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clouds, high winds, and formidable
wave action were predicted to make
landing a most hazardous affair.
The meteorologists said that air
support would be impossible, naval
gunfire would be 'inefficient, and
even the handling of small boats
would be rendered difficult.
"At three-thirty the next morn–
ing our little tent was shaking and
sh uddering under a wind of almost
hurricane proportions. It seemed
impossible that in such conditions
there was any reason for even dis–
cussing the situation. Bad condi–
tions predicted the day befare for
the coast of France were actually
prevailing there and if we had per–
sisted in the attempt to land on
June 5 a major disaster would
almost surely have resulted. This
[the Meteorologic Staff] told us to
inspire more confidence in their
next astonishing declaration, which
was that by the following morni ng
[Ju ne 6) a period of relatively good
many in history- lay at the merey
of the weather. Humbling, but
true!
Modern Miracles
An April 7, 1947,
Daily Telegraph
article titled "The Miracle of 0 -
Day," by Lieutenant General Sir
Frederick Margan, former head of
the Anglo-American planning statf,
confirms the weather factor:
"As the old adage had it, 'Man
propases but God disposes. ' There
comes a point in so many of our
affairs at which we hope so often
for a miracle.
"And miracles happen s ti/1.
How many of them have we not
seen enacted befare our eyes in
these past few years.... There was
Dunkirk and its flat, calm sea. Who
planned that? During those fateful
hours 1 was riding up to battle,
south of the Somme ... our main
army was hemmed in on those
northern beaches. There wer e
many others who, like us,
saw no way out barring a
miracle. There carne a
miracle.
"Then, two years later,
a U-boat caught sight of
the tai l ship of one convoy
[carrying troops from
America and Britain to
invade North Africa ] .
The German observer,
apparently, thought what
he saw merely worthy of
routine report.
" Then , but a d ay
befare Gen. Patton was
due to land on the Casa-
General Eisenhower and Britain's Field Marshal
Montgomery confer on Normandy invasion plans.
~
blanca beaches, open to
the full Atlantic swell,
just as it seemed inevita–
ble that his whole affai r
weather,
heretofore complete/y
unexpected,
would ensue, Iasting
probably thirty-s ix hours. The
Iong-term prediction was not good
but this short period of calm weath–
er would intervene between the
storm we were then experiencing
and the beginning of the next spell
of bad weather.
"1 quickly announced the deci–
sion to go ahead with the attack on
June 6"
(Crusade in Europe,
Da
Capo edition, pages 249-250).
In spite of the best efforts of
man, the 0-day battle-like so
32
must be called off, the
wind changed from on-shore to off–
shore and Jet the small craft in.
"The history o f our other
theatres of war will inevitably tell
of many similar happenings, but 1
doubt if any will be such as to com–
pare with the miracle of 0-Day in
1944.... There had already been
one short delay, caused by bad
weather, which meant that any fur–
ther postponement must have been
of weeks to await the right conjunc–
tion of Iight and tide.... There was
someth ing more than ordinary,
surely, in that decision to attack
and in that spiri t of success that
permeated the ranks."
This wartime editorial from
The
Times
of London of September ll,
1944, is even more revealing:
"It seemed that those normally
placid and sunlit days when May and
June mingle were this summer
malignantly possessed.... And yet
all the time, had we but known it, the
clouds we so much dreaded were big
with opportunities Supreme Head–
quarters were quick to grasp.
"The German commanders were
advised by their meteorological ser–
vice that there could be no invasion
in the period including June 6
because of con tinuou s stormy
weather. That is why 0-Day forces
landing during a brief break in the
windiest month in Normandy for at
least 20 years found so many Ger–
man troops without officers, and
why other enemy coastal units were
having exercises at the time of the
landing."
This was the miracle of 0 -day!
Even General Erwin Rommel, the
brilliant Desert Fox, was not at his
post. He was visiting his wife for her
birthday- June 6. Rommel was con–
fident the treacherous weather made
an invasion impossible.
The odds were 50 to 1 against
moon, tide and winds being right
after the stormy weather that was
raging.
The Great Gales
The Times
commented again on
October 27, 1944: " lt has perhaps
never been fully appreciated how
near the invasion forces carne to a
disaster comparable with the fate of
the Spanish Armada." June 18 was
the next time for the right tides.
Yet on June 19, a gale rose with
increasing force for the next 24
hours and died away 1
lh
days later .
Only one of 23 tons of pier equip–
ment survived that fateful episode.
It
was the worst Channel storm in
80 years!
What if the invasion had come
on Sunday, June 19? It is a chilling
thought.
General Eisenhower seemed to
sense the hand of Providence in
these dramatic events. Speaking in
his hometown of Abilene, Kansas,
on June 4, 1952, he was reported in
Time
magazine to say:
"This day eight years ago, 1
The
PLAIN TRUTH