America At DDay A Day Of Rememberance

America At D-Day A Day Of Rememberance Essay, Research Paper AMERICA AT D-DAY: A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE I am very interested in World War II. So I choose a book that was written about the Normandy Invasion. More commonly know as D-Day or Deliverance day. The title of the book is America at D-Day. It was written by Richard Goldstein. The book has 287 pages and also has 90 different pictures from the invasion of Normandy. The reason the author wrote this book was to show exactly what happened at D-Day. The author starts off by describing the preparation for D-Day in great detail. The code name given to the Normandy Invasion was Operation Overlord. It was planned mainly by General Dwight David Eisenhower. Prior to World War II Eisenhower never had any actual combat experience.

Eisenhower was a training officer during World War I. Then in 1942 Eisenhower was given command of the Allied invasion of North Africa. Eisenhower is not the type of man who has a huge ego and he does not give blood-and-guts speeches, but he does know how to manager people who have super egos. General Eisenhower had the ability to work generals–along with airmen, Navy men, and lesser soldiers by the millions–in effective harmony in carrying out large-scale operations (Goldstein 8). That is one of the reasons why Eisenhower was chosen to lead Operation Overlord. Operation Overlord was a well kept secret. The Allies went through a lot to make sure that the Germans only heard what the Allies wanted him to hear and see. The Allies built mock armies on the south eastern corner of

England. That was the location that was the shortest distance between England and France. The Germans were sure that if there was an amphibious invasion that it would come from the south eastern corner of England. The allies put up cardboard airplanes and tanks that fooled the pictures taken by the German spy planes. The Allied intelligence reports showed that Hitler and his leaders were falling for the plan. The Germans built up there troops in the area of France where the English Channel was the narrowest. The plan was to catch the Germans off guard and hit them hard and fast. The Allies split the beach of Normandy into five different parts. The British forces were to attack 3 of the beaches. The beaches were code named Gold beach, Juno beach, and Sword beach. The American

forces had to cover the other two beaches, they were code named Utah beach and Omaha beach. The Americans were also going to drop their paratroopers behind the German front lines on the Cherbourg Peninsula. The American paratroopers were from the 82nd Airborne Division and from the 101st Airborne Division. The paratroopers were to cut off any supply line to the front lines and prevent any reinforcements from reaching the beaches of Normandy. The order was given on the night of June 5, 1944 to launch the paratroopers. The paratroopers were sent in first so that they could drop under the cover of the night. The paratroopers were plagued with cloudy skies and some anti-aircraft fire. Some of the paratroopers were shot down while they dropped from the skies. Most of the paratroopers

that did survive the jump missed their intended drop zones. During the first hours of the assault their was confusion among the soldiers, but then the troops started to form up into small bands together and started to complete their missions. The paratroopers mission was for the most part a success. They gained considerable ground and destroyed vital supply lines for the Germans. However, the assault on the beaches were plagued by a lot more problems. The major problem was the choppy seas and the strong current. It made many of the allied forces land off of target. Even though they landed off course they were still able come together. The Germans also put many obstacles in the way of the landing crafts. The Germans laid mines on top of logs that stuck out of the beach. When the