David Murdock Column: On the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the 'longest day'
D-Day. Tuesday, June 6, 1944. This week marks the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy by Allied troops ― Americans, British, Canadian, free French and others.
As I have noted before, my favorite movie about the D-Day operation is "The Longest Day," the 1962 epic starring … well, just about everybody. In fact, one of the most-often-made observations about the movie is that pretty much every actor has a cameo role, with only a few exceptions.
I honestly don’t remember when I first saw this movie, but I guess that I probably saw it with Dad in one of our war-movie marathons back in the day.
My favorite book on D-Day is … "The Longest Day," the 1959 narrative history by Cornelius Ryan on which the movie is based. Ryan also was a screenwriter on the movie. I know exactly when I read the book for the first time ― near June 6, 2014. That’s when I bought it.
Since the last column, I’ve re-watched the movie and re-read the book. The pleasure in re-watching good movies and re-reading good books is that one gets something different from them on every re-watch or re-read.
The thing that I got this go-around was how close it was. One thing that Ryan points out in the book that is reflected in the movie is that many German commanders took time off to visit their homes or to go to other professional training obligations on this date. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, for example, was in Germany visiting his family — his wife’s birthday was June 6.
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So many German commanders were away from their units that Ryan footnotes that “After D-Day the coincidences of these multiple departures from the invasion front struck Hitler so forcibly that there was actually talk of an investigation to see whether the British service could possibly have had anything to do with it.” However, there was a simpler reason why so many German commanders were away from their units. The Allies had never before attempted an amphibious landing in less-than-perfect conditions, and the conditions in early June 1944, were less than perfect.
That’s another thing that struck me on this go-around with the book and the movie ― just how tenuous the weather conditions were. It wasn’t just the weather conditions either, only three days in early June ― the 5th, 6th, and 7th ― offered the conditions needed for the invasion: a late-rising, bright moon for the paratrooper drops after midnight and low tide at the invasion hour on the beaches the next morning. Poor weather had already forced a “call-back” of the seaborne forces on the 5th. If the invasion didn’t go forward on the 6th or 7th, it would be almost the middle of July when another attempt could be made.
The fact about the whole D-Day operation that has always stuck with me is Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s absolute “flummoxing” of the German generals arrayed against him in terms of where the invasion would occur. Most of the German generals believed ― for several days after the Normandy invasion ― that it was only a diversion from the real invasion, which they believed would occur at Pas-de-Calais in Northern France. They believed the “real” invasion would be led by Gen. George S. Patton, whom Eisenhower had kept in England as part of the deception known as Operation Fortitude South.
Had the Germans immediately released the Panzer divisions being held in reserve near Pas-de-Calais to repel the Normandy invasion, the Germans would likely have pushed Allied troops back into the sea with great loss of life. It would have been a disaster.
I have much respect for Gen. Eisenhower. His never-given speech had the Normandy invasion failed is short and brilliant: “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.” The blame was his alone — no one else’s — in his opinion. That accountability is the mark of a true leader.
Speaking of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines who served at D-Day — there are not too many of them left today, maybe a few thousand at the most, all in their late-90s. (And, by the way, there were Marines at D-Day, contrary to popular opinion … in very small numbers, maybe 300 or so. None “hit the beach,” as far as I know.)
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One last thing about the movie, "The Longest Day," that has always fascinated me. I noted it in a 2019 column on D-Day and will repeat it now. One of the British stars was Richard Todd, who portrayed Maj. John Howard in the movie, whose unit has been tasked with securing Pegasus Bridge. Maj. Howard was Todd’s commanding officer. Todd served as one of the paratroopers who fought for and secured the bridge during D-Day. In the movie, he wore the actual paratrooper’s beret that he had worn during the battle.
Talk about an actor who knew his part.
David Murdock is an English instructor at Gadsden State Community College. He can be contacted at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are his own.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: David Murdock on the 80th anniversary of D-Day and 'The Longest Day'
