GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
78 years ago, on 6 June 1944 US/UK/Canadian/Australian/New Zealand/Allied forces launched the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. Codenamed Operation ‘Overlord’, the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy in Northern France marked the start of a long, costly but ultimately successful campaign to liberate North-West Europe from Nazi German occupation + overthrow Adolf Hitler.
During the Battle of Normandy over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing. This figure includes around 210,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 killed amongst the ground forces and a further 16,000 deaths amongst the Allied air forces. At the same time the USSR continued its attacks on Nazi Germany from the East + succeeded in reaching Berlin + contributed significantly to the defeat of Hitler. German armed forces surrendered unconditionally in the West on May 7 and in the East on May 9, 1945. The War against Japan was ended after the US Atom bombing of Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki
This War was Unavoidable. Hitler may have initially raised living standards in Germany and “made the trains run on time” but his goal was brutal repression at home + military expansion abroad. One-by-one, European countries surrendered to his withering military offensive 1940 – Belgium, Holland and France – Czeckoslovakia + Austria having fallen in 1936 and 1938. The UK, led by Winston Churchill, stood alone – with very little support from the isolationist US who failed to enter the War until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941. Then, in 1945, the Allied forces led by US/UK worked closely with the USSR led by Stalin and jointly won an important victory.
Today the US/UK and other European countries are in a sharpening confrontation with Russia in An Avoidable War + the UK has just announced the delivery to Ukraine of long-range artillery with the capacity to reach into Russia. Wise heads are needed at a time of extreme crisis. We are not quite there but now is the time for wise men/women to intervene.
