a wild state of confusion on both sides. Parapacks of heavy equipment would be released separately. Gliders were loaded with equipment first. Each pilot checked his list of passengers. Paratroopers put on their full load of equipment adjusting each item with extreme care. To hit the dirt just right with a full load of equipment is a highly specialized business. Final check by the jump master, the most particular man in the outfit. Paratroopers board their planes. Legpacks containing demolition supplies will be released by the men while in mid-air. Thus each man will hit the dirt close to his pack. The success of the mission depended upon the rapid destruction of certain key enemy installations. The gliders take off. The heavily armed men in them a short while before had listened to a message from the Supreme Commander. You are about to embark on a great crusade. The eyes of the world are upon you, and the hopes and prayers of all liberty-loving people are with you. The vast convoy of seaborn assault forces stood deployed against 50 miles of French coastline. American forces were commanded by Lieutenant General Bradley. British and Canadian forces were under command of Lieutenant General Dempsey. Shattering the dawn 90 minutes before eight hour, the naval bombardment opened up. It was like a convulsion of nature. More shell tonnage was expended in one hour than in the entire Allied naval campaigns of World War I. Each warship had its assigned targets, its individual schedule of fire, crime targets with the enemy's powerful coastal gunners. Infantry units that would comprise the second assault wave began transferring into their assault boats. The first assault wave was already standing by waiting for the signal to dash inshore. Last phase of air bombardment began at 05.30, one hour before touchdown of the ground troops. Screens of heavy, medium, light and fighter bombers crossed the channel in the most intensive airstrike of the entire assault operation. Objective to isolate the battle area until we could consolidate our beach heads and begin the breakthrough. The big guns poured it on. Combat teams each on a schedule continued their unloading into assault boats. There would be little time between the first assault wave and the second. The rocket ships opened up, smashing at underwater obstacles and coastal mines over the heads of the first wave of assault troops, firing their masked salvos with close precision until the troops were 300 yards from the beaches. The fury from the air went on and on. Our airmen in tactical support of the ground forces took no rest that day. Back from one sortie they gassed up, loaded their bombs and ammunition belts and grimly went out again and again. The big guns raised their sights as the assault boats went in and smashed at the enemy's gun batteries for their inland. Yet so ingeniously fortified was this coastal zone that despite the dead use of bombs and shells from our air and sea bombardment, enemy counter fire was still effective as our men neared the beaches. Our first assault wave had a full share of heartbreaking misadventures. Many of their boats were hung up and wrecked on steel headhawks. Bunging fire from enemy batteries was extremely accurate. The troops went astray or got out of control and crashed into one another. Forced to jump out of sinking boats, many men had to discard their weapons and equipment to save themselves from drowning. Casualties in the first hour were heavy. The British fired at fortified houses as they came in, smashing many a sniper's nest in observation posts. The American sector fire from enemy pill boxes kept many of our men pinned against the shore cliffs. Our casualties were high. In the British sector, special duty engineers hit the beach first with the medics and infantry following. With the beach head secure, the infantry men lost no time in driving on to other objectives. The second assault wave came in. In one American sector, enemy resistance was only sporadic and was quickly silenced. Our forces made substantial penetrations in the first hours. So it went on the beaches of Normandy this fateful day in June. Reinforcements continued to core ashore. Artillery and heavy engineering equipment were firmly established. The German boast that an invading force could not remain ashore for nine hours had been flung back on the now desperate defenders. Hitler's fortress had been cracked. The Great Gamble had been won. Having accomplished what many European military leaders believed never could be done across channel invasion, the Allies were now in position to apply their great power to the methodical destruction of the German armed might, to bring retribution to the fiendish criminals that had conceived it, to scourge it and them from the face of the earth.