- Some D-Day facts
- The original codename for the invasion was ‘Operation Roundup'
- Virtually every bridge over the River Seine in France was destroyed in the build up to D-Day to restrict German reinforcements once the invasion had started.
- There were a huge number of vehicles involved. Over 1,300 aircraft, 3,500 gliders, 1,200 fighting ships, 1,600 merchant ships and 4,000 assault craft were stationed around England before the attack.
- Some South Coast towns were closed to the public during 1944 to keep troop build up a secret. It worked.
- Over eleven different nationalities, including Czechs and Norwegians were involved in D-Day.
- 23,000 Airborne troops were parachuted in the night before D-Day. 6,000 of these were killed or seriously wounded.
- On D-Day itself 2,727 ships sailed to Normandy. 156,000 Allied troops landed on the first day.
- A further 156,215 troops were landed from air and sea over the next two days. 10,300 of which were killed.
- All secret documents relating to D-Day and ID cards of those involved in the planning were marked with the word “BIGOT”. The idea being that no one was likely to boast about such a label.
- D-Day planning took place at Norfolk House in London. So as to avoid loose talk from the staff in local pubs a private bar was installed so staff could drink without fear of prying ears.
- In late summer 1943 a copy of secret Operation Overlord plan was blown out the window of Norfolk House. It was later handed in by a man who claimed his eyesight was so poor he couldn't read the document.
- When D-Day began, Hitler was asleep back in Germany. No-one dared wake him and no-one dared order re-enforcements. The Germans lost vital hours while waiting for their leader to wake up.
- German General Rommel was in charge of defending the Atlantic coast from Allied invasion. On June 6 1944 he was nearly 1,000 miles away celebrating his wife's 50th birthday. He committed suicide four months later.
- ' The dice is on the carpet' was code for French resistance workers ordering to destroy trains and railway lines in the weeks leading up to D-Day.
- 'It's hot in Suez' was a coded order to destroy telephone lines.
- 749 Americans were killed during a D-Day rehearsal in Devon. While troops waited in boats to practice their landing, nine German U-boats happened upon them and torpedoed the boats.
- Airborne Colonel Otway had a top secret mission on D-Day.To ensure he could trust his men to keep the plans to themselves, he arranged for 30 of the prettiest members of the Women's Auxillary Airforce to dress in civilian clothing and go down to the pub next to where his troops were training. They were ordered to do anything they could to discover the men's plans. Not a single man gave anything away.
- Just weeks before D-Day the Daily Telegraph Crossword included the answer ‘Utah' to one of its clues. on 22 May ‘Omaha' appeared as an answer. Five days later the word ‘Overlord' was an answer and 5 days after that ‘Neptune' (the code named for the naval aspect of D-Day). The crossword compiler was taken in for questioning by MI5 but cleared of all wrong-doing.
- Perhaps the most crucial figure in the success of D-Day was a double agent code named ‘Garbo'. He provided vast amounts of false information to the Germans, including the existence of an entirely fictitious US Army group, that led the Germans to misplace huge amounts of their defences and over estimate the number of Allied divisions by over 50%.
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