Eighty years ago on 6 June, D-Day, the largest land, air and naval operation in history was unleashed to fight the Nazis – led by a group of British troops who crash-landed in Normandy in six flimsy gliders. In 1984, the man who led this mission gave an extraordinary account to the BBC.
Story and video interview here.
"...The German garrison was taken by surprise, as Colonel Hans von Luck acknowledged 40 years later. Major Howard and Colonel von Luck would later become good friends in the 1960s through their involvement in giving military lectures, and both men were back in Normandy for the 40th anniversary...
"...At that same time, local café owners Georges and Thérèse Gondrée were sheltering with their children in the cellars. Soon afterwards, Georges was in the garden digging up 98 bottles of champagne which had remained buried throughout the war, waiting for this day...
Addendum: from The 1999 Guardian obit for Maj. Howard (link in BBC article):
D-Day was probably the most difficult and complex operation ever undertaken in the history of war.
It could have been compromised because a Czech officer, Ferdinand Otto Miksche, wrote a book about airborne troops shortly beforehand, forecasting exactly where the amphibious invasion would land and predicting that airborne forces might be dropped on either side to secure it against German counter-attack.
The Germans assumed it was a piece of deception. In fact, it was exactly what happened.
Story and video interview here.
"...The German garrison was taken by surprise, as Colonel Hans von Luck acknowledged 40 years later. Major Howard and Colonel von Luck would later become good friends in the 1960s through their involvement in giving military lectures, and both men were back in Normandy for the 40th anniversary...
"...At that same time, local café owners Georges and Thérèse Gondrée were sheltering with their children in the cellars. Soon afterwards, Georges was in the garden digging up 98 bottles of champagne which had remained buried throughout the war, waiting for this day...
Addendum: from The 1999 Guardian obit for Maj. Howard (link in BBC article):
D-Day was probably the most difficult and complex operation ever undertaken in the history of war.
It could have been compromised because a Czech officer, Ferdinand Otto Miksche, wrote a book about airborne troops shortly beforehand, forecasting exactly where the amphibious invasion would land and predicting that airborne forces might be dropped on either side to secure it against German counter-attack.
The Germans assumed it was a piece of deception. In fact, it was exactly what happened.
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