WW2 (a little more background)

So, now that Adolf has a group of guys wanting to help him bring Germany back from economic disaster (army, navy, air force, death squads, etc.) he can move on with the next phase of the plan, conquer Europe. Starting with Poland in 1939, it didn’t take long (less than 2 years) to have all of Europe now called the Fatherland. And with lonely ole England just across the river, why stop at Calais?

So who was Neville Chamberlain??? Well he was Prime Minister of England just before Winston Churchill. Sir Winston Leonard-Spencer Churchill had the good favor of leading merry ole England during the most destructive war ever to hit their shores. (Not as bad as Malta if you’ve read any of our earlier posts) Winston didn’t like Adolf, who didn’t like Franklin (Roosevelt), who really didn’t care for Joe (Stalin) who didn’t like any of them. One thing they all liked was power and money. Frank sold weapons and vehicles to both Winston and Joe; Joe let Adolf play in his backyard for a small fee; Adolf took whatever booty was around especially that which was in other countries. All was good, everyone was making money and Adolf wasn’t too close to the US to do any real harm.

Wait a minute, what Adolf did next was just too much. Leveling London and beating the snot out of the Brits at Dunkirk (different story – read it elsewhere) was just enough to get Frank pissed off. Now there was also some talk of sinking US ships, saber rattling about “nicht pissen mich von” (don’t piss me off), and something about Adolf having a cooler looking bunch of uniforms, or something like that. Anyway, the fight was on.

Enter General Field Marshall Rommel. Again, skipping a lot of stuff here so go read about WW2 on your own. Rommel, Erwin to his friends, was probably the most sophisticated, intelligent and strategic officer in the Third Reich. He was assigned to “finish” the Atlantic Wall and was given 5 months to do it. Now work on the Atlantic Wall had been going on for more than 4 years, so it should have been close to being done, right? Wrong! Had Rommel not been assigned this task, the Allies would have had a far easier time invading / liberating France. Under Rommel’s direction, bunkers were finished, barriers installed (Rommel sticks were a favorite), dragon’s teeth installed, mine fields out the kazoo were laid, and guns were installed, real guns.

So, now we’re getting close. The Allies have had about enough of Adolf, Joe Stalin is getting angry because we have not started a second Eastern offensive (we did promise one) to take the pressure of the Western Front, time to do something. They needed an expert, someone with vision, someone with unchallengeable planning and organizational skills, someone with charisma, foresight, intelligence and most of all, someone who’s good looking!

Enter Lieutenant General Fredrick Morgan!!!! (Sound familiar?) Yes it was a Morgan who not only Planned Operation Overlord (the D-Day Invasion), but also Operation Cockade (read about it) and Operation Rankin (again, read about it). Seems that excellence in planning runs in the family!

Enough, we’re at the part in our story where we get serious. The D-Day invasion was horrific for all countries involved.  On the Allies side, the first wave landed about 156,000 men on 5 beach designations, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Around 50,000 German troops, heavily fortified, defended the 50-mile stretch of beach. By comparison, Gettysburg saw roughly 180,000 soldiers counting both sides but in a much smaller area, about 3.5 miles by 5 miles.

So lots of soldiers, lots of ships and tons of equipment. Our journey is to see and learn as much about these men and their efforts.

Tomorrow – Utah Beach and Pointe du Hoc.