If D-Day happened today....
Tragic French Offensive Stalled on Beaches (Normandy, France - June 6,
1944) - Pandemonium, shock and sheer terror predominate today's events
in Europe.
In an as yet unfolding apparent fiasco, Supreme Allied Commander, Gen.
Dwight David Eisenhower's troops got a rude awakening this morning at
Omaha Beach here in Normandy.
Due to insufficient planning and lack of a workable entrance strategy,
soldiers of the 1st and 29th Infantry as well as Army Rangers are now
bogged down and sustaining heavy casualties inflicted on them by
dug-in insurgent positions located 170 feet above them on cliffs
overlooking the beaches which now resemble blood soaked killing fields
at the time of this mid-morning filing.
Bodies, parts of bodies, and blood are the order of the day here, the
screams of the dying and the stillness of the dead mingle in testament
to this terrible event.
Morale can only be described as extremely poor--in some companies all
the officers have been either killed or incapacitated, leaving only
poorly trained privates to fend for themselves.
Things appear to be going so poorly that Lt. General Omar Bradley has
been rumored to be considering breaking off the attack entirely. As we
go to press embattled U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
spokesman has not made himself available for comment at all, fueling
fires that something has gone disastrously awry.
The government at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is in a distinct lock-down
mode and the Vice President's location is presently and officially
undisclosed.
Whether the second in command should have gone into hiding during such
a crisis will have to be answered at some future time, but many agree
it does not send a good signal.
Miles behind the beaches and adding to the chaos, U.S. Naval gunships
have inflicted many friendly fire casualties, as huge high explosive
projectiles rain death and destruction on unsuspecting Allied
positions.
The lack of training of Naval gunners has been called into question
numerous times before and today's demonstration seems to underlie
those concerns.
At Utah Beach the situation is also grim, elements of the 82nd and
101st Airborne seemed to be in disarray as they missed their primary
drop zones behind the area believed to comprise the militant's front
lines. Errant paratroopers have been hung up in trees, breaking arms
and legs, rendering themselves easy targets for those defending this
territory.
On the beach front itself the landing area was missed, catapulting
U.S. forces nearly 2,000 yards South of the intended coordinates, thus
placing them that much farther away from the German insurgents and
unable to direct covering fire or materially add to the operation.
Casualties at day's end are nothing short of horrific; at least 8,000
and possibly as many as 9,000 were wounded in the haphazardly
coordinated attack, which seems to have no unifying purpose or intent.
Of this number at least 3,000 have been estimated as having been
killed, making June 6th by far, the worst single day of the war which
has dragged on now--with no exit strategy in sight--as the American
economy still struggles to recover from Herbert Hoover's depression
and its 25% unemployment.
Military spending has skyrocketed the national debt into uncharted
regions, lending another cause for concern. When and if the current
hostilities finally end it may take generations for the huge debt to
be repaid.
On the planning end of things, experts wonder privately if enough
troops were committed to the initial offensive and whether at least
another 100,000 troops should have been added to the force structure
before such an audacious undertaking. Communication problems also have
made their presence felt making that an area for further investigation
by the appropriate governmental committees.
On the home front, questions and concern have been voiced. A telephone
poll has shown dwindling support for the wheel-chair bound Commander
In Chief, which might indicate a further erosion of support for his
now three year-old global war.
Of course, the President's precarious health has always been a
question. He has just recently recovered from pneumonia and
speculation persists whether or not he has sufficient stamina to
properly sustain the war effort. This remains a topic of furious
discussion among those questioning his competency.
Today's costly and chaotic landing compounds the President's already
large credibility problem.
More darkly, this phase of the war, commencing less than six months
before the next general election, gives some the impression that
Roosevelt may be using this offensive simply as a means to secure
re-election in the fall.
Underlining the less than effective Allied attack, German
casualties-most of them innocent and hapless conscripts--seem not to
be as severe as would be imagined. A German minister who requested
anonymity stated categorically that "the aggressors were being driven
back into the sea amidst heavy casualties, the German people seek no
wider war."
"The news couldn't be better," Adolph Hitler said when he was first
informed of the D-Day assault earlier this afternoon.
"As long as they were in Britain we couldn't get at them. Now we have
them where we can destroy them."
German minister Goebbels had been told of the Allied airborne landings
at 0400 hours.
"Thank God, at last," he said. "This is the final round."
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