D-day: a Day that Changed The Course of History

Many people did not know that one day in history could change destiny. If D-Day never happened the Nazi Party would most likely still be ruling the all of Europe. It could have positioned them to rule most of the world. Hitler would have been adding to the death total of Jews for many years to come. Hitler and his Nazi party would be trying to put an end to the Jews because they thought it was best for Germany. Hitler and the Nazi’s would be trying to exterminate all of the handicapped people. They did this to try and make the perfect German race. That race consisted of blonde hair and blue eyes excluding certain races and disabled. If he followed through with that plan many of the Germans would have died. The Nazi party could have found a new leader and continued the Hitler legacy. The death total could have risen up into the hundred millions. Many babies would die because they did not make the German ideals. Hitler also killed Catholics. Just imagine going to church like normal every Sunday. Nazi soldiers entering your peace of worship and shot everyone in sight just because of your religion. If Hitler did take over the world what would have happened? That's why one day changed the course of history.

On the night of June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion began. The assault from the air consisted of 13,400 American paratroopers were sent to the beaches of Normandy. The Allies planes mimicked the V shape of a flock migrated. At the head of the so called flock, were the pathfinders. The pathfinders were the first to jump on the beaches. Their training prepared them so they would be ready to be the first on the beaches. The pathfinders marked the drop zones for all the other paratroopers. Some of the planes face heavy anti-aircraft fire, the explosions and bullets rocked the planes. The American 101st Airborne faced extremely heavy resistance from Germans as soon as they flew over French territory. Private Dwayne Burns said “My plane was bouncing like something gone wild…”. His plane was bouncing from all of the bullets and other planes exploding beside him. Many of the pathfinders would drop into their wrong zone. They often dropped into their wrong zone because they were too busy trying to avoid the heavy gunfire that rocked their planes. That caused confusion so the pilots and paratroopers behind them didn’t know where to drop. Sometimes the paratroopers dropped into their wrong zone because it was dark out. An Axis general, Rommel, created marshes that would make it harder for the Allied forces to get through. The Allied forces had over 100 pounds that they were carrying on their back. When the paratroopers would go through the marshes they would drown in 2 feet of water because of the extreme weight on their back. In the 82nd Airborne division, around 30 of the men landed in a town that was thriving with Germans. Their assigned landing point was in field west of the small town. Many of the Allies plans did not work out. The paratroopers that participated in D-Day were very young. Many of them were only eighteen or nineteen years old and volunteers.

The assault from the ocean consisted of 5 beaches. Those beaches were Utah, Juno, Gold, Sword, and Omaha. The armada that was constructed for D-Day was arguably the largest ever created. There was over five thousand vessels in the water and some of them could also go on land, making them amphibious. That means they could go in both the water and go on land. At about 5:00 A.M. warships rained fire on the beaches of Normandy. Holdbrook Bradley, a veteran newspaper writer, said “The sound of battle is something I’m used to. But this [the opening bombardment on D-Day] was the loudest thing I have ever heard. There was more firepower than I’ve ever heard in my life”. This newspaper writer has obviously had experience with war or guns. Hearing this from him should cause you to take a moment and think about just how many guns and planes were on scene that day. On the day that they attacked the seas were very rough. Their small boats would get thrown around like a bully picking on a kid much smaller than him. Many of the men ate large breakfast that morning too. With all of the undigested food in their stomachs they would throw up all over each other. Before they even touched the shoreline, a control ship ran into a land mine and burst into flames sinking extraordinarily fast. It was hard navigating through the mine infested water. The men from the ship swam to other boats begging to be picked up by other boats. The boats could not pick them up because it would make them easy pickings for the awaiting German forces. Most of all the men that were in the water from that explosion sadly, drowned. At about 6:30 in the morning, numerous Higgins boats unloaded their men into waist deep water. The boats kept coming and coming. When they finally stopped there was about 30,000 men on the beaches. That was not all the Allied soldiers had in store though, they had 3,500 vehicles on the beach too. Some of the soldiers faced heavy fire while some faced little to no fire at all from the opposing German forces. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was the oldest officer to land on the beaches of D-Day at a whopping 57 years old. At the time he had health problems and often walked with a cane. That did not stop him from participating in the invasion though. Captain John Ahearn drove one of the first tanks into D-Day. He spotted a German bunker and blew it open. When people came running out of the bunker, they immediately put their hands in the air. They shouted in German watch out for the mines and they saved a tank from being blown up. When the men were questioned the soldiers discovered that they were actually from the Soviet Union. At Utah there was not many casualties although sixty of their men were missing. The British and Canadian took beaches Sword, Gold, and Juno. The U.S. took beaches Utah and Omaha. By far the most difficult beach to capture was Omaha. The soldiers were under persistent fire and Germans took many casualties. The Allied forces managed to push through and capture the beach. You might think D-Day went exactly as planned, but it didn’t. Many of the Allied plans failed.

D-Day was one of the most important days in the history of the world. If it would have never happened World War II could have lasted much longer. Hitler may not have ever killed himself in his bunker. One of the effects of D-Day was the so called “unstoppable” German empire was finally defeated. Some people probably do not even know the details of what happened on this fateful day. Little do they know, this day would live on forever in history. That's why D-Day is so important.