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.