The 65th Anniversary of D-Day, Operation Overlord

[Dave Homewood]

I'm surprised no-one has begun a thread to mark the 65th Anniversary of the largest invasion force ever amassed, Operation Overlord.

It is estimated that around 10,000 New Zealanders took part in the Allied invasion of Normandy which began on the nigth of the 5th and 6th of June 1944. Most of them were in the air flying for the RAF, in Fighter Command, Bomber Command, Coastal Command and Transport Command.

Of the New Zealand squadrons, No. 75 (NZ) Squadron was one of the first involved, raiding the beachhead area. No's 485 (NZ) Squadron was famously involved, with a section of their Spitfires downing two enemy aircraft, the first and second air to air kills of the operation.

No's 486, 487, 488 and 489 (NZ) Squadrons were apparently all also involved, and many hundreds of kiwi aircrew in other squadrons flew bombers, fighters, transports, etc.

And lets not forget the hundreds of kiwis serving in the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy during that operation.

We did nt have any Army units involved as such but there were new Zealand soldiers involved on the ground. In fact Brigadier James Hargest of NZ was killed at Normandy.

Lest we forget. If anyone has any photos or stories of kiwis involved, please post them here.

[Dave Homewood]

tvnz.co.nz/national-news/kiwi-spitfire-pilot-remembers-d-day-2771202

Kiwi Spitfire pilot remembers D-Day

A Kiwi Spitfire pilot will be among those remembering D-day comrades on Sunday.

It's 65 years ago on June 6 since he and other Allied service personnel took part in the Normandy assault to free Western Europe from Nazi Germany but Maurice Mayston says he has a clear memory of the Allied landing when his Spitfire supported the assault from the air.

He says it was dawn and he was looking down on a huge number of battleships and cruisers being marshalled for the landing.

The veteran says he patrolled the sky above the beach during the landings and kept enemy aircraft from doing too much damage.

Mayston will be among those attending the commemoration ceremony in Wellington on Sunday morning to remember his mates.

The New Zealand Defence Force says many of the 83 branches of Normandy Veterans Associations will disband after this 65th anniversary but Mayston says the annual reunions of his squadron will only stop when there are just two members left.

He says when there are three or more they will still get together and celebrate their memories and comradeship.

The memorial service will take place at 11am at the National War Memorial, a day after the official anniversary, and include New Zealand and British veterans.

David Christison of the Normandy Veterans Association will lay a wreath.

Over 10,000 RNZAF and Navy personnel served with the British ships and air force squadrons which supported the D-Day landings.

On the Allied side, over 4,400 personnel lost their lives.

[obiwan27]

Too true Dave. Lest we forget.

[A4k]

Good thread Dave. Some of us don't forget.

[bevansmith]

I have a story. Due to the recent death of my father I have come into the possession of the diaries of Flt. Lt. NAD Stokes from 75th Squadron. I am his great nephew. In reading his entries around D-Day it appears they were expecting a major invasion but did not know the operation they were to do on that day was the start of it but they were suspicious. The view of the armada of ships below was probably a bit of a give away. His navigator instructed him to increase speed to make their drop on time and as they sped across the channel they were passing other Lancs. The diary tells how they dropped exactly to schedule before any others. The interesting bit is the entry the following day when news of the invasion was official and he says rather tongue in cheek because they were ahead of all others "I guess we started it all". Noel and his rear gunner died about two months later.

[Dave Homewood]

Welcome to the forum Bevan, it sounds like you have inherited a very interesting diary there.

On the topic of D Day, I discovered this really interesting page where you can download the entire 24 hours of radio coverage on the 6th of June 1944 from the Columbia Broadcating System (CBS) radio network. It's fascinating to listen (I've downloaded the first ten hours and listened on the iPod over time) and see how the story unfolded, first with the Germans broadcasting the news and the US radio men being sceptical and then the official word coming and the reports flooding in from correspodents and experts. It is really interesting to compare to the live CNN or BBC World style broadcasting of major events nowaways.

www.archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day

[alanw]

D-day is one of those stories (not that it's a story by any means
but you get the picture) I grew up with, and even today I continue
to be amazed at the ingenuity/bravery and the sheer size of
the invasion force, and how close it all came to being ruined
by the Channel weather.

I have read a number of books on D-day, and I find it almost
laughable how the Germans took the bait hook line and sinker,
as the Allies sought to mislead them.
I guess we ought to be grateful that the likes of Hitler made some bad calls in giving permission initially for re-inforcments (Panzer Divisions especially) to head to Normandy.

Had Erwin Rommel had his, way life for the Allies may have been
different (somewhat like Anzio beach head in Italy)

I enjoy movies like Saving Private Ryan/Band of Brothers,
the Longest Day which all had D-Day in them. Even though
it's Hollywood you still get the gravity of the situation

With that last movie the Producer Darryl F Zanuck in a second disc went around France etc after the movie was made asking people what they knew about D-Day. Some people knew some, some knew nothing. He wanted people to remember !!

Nothing has ever been as big (not even the Spanish Armada)
before, and I don't think anything will ever rival it either!

[phil82]

I have known, over the years, one or two real heroes, one of whom was my good friend the late Tom Carson.

Tom was a quiet Scot, and loved a single malt, especially if it was mine, but the more you got to know him , the more you came to respect his generation. On the night of February 27, 1942 a detachment of British paratroopers began to land in occupied France. Their mission: to capture a German radar site and seize the machine's vital parts. If they succeeded, the secrets of Germany's radar apparatus would be theirs-with major implications for an Allied victory.Tom was one of those drawn mostly from Scottish Regiments, his was the Seaforth Highlanders, and he'd never, ever done a parachute jump until they dropped him out of the bomber that flew him to occupied France. I remembered that raid, and I think there might have been a book and possibly a film made, but one thing I did recall was they had a civilian radar expert dressed as an RAF Flt/Sgt whose job it was to identify the bits they were stealing. He couldn't be captured of course, and the book had it that a number of people were given the job of shooting him should that occur. I asked Tom about that, and he said , quite simply, "Och Aye, he wasna going anywhere but with us".

Tom went ashore on D-day back in his old unit, the Seaforths, alongside the Canadians. They fought their way through to Caan, where they were held up by some pretty strong opposition, and Tom was wounded and taken back to England, to a maternity hospital of all places, but he was having none of that so he took off and hitched his way back to France to join his mates.

He lost a few, two in particular whom he'd known since early childhood, and he had records of everyone in the Seaforths who'd died, He kept them in a little bookcase by his chair at his daughter's place in Wainuiomata. He told me once of three people, his Company Commander, and two privates, all claimed by German snipers, so I ran all their details off the British War Graves site, and when we went to France three years ago, I took photo's of the graves and gave them to Tom when we got back. For a minute, he just looked at them, and shuffled the photo's through his hands, and I had a horrible feeling I'd made a mistake, then he looked at me with a tear in his eye and said; "I think it's time for a wee dram".

Tom went all the way to Germany, and I asked him when he finally realised that it was all over and he'd survived. "It was in Germany", he said,"and we were taking lots of German kids prisoner, and they were only eleven or twelve years old".

Tom died on the 21st May 2008, aged 87, and I often wonder if we'll ever see his like again.