Timeline: June 6th, 1944
From the SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes 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 and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Order of the Day
June 6, 1944
This message was given to our Allied troops the day of the Normandy invasion of Nazi occupied France. Notice that it gets right to the heart of the matter and doesn't beat around the bush. General Eisenhower states quite frankly that the Nazis will fight tooth and nail. They have the actual combat experience that many of our Allied forces lack. They have been tested, and to a large degree they have won.
Also notice that General Eisenhower asks God for his blessing. This was not frowned upon in those days. Today we would have the ACLU and other communist/socialist/atheist groups condemning the General for beseeching the help of God. Too bad we are not so tolerant today as we were then.
Here is some video of the recollections of the men and women who participated in the largest military operation ever. D-Day Recollections
Lets not kid ourselves. If Hitler and Nazi Germany had decided to sue for a peace, it probably would have been accepted, for a while at least. If Hitler hadn't decided to invade Russia then western Europe would still be under the yoke of Nazism. But thanks to God, Hitler was a madman. A psychopath bent on destruction by any means. If we had allowed the Nazi state to survive, then with their crazy ideas about eugenics and the so-called "master race" would still be in effect for occupied Europe. And if by some better luck by plotters of assasination of Hitler, there still may have been a chance to end the war with an intact Nazi Europe.
I wish to thank all the men and women for their service and lives to protect our liberty and freedom.
You were most certainly the Best Generation our Republic has ever seen.
God Bless you all!
