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D-Day - Codename: Operation Overlord - The Invasion Begins

By June first we’d been bombing German occupied northern France unremittingly for over a month. Our targets were mostly railroad yards and fuel dumps near cities along the northern coast of France. Every time we flew a mission that first week in June we couldn’t help but notice the ships and boats that were gradually appearing in the English channel. We were usually flying 2 missions a day and the weather was pretty good those first few days.

Soon we were told that D-Day was June 5^th. We were restricted to the base, which was alive with preparations. They were painting all the planes with huge black and white stripes so we could tell our planes from the enemy’s.

       http://387bg.com/Aircraft/B-26%20Carolyn.htm

You could feel the excitement on the base. We’d been having good luck hitting our targets but nothing much was happening on the ground in terms of defeating Germany. We were all anxious to get the war over and had great expectations for the invasion. Almost as soon as we were told about the invasion it was cancelled due to high winds and rough seas, plus low clouds that grounded most planes. A heavy fog covered the channel. Late on the 5^th we were gathered for briefings and told the invasion was back on for the next day, June 6, 1944. We listened as General Eisenhower spoke to the troops via radio. All I remember is: the world would be watching and they expected Victory. Here's what he actually said:

Transcript of General Eisenhower’s Message to the Troops on the Eve of D-Day, 1944

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

-- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower photo info unknown, public information from http://www.army.mil/d-day/message.ht

After Eisenhower's message our COO unveiled the war map located on the front wall of the briefing hut and began going over the routes we would all take. We would start taking off just after midnight. We pilots each got our schedules and our Mission Sheet which told me that we wouldn’t be taking off until just before dawn, our usual time. I also knew what plane we’d be flying, that we’d be in #2 position in formation and flying at 4,000' altitude. The weather report listed clouds, fog, and the wind speed we could expect. We knew it was going to be a full moon. There were special code and color names and specific instructions on how we could communicate. Although we’d have a fighter escort, the fighters were also on a mission to seek out and attack the enemy. The briefing didn’t last more than 30 minutes but we were reminded of the importance of our mission and told that there would be as many as 2,000 planes in the air that day. Those of us who weren’t taking off in the first wave were told to head back to our barracks and get some sleep. But there wasn’t much sleeping that night.

Chapter 30 - May 1944 - Pre-Invasion Tactics

During the month preceding D-Day I think about 3 of our missions over coastal defenses were aborted because of fog, bad visibility and bad weather, sometimes lasting as long as five or six days. Although the weather caused a few cancellations, we (450^th BS, 322^nd BG) flew another twelve missions in May. This was all part of the pre-invasion offensive. Most of the targets were railroad yards, fuel dumps, and essential transportation routes and bridges near cities along the coast of France or industrial targets in German Occupied France and Belgium. Altogether the Ninth had over 450 B-26s and A-20s flying.

Our missions were not much over four hours long because even though we carried about the same bomb load as the 4 engine B-17’s we only had about four and a half or five hours of fuel. Sometimes we carried 2 one-ton bombs and sometimes we carried forty 100-pound bombs. We were flying medium range and very accurate at hitting our targets. In May our accuracy was 90% on target. The RAF, which shared our base at Andrews Air Field, now had Mustang P-51 fighters and were again escorting us on some missions.

                                     Two Engine B-26

               P-51 Fighters

About the middle of May there was a full-scale practice for the coming Invasion. It involved paratroopers, gliders, medical evacs and all 450 bombers (about 16-18 groups) targeting bridges, railroads, German landing fields and fuel dumps, known sites of V-weapons, ports, and coastal enclaves. Many of the total 9^th AF missions had to be aborted because of heavy clouds and poor visibility throughout the month.

It was also during May that we finally flew our first Night Flight. If you remember, I was made Captain of our crew a few months earlier because our then Captain refused to fly at night. Then, the Command had second thoughts on the safety of flying at night. This was the first time we’d ever been assigned a night flight. In fact, we were part of the first night bomber mission ever flown in Europe by the US AAF. During the day we flew in box formation but at night each plane flew by instrument on a specific course and at different elevations – 500 feet apart. We took off every 30 seconds and went straight to our assigned altitudes. We weren’t in formation but you still couldn’t vary from your orders or you would risk colliding with another plane. It was surprising how black the night was. All of Europe was in “blackout” so there were no lights from the cities. The heavy cloud cover prevented star or moonlight. Although I think we were all more comfortable flying in the daytime, it was a successful mission and we hit our target.  

Chapter 29 Operation Overlord

Chapter 29 – Operation Overlord

Although there were rumors of a large scale attack ever since Eisenhower took over, we had first heard about Operation Overload (D-Day) in early May. The original date for OO had been cancelled because Germany still had some air power left and the command had decided to bring in more troops.

The Germans were working on installing huge guns on the north coast of France that could shoot “Buzz Bombs” (V-1s) with the ability to reach England. What we didn’t know was they also had a V-2 gun and a V-3 Rocket that could launch bombs from France that would reach the city of London. Reconnaissance had seen the German installations along the northern coast and that made the invasion even more urgent.

We’d all been on pins and needles waiting for the invasion operations to start. In the meantime all bomb groups were concentrating on keeping the Luftwaffe out of the air, out of crews, out of fuel, out of replacement parts and hitting any other target that would be useful. No one knew exactly where the invasion would take place either. We never knew where we were bombing until our briefing sessions before the day’s mission. There were lots of rumors about where it would be and some plans to trick the Germans into thinking it would be somewhere else. In the meantime, hundreds of ships were gathering along the southern coast of England. We'd see them every time we took off over the English channel. 

Chapter 28 – The Pressure Rises, The Going Gets Tough

When we’d finally been transferred to the Ninth Army and relocated to Andrews Field in March of 44 it had been the result of the changing winds of war. Although we didn’t know it at the time, our transfer was probably due to three big changes in the strategies of the war.

One was the appointment of Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle to command the Eighth Army in January of ‘44. Until he took over, the fighters were our escorts and protectors.  Their job was to bring us back alive. When Doolittle took over that changed. He was all about offense. He said it was time we took over air superiority if we were going to win the war. He changed the job of the fighter pilots from protecting bombers to destroying the German fighter planes. They were to seek out the Luftwaffe and attack. The RAF had been doing that all along. Now, the bomber squadrons were on their own! Our job hadn’t changed: Go in, drop your bombs, get out.   1944 -  Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle & Major General Curtis LeMay 

The second change had been what they called: Big Week – February 20-25, 1944.  The Eighth, Ninth & Fiftheenth US Army Air Forces and the RAF launched a six day attack on Germany’s aircraft industry – the goal was to achieve air superiority over Germany. That meant breaking German morale as well as their industrial machines, marshalling yards and supply chains by destroying everything related to the aircraft industry.

There were different targets everyday. They focused on Hitler’s fighter manufacturing and assembly plants, Berlin (where most of the Luftwaffe was based) and other cities building aircraft. Almost 3,000 bomber missions had flown from England and 1500 from Italy.  There was significant damage to Germany but there were also heavy losses for all four Air Forces that week. Moral was low on both sides. After that, pilots and crews were needed, so we’d been transferred into the 9^th and sent to England as reinforcements.

It was also in early February that we learned Eisenhower had been “officially” named Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He would take command of Operation Overlord, what we now call the D-Day invasion - when he took over supreme command of all Allied Forces. He agreed with Doolittle, air superiority was required to win the war but he had a bigger vision of the roll of all the military.

Our B-26 Bomber missions during April and May had been successful. We were really good at flying in formation and staying tight. It must have been menacing to the enemy to hear and see all that firepower aimed at them. It was impressive from our end and made you proud to be part of the 322^nd. The other side of that is that the Germans were good at getting their anti-aircraft guns back in action and were also usually ready for us. Seeing the flack exploding all around you was as nerve racking as it gets. It was heart stopping to see one of your fellow planes burst into fire after a hit and spin to the ground. It took a lot of concentration to steel yourself to keep on going and keep your thoughts on the job. Luckily it didn't happen on every mission.

One of the big problems of carrying out the missions from Southern England was weather. England, the English Channel, Northern France were constantly being battered by thick fog and spring gales blowing in from the Atlantic, making visibility bad at low altitudes and completely obliterated at higher altitudes. Most of our targets that spring were on the Western front or over Germany itself.  We were hitting our targets with accuracy. We were holding our own without Fighter protection. The Fighters were also having a lot of success because Germans had lost a lot of planes and crews in the Big Week – and it would take the Gerries over two months to get back into production of much needed planes.

Chapter 27 A WWII Thanksgiving in Britain

Thanksgiving Story

An upper class British widow scrimped and saved ration coupons all year long to buy a Turkey and all the trimmings. It was to give the American G. I.s, who helped her maintain her proud but decrepit estate, a proper Thanksgiving dinner.

She spent days cleaning and decorating her house. She brought her fine china, crystal and silver out of the bomb shelter, wanting everything to be perfect for the Americans. She did all the cooking and her friends acted as servants for the day.

Everyone was seated in the formal dining room, Mrs. Bridgewater at the head of the table. The tantalizing aroma of roasting turkey filled the air. The soldiers were in their dress uniforms, anxiously anticipating their home cooked traditional American dinner. Toasts had been made. Discussions of the many blessings the group had to be thankful for, even though they were fighting a war far from home and loved ones, were complete.

The time came for the beautiful 20 pound turkey to be served. Cedric, acting as butler, came through the swinging door behind Mrs. Bridgewater’s chair with a flourish - and the turkey slid off the platter and landed on the floor!  Everyone was aghast!  The much anticipated dinner was ruined! There was complete silence.  No one knew what to say or do – except Mrs. Bridgewater! 

She calmly instructed Cedric: “Please pick up the turkey, put it on the platter, take it back into the kitchen and bring out the other turkey!” 

Wishing you as happy a Thanksgiving as those G. I.s had all those many years ago!

Chapter 26 - Escaping the War

Chapter 26 – Escaping the War

To relieve the alternating stress and boredom, we were given furlough passes every two to three weeks, usually for two days. The closest train station was in Braintree about 5 miles away. If you wanted to head for London, which was about 45 miles southwest by train, you needed a bike get to the station. You could usually find one somewhere on the base. There was even a guy on base who repaired bikes and he always had a couple ready to go if you couldn’t borrow one from another GI.

If you rode a bike into the station, the next person who arrived at the station might borrow it to get home. You always had to worry about finding a bike there when you got back. It wasn’t much fun to get back from leave and have to walk back to the base. There wasn’t much hitch hiking in those days, people just didn’t have cars. Occasionally you could bum a ride from one of the businesses that had a “lorry” (truck) but you might have to help him make a delivery or two.

People in the neighboring villages were pretty friendly about sharing their bikes. No one ever locked their bike but they did have their names on them. We’d try to avoid taking the bikes with names on them whenever possible.  Every once in awhile the train station manager would send a truck out to the base to collect the bikes that belonged to the villagers.

It was safe to go into London now that the blitz was over. There was always something to do there during the day – and if you could find a place in the blackout - at night.  The German attacks to demoralize London, “the Blitz” had started in September 1940 and continued until May of 1941 when Hitler needed his Luftwaffe to invade Russia. However, London was still under a “blackout” three years later. There were absolutely no lights allowed on outside at night. All windows had to have blackout curtains blocking any light. So, you liked to know where you were when it got dark. It was best to plan to be inside at one of the GI clubs where there was usually a dance, music, food and lot of people. 

There were more than a dozen Red Cross Clubs in London some of them were for Officers only. Sooner or later we checked them all out and sometimes we even stayed in hotels just to get away from other soldiers for a day. Mostly we headed for the biggest and best club, which welcomed both officers and enlisted men, The Rainbow Corner. It was located in the West End, a few blocks from Piccadilly Circus – where all the theaters and shops were – so there was always something to do.

Sheet Music of a song about the Rainbow Corner

You could get a room at the Rainbow Corner for about 50 cents and they had real sheets. They had just about anything else you needed from a laundry to a barbershop. You could take a hot shower or a bath. The Red Cross was famous for supplying doughnuts and coffee to servicemen (even if they had to deliver them by mobile units) and you could usually get a sandwich and piece of cake or a bottle of Coca Cola at the donut canteen downstairs. They also served hot meals there, usually fish or rabbit and vegetables or something with beans. London had been under rationing so long you took whatever food you could get. There was usually a live band and dancing at least 3 nights a week and there were plenty of records for dancing if there was no live music. There were movies, magazines, newspapers, drinks, cigarettes and you could play cards, ping pong, games or do jigsaw puzzels. There were lots of friendly ladies that volunteered at the club and they were always ready to dance or play table games, write letters for guys that needed help with them, or sew something for you. There were even counselors for guys that were messed up.

Time passed too quickly when you were off base on a pass and it seemed like you’d just left when it was time to go back.