June 6, 1944 went down in contemporary history as on D Day. On that day, Operation Overlord as it came to be known there beganor Allied landings in Normandy.
6 June '44: the day of the Normandy landing of the British and 1083 American planes. The front ran from Le Havre to Cherbourg in Normandy.
At 6.30 in the morning, amidst low clouds and a sea of long, dark waves, the following take part in the operation: 2727 merchant ships, 700 warships, 2500 landing craft, 1136 aircraft
A surprise for the Germans who were expecting the attack on the Channel, at Pas de Calais, so much so that they thought it was a diversionary attack. Five landing points, classified with invented names: "Utah" or "Omaha" pertaining to the Americans in the west, "Gold", "Judno" and "Sword" for the British in the east.
A whole day of bloody battle; already in the first 24 hours there were about ten thousand dead.
Winston Churchill's communications to the Commons
But let's continue the narration by going directly to the communications (taken from the XI volume of the History of the Second World War) that one of the great protagonists of the XNUMXth century, Winston Churchill took place the same day, at noon, in the House of Commons.
After explaining the deployment of naval, air, amphibious and land forces involved, the Prime Minister announced that there was reason to believe that the surprise was successful and the maneuver was proceeding effectively.
We know that Churchill had doubts about the landing and preferred another course of action. The Allies had landed in Sicily 11 months ago and were moving up the peninsula. Churchill thought this should be the priority front.
The English leader recalled the dramatic experience of the landing in the Dardanelles, during the First World War: a failure with huge losses for which, as First Lord of the Admiralty, he bore responsibility. The defeat led to his resignation from the Cabinet and the decision to put on his uniform and go to fight in France.
The opening of a second front was one Stalin's urgent request. The Red Army had stopped the German advance at Stalingrad (the battle lasted from July 1942 to February of the following year) and was asking for an Allied intervention in Europe.
Stalin and the summer offensive
On the evening of June 6, Churchill informed Stalin that all had begun well and was proceeding as planned. The Soviet dictator replied (the message is published in volume XI) immediately complimenting and confirming that the summer offensive of the Soviet forces, prepared in compliance with the Tehran agreements, where the conference between the heads of state and government of the Allies had been held, would have begun towards mid-June in one of the most important sectors of the front, while at the end of June and in July the general offensive would have started.
The 7 June Churchill sent a long report to Stalin on the progress made. On June 8, the three American chiefs of staff (Marshall was also present) had flown to England, in the awareness that important decisions had to be taken regarding the continuation of the offensive.
In France the negotiations with De Gaulle
On June 10 together with Churchill they reached France to get a closer look at the situation.
With Roosevelt, Churchill exchanged some messages in those days regarding the behavior of General De Gaulle and suggested that the American president agree to meet him, even if the two did not have good relations. De Gaulle raised several problems which put the Allies in difficulty, in order to be recognized as the leader of Free France.
As of July 25, Allied troops in France totaled 1.450.000 men of which 810.000 were American. 640.000 British and Canadians. In August, Paris was liberated. One of the first problems that arose was that of money. The Allies wanted to introduce an occupation currency in France, but De Gaulle threatened to boycott it if he didn't contain the expression ''provisional government of the French Republic''.
The war in Italy
Churchill also kept an eye out the course of the war in Italy. On June 6, the allies had already entered a Rome. On June 10, Churchill - the episode is curious and is taken from the secret correspondence exchanged during the conflict between the two allies - wrote to Roosevelt that he considered a ''big trouble'' the replacement in the Italian government of the Marshal Peter Badoglio by ''a group of elderly and greedy politicians''. Badoglio – Churchill claimed – ''has been a useful tool for us since he handed us over the almost complete fleet despite the presence of the enemy''. And he continued: '' I didn't realize that at this moment we have granted the Italians - who have cost us so dearly in human and material lives - the power to form a government as they please without reference to the victorious powers and without the slightest claim to a popular mandate''.
