Its D-Day..

[Rebel_Rider1969]

God bless the men and women who made it happen. 'Mercia!!

New fact just learned this morning.

Two months before D-Day, Allied forces conducted a disastrous dress rehearsal of the Normandy invasion on an evacuated English beach called Slapton Sands. Known as “Exercise Tiger,” 749 U.S. troops lost their lives after a fleet of German E-boats caught wind of the mock invasion and torpedoed American tank landing ships. Survivors described the Exercise Tiger fiasco as more terrifying than the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach.

 

[Raven]

I heard about that. I saw a documentary about one of the German boats that survived the war that was there for that "dress rehearsal"

 

[Molon Labe]

Before the beaches of Normandy and the disaster of Slapton Sands there were myriads of training grounds preparing for the coastal invasion of Europe and the continuation of the "island hopping" in the Pacific. One of the training areas was at Camp Gordon Johnston located in Carrabelle, in nearby Franklin County. Training there was no walk in the park, and as in any military training, due to the usual snafus and other unforeseen occurrances, some events lead to tragic results. Many GIs lost there lives there before reaching a battleground.

They have a little museum there to commemorate the men who trained there and what they went through back then. It's on the internet for those who are interested in a little slice of mostly unknown important stuff. God bless them all!

 

[ccc]

Might have been used there

 

[RHINOWSO]

If you want to read an amazing (and sobering) book about D-Day, I highly recommend this one. "Voices of D-day", it's a collection of stories from soldiers and sailors who were there, including people who survived the 1st and 2nd waves.

 

[Ross7]

Images of the D-Day landings and the invasion of Normandy.

D-Day: June 6, 1944 | National Review

Images of the D-Day landings and the invasion of Normandy.

www.nationalreview.com

 

[ccc]

Many died from the landing craft off loading in too deep water and GI’s being drowned from sinking with all their gear on

 

[stage20]

I just can't imagine being in a boat watching all your brothers killed and no option but to follow the same fate.

 

[Raven]

I just can't imagine being in a boat watching all your brothers killed and no option but to follow the same fate.

I've stood in one of those boats and run down the ramp. It looks about the same as standing in the bed of a dump truck. For the number of men who landed versus the number who died, there was actually a pretty good chance of making the landing and making it off the beach. Of course, they didnt know that on the first day of the first landing.