D-DAY was 70 years ago - June 6, 1944.
We honor the memory of the thousands of men who stormed the beaches under withering fire, parachuted into the darkness or landed in frail defenceless gliders. We honor the bravery of these men and remember the approximately 3,000 that died that first day, another 6,000 wounded.
For those of us in occupied Europe, the news of the successful landings changed hopes for freedom into certainty, even though another year would pass before many were actually freed.
In Warsaw the news electrified us in the resistance, we were planning for our own Uprising against the Nazis. D-Day assured us that the day was near, it actually occurred exactly 2 months later, August 1.
70 years later, I still clearly remember the tremendous elation that I, my family and friends all felt, when the news finally reached us the evening of June 6. We had no radios, but the few that had clandestine radio sets immediately told their trusted friends and it spread like wild fire from person to person throughout the city.
The following day hastily typed and mimeographed single flimsy pages were distributed by girls and boys to reach everybody who cared to read.
Nervous nail biting days followed - had the landings succeeded? How far inland had they advanced? Maps in atlases were not sufficiently detailed for us to locate all the names in the news. None of us bought the German press but the headlines trumpetted "American and British forces repelled. Great victory of the Wehrmacht!". But as days passed the German "victories" (sic) were further inland. The underground press carried details of the Allied advances. By the end of the week it was clear that the landings were successful and huge numbers of Allied troops were landing and slowly but surely pushing the Nazis back.
We gathered in small groups in private homes and celebrated. The vodka flowed as we toasted the Americans, the British, the Canadians, the Australians and finally the Polish 1st Armored Division who landed in Normandy a few days later as part of the British Group.
Return to top of page.
Go to Home page
Last page revision:
June 6, 2014
