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The Invasion of Normandy was the definitive military achievement that eventually resulted in the total defeat of Hitler’s Germany, ending Word War II in Europe. Never before had a crossing of the English Channel to invade an enemy ever been accomplished. Napoleon could not do it in his time, and even the Germans failed to do so in 1940 on the eve of what was to become the Battle of Britain. But, on June 6, 1944 the Allied nations began landing forces on the far shores of France in Normandy, a day that most Americans remembered, “We were never stronger, more right or more determined.”
The invasion took years to plan, and Before Taps Sounded traces the origins of the much debated strategies that resulted in the most successful amphibious operation in the history of the United States military. Planning the invasion was an overwhelming task, but one decision by General Omar Bradley prior to the landings made the difference between victory and defeat. In his memoirs, he remembered:
“Once more the Big Red One was to carry the heavy end of the stick. By this time the 1st Infantry Division had swallowed a belly-full of heroics and wanted to go home. When the division learned that it was to make a third D-Day assault, this time in France, the troops grumbled over the injustices of war. Among the infantrymen who had already survived both Mediterranean campaigns, few believed their good fortune could last them through a third. Although I disliked subjecting the 1st to still another landing, I felt as a commander I had no other choice. My job was to get ashore, establish a lodgment and destroy the German.”
On D-Day in France, the men of the 1st Infantry Division came ashore throughout the day. The first waves landed at 6:30 in the morning, and were met with resistance and casualties much like that depicted in Steven Spielberg’s classic “Saving Private Ryan.” These troops were pinned down for most of the morning, and with the exception of a few squads, no one could get off the beach until the follow-up battalions began landing just before noon. Pfc. Baummer, the main character in Before Taps Sounded, was in the first follow up wave on the morning of D-Day, and the Record of Events for his unit recorded:
"The fighting done by the Second Battalion during the month of June, especially on D-Day and D+1 should go down in history. Individual deeds of valor were so commonplace as to be almost unnoticed. The battalion, by the fighting spirit of its officers and men, was the first to push through the beachhead maintenance line and get behind the enemy positions, thus driving out the forces protecting the beach and forming the wedge that permitted other troops to get up the beachhead."
The cost was high; nearly 3,000 First Division soldiers were casualties on D-Day in Normandy. Before Taps Sounded describes the invasion the way it was seen by those who were there on both sides of the lines, as well as by those on the homefront, in the following chapters:
Quebec to Teheran – The Plan to Invade Normandy
The Power of Nazi Germany
On the Ground and in the Air
Preparation and Forbearance
Omaha Beach
Map Wars
Epilogue | | |
