.________,,_
~
l ~
~ , -
~;~4
te
( ~
~'1-.
~7~mmuni
q
ae~rom Inv
asi
on he
h
d
q
u
arters
.
~t:14.
summ
a
rizes the news o'l\
s
uccessful l
a
ndin
g
s.
"Allied
says,
forces,"
it~ai:ll~
"h
P
ve suc
c
eeded in
t
heir initial
landings in Fr
a
nce;
a
n
d
fightin
g
continue
s
."
~he communi
q
ue goes on with air action, saying that
all
day
Allied planes continued their bombing in what
the dis
p
atch calls - "very great strength."
Another bulletin states that a German counter-
attack is in the
making.
It says: "The first
German
counterattack
"bi ••
a·n•
is likely to materialize within
the next forty-eight hours.
The latest bulletin in, emphasizes the element
Jf surprise, saying that the Nazis
were
caught off their
gu
a
rd, in an effective sur
p
rise by the Allied forces.
UB
ITUTE
E D
---------------
l1
-
~ ~ -
: J ~ k y , ~
·
l.o,t'N'I-.
~
.
~
The latest
in
toni
·
ht
is
a
thin
,
that
we
"e
11
be
1
i
eve .
.L
t
t e
11
s
how the
G
~
rm
an s
f e
1
t today -
on
D~Day
.
A flash from the
Swiss
frontier bordering
Germany
describes
the German state of mind in the
following adjectives: nsurprised, bewildered, angered
dumbfounded."
Fritz
aad beua
inspired to these emotion
~
~
c-~j'-.e
tfJ---
.
i..,
his own high comman
- the news of Allied landings
~
on the French coast of Normandy.
Fritz had been.,_
~~
ef\1•
told~bout the impregnable and invulnerable stren
t
of the Nazi Atlantic Wall, that he thought that Allied
troops
~ould
never get ashore - at least not so quickl
and
easily
.
Indeed, we all may be a bit surprised by the
first phase of this stupendous adventure, which has turne
out to be an easier thing than anybody had dreamed.
Tonight's communique from invasion headquarters
summari~es in these words: "Allied forces have succeeded
S
OB
S
TITOT
E
LEA
D
-
0
-------------
in their initial
l
a
ndin
g
s in Fr
a
nce,
a
n
d
figh
.
ing
continues."
One dispatch after another through the
afternoon, repeated the fact th
a
t in v
a
rious phases
the offensive the resistance of the vaunted Atlantic wa 1
was not nearly so formidable as had been a~ticipated.
Of course, the landings are only a beginning, and the
,,
ex
p
ecta
t
ion all along has been that the Germans
would
depend heavily on
mass
counter-attacks, so it is not
surprising to find a late bulletin informing us that a
Nazi
thrust is apparently'in the making. "The first German
counter-attack is likely to materialize within the next
forty-eight hours," says the dispatch.
I.
VA I
ON
--~-----
r
e~
~
-hrt-e,rt:-
a:b:co,:k
,...,a.-rrlTC: ;
o
v:e
~
a.
p
i
ct u res
A 11
i
e
d
troo
s ba tlin
g
in the streets of the Norman city
.J<; (
t<k
-
Caen. Th
a
piace is nine and
a
half
miles inland•
P@~r,aao
ts
a erirz
af
,P.i:rt far
ft
0111
the be•ehhe!.ti&
~
H~aoliab.ed
•••ly
this
morning,
...Wee
Gel' ■ aae
repcrt.
tbat
p11itioa&, and @etting inceseaa~
reinfor•e ■ eat»e
•■■ aee ef •••epe
1
r-ii'i•
aP•a ■eaat peupiag
.11,kuw ..
-rt:.en is at the base of the Norman peninsula,
which
thrusts northward into the English Channel
and the drive
to the town makes it look as if the strategy
were
to cut
across the base of the peninsula
and
force
a
Nazi
withdrawal from
the
whole area.
The
possession
of that
pe insula would be
a
powerful base from
which
Allied
thrusts could be
driven
in
and;
probably in the direction
of
Paris.
To the British troops in
th
e
Second
Front forces
tnat
t
o
·
no·
Cae
n repre
s
ent
s
historic
m
e
mories - if they
have
tim
to think
abo
ut it.
ior
it w
a
s there, in the
river, that Wil iam the Conqeror in Ten-Sixty-Six
,
assemb
l
ed the fleet with
which
he
invaded En
g
~
and -
ill
the
Norman
Conquest!
an
d
the mortal remains of
the
-5'L4-~
Conqueror
lie interned in the Church of St.Etienne in
the City of Caen.
The latest advices from both sides, Allied and
enemy, picture• the invasion as concentrated at three
points, the mouth of the Orne River, where Caen
lies;
and forty miles
westward
alon
g
the coast, the mouth of
the Vire River, That point to~ threatens the base of the
peninsula.
Aali
the
Ger
Ants
tcpert.
tihet, Wte
Allied
4roep&.._
een
dings
lais /the
wate
INVA IO
-
3
______
...
,__,__
The German r
io is
q
uoted
s s yin
,,
that Allied air borne
troops have seized a flyin
fie d in that sector - although
there is n
Allied confirmation of this.
The
a
enemy r
e
ort
ictures a major
assault
evelopin
g
between those to
points,
with
the
Nazi statement that Allied pa
ra
troopers have
a ■■
cut the
K ~
main road leading from Caen up the
coat.
Still another late report declares that north
Caen the invasion troops have driven thirteen miles
inland
-
that deep into the base of the
peninsula.
There is no confirmation of enemy accounts of
landings in
the area between Boulogne and Calais -
on Dover Strait, across the narrowest water from Britain.
The German radio 1s
quoted
as saying that there, Allied
air-borne troops have seized a flying field - which may
or may not be true.
Allied accounts place the invasion
further west.
It
r--o
n
'
t
0
t
b
t
1
i
ld
is
one
0
t
_.
O
i
i
tc
0
0
rth --
t
.
r
n
h
1
n
l
ho
ram
h
bour
to
Le
aY,-e.
or
nv
y
0
•
t
j
om one t routes
of
tr
vel
or
1.
me
·ic n to
ri
t
visitin
urope.
They
oft n
lande
a
herbour
,
e,f'r'.8
•
H-8P ■ 8R
..+1e41
t
e
r
ilroad
to
aris
too
t
em
alon
t.e
coastal
lands.
-,p;_
myself,
have
ade
th·t
railroad trip
many
a
ti
·
e,
have seen
t
e
co
t
·
..
ra
m
t
e
w
ter
ide.
It's
n
·
flat
country,
it·
only sli
t
rises
of
round,:: from
t
h
e
b~ac
e2z 0ber~euPg,
itl!lelf,
.
ea a
t~;z;td~d
~
iUAa:'."
7&b
ufi;;:;t;-
stFengl)'
fortifieli
/
/
flP9UPd
Cslaia
Disppe,
tbs--J!.Q-
~
~lifu,
.._ike the nhi
i..Q
betweeR
the Calais
a'7i
Bieppe
& 4 b e f f . j o u r ~
~ C 4 f 4 ! / f f
are bro
d
ana
:;__atj
4Rd
the
level round extends
on inwar
--
a
w
dt
r-lev
,
1
rout
~
o
Paris.'\V
n. so,
ny
o f t
t
ou
ands oi
tr'V
lers w o
have
m
·
ae the r
i
.
road
G
E
O RA HY
-2-
-------------
trip will appreciate the statement in the invasion news
that the most favorable stretc
h
of coast was selected
for
the second front lan ings today.
AI
R
WAR
-------
The events of today were
studded
with records.
The greatest fleet of ships ever to set sail - four
thousand ships and thousands of lesser craft. The
greatest army ever to strike at a hostile shore -
that vast force
of
men and machines, tens of thousands
of
men increasing to hundreds of thousands, millions
before it is over.
And - the greatest air assault ever
deliYered.
.
Before the day
bagan,
in the hours of
darkness
between
aidnight and
dawn,
thousands of British
planes
hurled more than five thousand tons
of bombs on the Nazi
fortifications. Then more than
a
thousand American heavy
bombers took up
the
assault, and soon the total tonnage
of bombs was more than eleven thousand.
eigltt ~,...~,, ple:na
1
~
th.a..
lhw.te-d
Ma bio,u,
fiew--e-e-reat1-liN
a,,and~CTE.t.~~a
British air
·
officer• remarks that
~he t?tal tonnage of bombs
dropped
in this one day
of
1nvas~on was
greater ban the amount the Germ
a
ns hurled
on
Br
1
ta
in
du ·
th
•
ring
e.,,s1
months of the great blitz.
&DD
AIJL!AR
And fnight 's official Allied bulletin
continues the theme of air action, saying that all
long American and British warplanes
-----
·
-------------------
-
boabi~ in what the dispatch calls -
ltS■iz
•very
great
•
strength.•
Which is an expression not at all to be
applied to
Hazi air action. Just what has happened to
the Luftwaf~ is none too clear.
Hitler is supposed to
have aeventeen~hundred-and-lifty-fighter planes in the
west,
but today only about
sixty enemy
planes
were seen,
and they didn't try to do anything
auch.
IIARATROOPERS
-----------...
The most colorful
news
of the day concerns
the paratroopers.
A
United
P
ress correspondent w
h
o
witnessed invasion scenes from the coast
of England,
describes the night sky as looking like, w~at he calls
•A Christmas tree with colored lig~ts strung out in
long lines.
These,• he goes on, •were the running
lights
of
the planes carrying air borne troops.
The lights were to identify them to anti-aircraft
batteries in Britain.
Wave
after
wave
of these ~ir
borne fleets,• he relate,•
passed over the coast in a
steady
stream--their
colored lights beaming and f:nall
vanishing as they disappeared over the Channel in the
direction of France.•
After that Christmas tree illumination, the
a
breaking of day was stupendous thing of sound.
"The
sky was alive with the roar
of fighters and bombers.
Formations of all types appe~red, from long single
1ines of he vy bombers to tight formati
o
ns of figh
t
ers
In the first wave of par troo
~
erR was an outfi
which reminds you of American ~istory of times gone
f!R!TRQQ_~_e_
-
2
by--Indians, we
a
ring t eir
trib~l
scal
pl
o
ks.
ey
re trained
their
trib 1
w
r
whoop, ~owever, wile
desrending silently, parachutin
to
e
.
rth.
T
.
en all
of their ancestral
stealth
was needed, as they spread
out over the country.
Their job needed the
ste~lth
of
the braves of times gone by, for these Indians, Yaqui
and Cherokee tribesmen, were demolition engineers whoa
task it was to sneak in and blow up enemy inst~llation
One of the paratroo ers to jumptoday was
Robert Hillman
of Hartford, Connecticut, who felt
an especial secutiry.
This story is wired me
by
an old friend, Tea Shane, of thP Black
Watch,
author
of a book called
----------------------------------->
PARATR
O
O
P
E
S
-
3
----------
•Heroes of the Pacific.•
Hill ■ an
said to a colonel at inspection: •1 know ay chute
is okay, because my
■ other
checked
it.
She works in
the Pioneer Parachute Company in our towb, and her job
is giving the final once over to all the chutes.•
--
■ iii
afte»aooD.
Sl:eh
1r
and factual
ten!e
■ aae
Iii&
•This operation•,
~~
~
-~
...,..~,..,
--
.
,,
.,
.
proceeding in a highly satisfactory
A
Many
dangers and
difficulties•••
which
last
night
seemed
to be extremely formidable are behind
us.
Passage of
·
,,
the sea,•he explained, has been made with far less lose
than we apprehended.•
u
s
u
al
note o
f
r
a
listic caution;,•All this, althou
g
h
a very
f
avorable an
d
vitally es
s
ential first step•,
sa
i
d
he, •~an not in
d
ic
a
te wh
a
t
may be the course of
battle in the next
few weeks,
because the enemy will
endeavor
to concentrate in this area.
And in that
event, heavy fi
g
htin
g
will soon begin an
d
will continue
without
any end so lon
as
the
enemy can
puah
troops
as
in.•
•This is,,however~ he concluded, •the most
serious tim-:,;and we enter upon it with our great
Allies, a11
·
in good heart and good friendshi .•
And he
went
on to say that the bristling
batteries of Nazi guns across the Channel had been
greatly weakened by air bombing and the fire of naval
artillery. And, moreover, he mentioned the element of
surprise - a fact that is stressed in the latest war news
that has just come in.
According to this, it would seem
that the Germans did not expect the assault to come where
it did - between the heavily defended ports of Le Havre
and Cherbourg.-Onother thing to account for the lightne••
of resistance.
And Churchill put emphasis on the
following: •Landings and follow-ups,• said he, •are
proceeding with very much less loss than we expected.•
0
- -
-
In Washington,
·
President Roosevelt stated late
today that up to noon we had lost two destroyers and one
escort vessel - which is in contrast to the usual ftazi
propaganda
accounts of losses inflicted by their forces -
they claiming a cruiser at sea, not to mention large
ADD
CHURCHILL
- 2
----------------
captures of
air-borne
troo son
land.
All
in all, the Allied
leadership
would
seem
,
to
have reason to
b9
jubilant at the success of the
first step
of the invasion.
However, •caution'
is the
word.
Today in talking to Parliament,
Winston
ghurcbill
spoke in his familiar vein of realistic prudence.
He
described today's operations
as
-
•a very favorable an4
vitally essential first step.
But,• he added, •it cannot
indicate what may be the course of battle within the next
few weeks, because the enemy will endeavor to concentrate
in this area.•
ADD
CHURCHILL
- 2
--------------
captures of
air-borne
troo son
land.
All
in all, the Allied leadership would
seea
o
have reason to be jubilant at the success of the
first step of the invasion.
However, "caution•
is the
word.
Today in talking to Parliament, Winston ghurchill
spoke in his familiar vein of realistic prudence.
He
d~scribed today's operations
as - •a
very favorable and
vitally
essential
first step.
But," he added, •it
cannot
indicate
what may
be the course of battle
within
the
next
few weeks,
because the
enemy will
endeavor to
concentrate
in this area.•
,.
And President Boosevelt this afternoon added
his own wa
r
ning a
g
ainst over-confidence.
He pointed
t a t it is one thin
g
to
and succ ssfully on enemy
beaches, and another to drive the long hard miles to
the heart of the
enemy
countrt~The President said
that
the decision to launch today's
'
blow was made last
December, at
the
Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin conference
in
T
heran.
It
was then decided that the Second
Front
wouldj--,..-.;t;:~~he end of
Uay,
or the first
days
of
June.
No exact date could be fixed, because
~
,..,,, ... ~..a.~
that depended on accidents of weather.
8-
added that
A
be himself had known the exact date
s;;;;c,
<,,
~
only during the past few days.
~
knew
it
"
last night
when
he was on the radio. The President
~ t h a t while he was on the air making his broadcast
.Al
on the f
a
ll of
RomKhe wa
s
a
~
are that the invasion
boa
t
~were on their way across the Channel.
lllllll.Qlll
One of the tense turns of drama was enacted
today in a
aotor
trailer under a tent somewhere along
southern coast of England. The trailer - the headquarter
of General Eisenhower.
Fro ■
this he will direct the
onslaught, until the Allied command crosses the Channel
and sets
up
headquarters on French soil.
So early this morning there
was the rudd7-face
and ordinarily smiling Eisenhower.1'ut he was tense now
in the
aoaent
of hie great decision.
It was for
hi ■
to
give the order for the hurling of the Second Front.
Was this the time?
Should he set the whole vast
offensive into operation?
~
was a quest'ion of - weather.
It had been
noticed that during the
pa•t
forty-eight hours the
.
usual Eisenhower posture had been - he
·
d cocked up,
.
looking at the sky.
la■
D-Day had been scheduled for
yesterday, but no,
-141:W
not
iaake ea
1
ef
t»ae•e
iieenl•tlr
leeke •~
•he
sky
~e eae
--rile weather was bad,
stormy, bad for flying,
i ■ possible
for paratroop
operations, the Channel too rough for the efficient
handling of boats. ~ e
iuaetal'• glanea• apwe••
....
•••4-her;
!Cf
what
•ere the
•••li11geJ11 ef
llett.••
5
prospects for today?
Eisenhower and the top ranking commanders studied the
weather
reports - the weatherm~the real
com■ander-
1'
in-chief !or the declaration of D-Day.
The
■eteorologica
reports turned out to be good enough, but the weather
today was
·Not too good for boabing
fleets of the sky,
huge and devastating
task. The Channel was quieter than yesterday, though
still choppy
-
that turbulent strait whose sea-sickness-
producing antics are a legend.
Fut
~he air=borne as~a9l\
EISENHOWER -
3
-------
-
b•t
see• d•rk
0111
aad
clcsa.
fhePe
abould
be
11•+.
eeatll
nglft
..£e,r,
~In!
~1r1u,ere •• tile
gre,nui
tier
a,op
t.he ■
realtil:,a
W
ilhnDE
sh
I
U bw
E
"!II
to
Jid:
,=~
elljedhe ..
:
...
,.,
••
it -Aappeaei,
,
..
lkf
0¥9P
tt.s
ceeat of
···••ad&
•••
.....
7'
WK~
e:1:-e ud
11 -
but
'
tll:i.•
•
••
llJCb
••
te
....
,.
th.a
f:J.ee\e
of perM»oepere
911Q
pJero•
to
or ■
,.
eeaseaiJiei
,,
W.e
9¥1PCl!tl!lt, ....
DG
..\Ilea
{18i
••daz:
rwu3
pJck
ta•i•
.;aa .......
I I
olee-.1,f.
Well, all of these chances were a weighty burden
on the mind
of
the Coamanding General, who had to
decide -
go ahead or delay again. Eiaenbower has
a ■ple
heart and
courage
for making a decision, and he gave the fateful
order - D-Day!
Surely,
he
had enough
to occupy
the
mind
of
any one
man,
enough to monopolize every thought in his
hea
d
. And
yet I wonder whether his fancy did not stray,
•
at least for a brief moment, to this side of the ocean.
J ~ . , ~
lid
•1
be stop and think for
'
a moment of a tall bluff
on
a
broad river, a height crown~d by stately buildings!
~
~ii
n
~
he think
of West Point
and
hie wife
and son?
For it is a moody coincidence that this Invasion
Day,
which Eisenhow
r
aarked down in history,Miltalso
Graduation Day at
West Point!~s son John was one of
the graduating class.
Bis mother was there to aee hia
get his diploma, while his father was over there - -
coamanding on
D-Day.
RUSSIA
_..,
_____ _
In Soviet Russia, the invasion news was announce
with all the
■ ilitary
fanfare that attends the
=--:.::..-------
-
proclaaation of a great Red Aray victory
Aaa
\eiay••
~eeir ow•
tri•■ pb••
Everywhere in Moscow the hope was
expreaaed
that the war would end quickly.and the Bed
Ar ■Y
••••• about to do its own large bit toward that
happy
conauaaation.
The word
i•
that the
Ru ■siana
will
.
launch another big offensive of their own within
twenty-four to
forty-eight hours,
al■ost
certaiu~efore
~
the end of the week.-the Second Front to be supported
by a new big push on the First Front.
-
The war news
fro ■
__!tal!_)-s eclipsed by the much
~
greater even.Aalong the English Channel.
We
may note that
yesterday's action still
continues
- the Fifth Aray
driving rapidly forward, with the Germans in full relreat
~•'•'••' paaa@, Brlthh aad
A&@Flcau btoep•
were•••••!=>
\.ae
Tia••
waioa,
fer all its vener•~•• rep•t•tien
0
There is still no indication of where the
Geraans intend to make a stand - what they plan to
do
in Italy, with the giant Allied invasion on their
necks
along the coast of France .
.
--.----
~
·~
--
·--
- -
_______
__,,
REACTION
-------
The
nat
i
on
today
took the D-Day ne
w
s with
a
.
feelin
of earnestness
and
hope.
'{
very where
people
were
ff
soberly repeating the exclamati
p
n of a sergeant
as hia
boat
pushed
off
thia morning:
1 ' s ~ .
Many an
a ■ usement
feature w
a
s
hut down, because
of the
They can'~ stop us!•
S..:..f
.
...
feeling that it wasn't
to the news that was
flashing.
Typical was
Corps sergeant
at
won
a jitterbugging contes
in~ night club, and was
beaaing. Then he heard t e
news,
and said sheepishly:
•1 feel
kind
of
silly.•
•
One of the o
is the fact that at Reno,
Y l ~
that
wide
openAtowd, th gambling houses closed
down
I
today.
Across the
land
there
were
demonstrations
At Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell rang,
that
symbol
of American freedom. And in numberless
!!ACTlQl! -
2
churches the bells pealed out, callin
people
to
prayer.
Over
in
!n
l
and,
the
ap
p
e
a
l to Divine
Providence
wa
led
by [ing George, whose
prayer
concluded with the solemn
cadence; wwe
shal
no
-
ask
that God
may do our will,•
spoke the King, •but that
we aay
be enabled to
do the
will of God.•
the nation in
prayer - tonight
a countrywide
~
And ~•••hil~ let us switch to Washington
du;-1'e•~
to
hear a voice that can~••k'appea with singular
eLt.l ..
~
appropriateness,~•••~ Brigadier General
Willia ■
R.
Arnold, Chief of the Chaplaine
ltspuc
4"
~
~
Prayer bz_~pla¼n Brjga ier en
e
~
a
l
'
illia
R. Arnold
,
~
ro~
-o-u
seconas)
- - - - - -
-
----- - -
ALMIGHTY
and Eternal God, we thy •uable ser•ants
are
on our knees this
fateful day
to
adore
thee and to
iaplore
thy help.
Thou who knowest the weakness and the
frailty of our nature have shown us through the saf'feringa
~•• sacrifices of thy belo•ed Son how to be br Ye and
strong and Yictorious.
As
our fathers, sons, and brothers on distant
battlefields fight •aliently for our liberty and for thJ
truth and justice, shed the light of thy countenance upon
thea
and ••tain
the• oy the power of thine unconquerable
will.
Send angels of thy beaYenly host to lead
thea on
to a glorious ~lctor7
.
for thy honor and glory.
Aaen
~
And
grea
t
est
~~~-~
on th
a
t solemn note;(•e co
n
clude one of the
~t£..
.-9-~ - -
••••days• history~- a day meant to
aark the
0
turning po int
world an
d
its
,,..
'
,,
of the global
war.
In years to
co ■ e,
the
~
/}
bOO:
,.,_
~.,_.a~
history
.w
i
n>i'a
~;ii;!'
~m,,
of th ia day ,
/'-
this June Sixth -
D-D~y,
Invasion Da:;..J
~
so long until tomorrow.