D-Day

My Grandad was there - he'd already fought all through North Africa, and one of his stories was that experienced troops like him weren't interested in D-day. They'd done their share and it was someone else's turn. But they were thrown in again and again as 'blooded' troops who could get the job done.
 
Wes, a friend of mine, was in the 26th/1st Inf Div landing between Easy Red and Fox Green on Omaha beach.
He said the allocation of troops was very strategic - They preferred either the most experienced combat units (of which the 16th were probably one of the most experienced) in landing zones where the worst fighting was expected, or those with absolutely no previous beach landing experience since they'd not know how bad it was going to be and would just charge bravely in.
Wes said the worst part was, in addition to carrying so much kit, the woollen uniforms and canvas webbing which doubled in weight when wet. When you see footage of people walking up the beach despite the incoming fire, it's because they're too heavy to run.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Wes, a friend of mine, was in the 26th/1st Inf Div landing between Easy Red and Fox Green on Omaha beach.
He said the allocation of troops was very strategic - They preferred either the most experienced combat units (of which the 16th were probably one of the most experienced) in landing zones where the worst fighting was expected, or those with absolutely no previous beach landing experience since they'd not know how bad it was going to be and would just charge bravely in.
Wes said the worst part was, in addition to carrying so much kit, the woollen uniforms and canvas webbing which doubled in weight when wet. When you see footage of people walking up the beach despite the incoming fire, it's because they're too heavy to run.
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I didn't know that. It took incredible courage to do what they did...
 
Vicky McClure has done a TV programme, where she talks to her granddad about the d-day landing and she goes in the sea fully kitted in the wollen uniform and webbing and can bearly walk when she gets out.
 
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A friends Grandfather was on the way to Normandy but got delayed and didn't arrive until the 26th so missed the days carnage. After that they went to Arnhem.
He was in 9th SS panzer division Hohenstaufen.
 
My Grandfather original applied for the paratroopers but his technical skills meant he went to the royal signals instead and to India in 1937. Otherwise he would have been part of those that was dropped before the main beach assault. Ended up going to Burma instead fighting the Japanese which was a job in itself. It is amazing how one simple event could have changed the course of my very existence.
 
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BowdonUK said:
There doesn't seem to have been that much commemoration this time.
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Tbh i searched multiple times on here to see if anything was mentioned. And was a little suprised there wasnt.
And yeah, not much online. People more interesting in Love island and who Philip Schofield is ********* :rolleyes:
 
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Lest we forget, My Granda was there, as an Engineer, im guessing on one of the British invasion beaches, then went into Begium, Holland, Germany till the wars end, was injured by a v1 doodlebug bomb i think they were called, he passed away shortly after i was born in 1985
 
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