June 6, 1944

posted at 11:35 pm on June 6, 2010 by Steven Den Beste

This is the anniversary of D-Day, the Anglo-American invasion of France. The term “D-Day” was military jargon and every major assault had its own, but that particular D-Day comes down to us as the definitive one.

And it’s the kind of battle which invites hyperbole — or reveals ignorance. Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Cynthia Dizikes subtitles her article, “Veterans remember harrowing, yet tide-changing Invasion of Normandy 66 years ago”.

D-Day wasn’t “tide-changing”. There are three major battles which really represented moments when the tide changed. The first of those was Midway, in June of 1942. The second was the Second Battle of El Alamein, November 1942. The third was Kursk, August 1943.

Midway was the miracle, the come-from-behind win that ended Japanese advances in the Pacific. El Alamein was the point where the British began to push the Germans back in north Africa. And Kursk, while not the first time the Red Army stopped the Germans (Stalingrad was earlier) was the last major offensive by the Germans on the Eastern Front. After that the Red Army began pushing back, hard.

IMHO Midway was the most amazing. Kursk was the most expensive. (The Red Army suffered about a million casualties in that campaign alone.)

By June of 1944, the Germans had left North Africa. Sicily had fallen. Italy had surrendered (and changed sides). Anglo-American forces had reached and taken Rome. The Battle of the Atlantic, while still being fought, was already decided. The Luftwaffe had largely been defeated.

In the Pacific, the American fleet under Admiral Spruance was preparing to take Guam, Tinian and Saipan. (The attack began about two weeks after D-Day.)

And on the Eastern Front, the Red Army had advanced all the way to the Polish border, and was preparing a new offensive to be launched in concert with the landing in France.

The D-Day invasion, while tough and dangerous, was a continuation of the process of defeating the Axis which had begun many months before.

The men who fought at Normandy, and especially the ones who died there, do not need to have their accomplishments exaggerated. What they did stands tall and will be forever remembered. It does them a disservice to engage in hyperbole, for it implies that their true achievement wasn’t enough.

We do not need to create myths about those men. The truth is honorable. It doesn’t need to be embroidered.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon. It seems that some have already forgotten it.

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