Heading Towards The Ships
Happy and jubilant, too eager for action, these American soldiers march toward their assigned ships in Weymouth, Dorset, in England. They are set to land at Omaha Beach for the big one: the launching of the D-Day invasion. Many of them are just boys with no idea yet of what war really means.
Sadly, some of them would not even make it to the Omaha landing objective, let alone D-Day itself. They were noobs in the war, with very little organization. Poor planning would fail them, as many would land in wrong spots. The challenges in navigation would cripple that force’s ability to strike hard at the enemy, and losses were astronomical, way before the battle had even started. When it did kick off, they were lacking in number, downtrodden, the challenges seemingly insurmountable to them.
Loading All the Necessities For The Attack
With a war that involved more than a hundred million people from over thirty countries, these soldiers were shipped in full force. They were trained to prepare for the worst, and rightfully so.
Loaded in this Landing Craft Vehicle, just one of so many that were deployed, are the tools and equipment of the armed forces. Firearms, medical supplies, explosives, heavy machine guns. This photo was taken on June 1st, in Southern England, as a US Army ambulance wheels in. M4 Tractors, Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles, Harley-Davidson WLAs, Heavy Transport Vehicles, Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Jeeps, and more, were also part of its vital cargo.
An Explosive Meal
This photo shows a young American soldier taking a short break from work. Millions like him would find themselves laying their meals on ammunition stockpiles to eat, mostly in a buddy-system, talking about what’s to come in the days ahead. In the army, one has to adapt to every situation or be left behind.
Their cargoes were massive, mostly covering for the infantry divisions that would storm the defensive beaches. They moved 188,000 automatic rifles, 1.5 million crew-served machine guns, 2.3 million submachine guns, 2.8 million revolvers and pistols, and a whopping 11.6 million carbines and rifles. They would take whatever was necessary to overrun the enemy’s defenses. Imagine all that load, and not to mention close to 60 billion rounds of small arms ammunition.
Waiting For The Go-Ahead
It took some time to complete their first objective of loading all their equipment into Landing Ship Tanks. Once they were through, the waiting game would begin. Here, a group of American soldiers await their orders to begin the massive invasion across the English Channel, on June 5, 1944.
They look full of life, bursting with energy and conversing about the war. It was supposed to begin on June 4th, however, the top dogs decided to move it due to bad weather. They would not take a risk after all the work they’d done, and eventually the order would be announced on June 5th to deploy 156,000 soldiers across the English Channel. The actual battles started on the morning of June 6th.
Ready To Fight
It was difficult to size up just how strong particular enemy defenses were. The lack of high-tech equipment at the time was compensated for with military strategies designed to lure the enemy into making mistakes in positioning before battles started. Gen. Eisenhower, commander of D-Day Operation Overlord, made it look like the Allied Forces were coming in through the Pas-de-Calais, the narrowest point between England and France.
He misled the Germans with the use of fake equipment, posturing a ghost army close to the narrow pass, and sending fake radio transmissions. Meanwhile, this photograph shows US soldiers fitted with life vests while on their way to the French Coast. They were ready for war, and their success was highly dependent on the covertness of the operation.