History

On June 8th, 1924, George Mallory and Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine disappeared climbing Mount Everest. The question of whether they reached the summit has never been answered.

Thank you for following the D-Day live posts. I did realise that (despite some confusion amongst publications) D-Day time is normally written as GMT+2. My mistake!

Midnight: D-Day has clearly been a success. The Germans, unprepared and confused, have failed to effectively prevent the beaches being taken. Despite this, most objectives have not been taken, and the failure to take places like Caen will haunt the Allies as German reinforcements begin to arrive. But with the opening of a second front, it is the beginning of the end for the Reich.

23:00: Hitler holds the second situation conference today. In part thanks to deceptive intelligence planted by the agent "Garbo" (Juan Pujol), who himself is currently furiously trying to continue the deception, Hitler still believes this is a diversion and that the real landings will take place further north.

20:30: The army camps, like the one pictured in Blandford, Dorset, have been eerily quiet since the troops left. However, casualties are now filtering back across southern England. In Basingstoke, Hampshire, a single soldier arrives still with wet sand on him.

20:00: Members of the Essex Yeomanry are tending to the wounded in a bunker above Gold beach. They have found a note to a German soldier - "Hans chéri" - from a French woman saying she'll meet him at 8pm. They wonder if she still will.

20:00: Rommel has finally arrived at his HQ in Chateau La Roche-Guyon. He has driven non-stop. His aide, Captain Lang, runs inside and is shocked to hear a Wagner opera playing from General Speidel's office. "General Speidel," he asks, " the invasion has begun and you're able to listen to Wagner?" "My dear Lang, do you honestly believe that my listening to Wagner will make any difference whatsoever to the course of the invasion," replied Speidel. As the three begin discussions, there is a feeling of depression.

18:00: The 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment reach the beach at Lion-sur-Mer. Weak and without air support, they are unable to continue the pincer movement, and are forced to retreat.

17:21: Omaha beach is now able to receive wheeled and tracked traffic, meaning supply vehicles and tanks can land. The Allied position is still precarious, but the ability of the Germans to destroy the beachheads is rapidly dwindling, even as reinforcements arrive.

17:00: Sword beach has been an especial failure by the Germans, as many prisoners are now being marched off to captivity. However, the 21st Panzer Division is about to launch the only major counter-attack of D-Day.

16:30: British soldiers (alongside Dutch and Polish) are pushing from Gold beach along the road to Bayeux, capturing Reyes and approaching Arromanches.

15:15: after heavy bombing, Caen is now on fire. Civilians were warned of incoming bombers by leaflets dropped, but many did not evacuate. An anonymous man pens a note that will be found on his body the following month: "I feel that I am dying. It is terrible to know that I’m going to die because I have been expecting the liberation for so long. But I know that, because of my death, other people will be liberated. Long live France, long live the Allies."

14:25: General von Oppeln-Bronikowski meets General Marcks after making it through Caen with his 22nd Panzer Regiment. "Oppeln," Marcks informs him, "if you don’t succeed in throwing the British into the sea we shall have lost the war." Oppeln complies, but is aware that he has just 98 tanks.

13:30: General Omar Bradley is waiting for news aboard the USS August, and hears that the battle for Omaha is finally going in the Americans' favour. Coastal bombardment has helped the battle, and now 18,772 troops have landed. It is clearly almost over on the beach.

13:02: it is not lost on many that the morale of many defenders has collapsed. General von Oppeln-Bronikowski, making his way through Caen, notices a group of soldiers stumbling through the rubble, drunkenly singing Deutschland Über Alles.

13:00: John Snagge is reading the lunchtime news to listeners across Europe, many of whom listen for news on the invasion. One listener is Anne Frank, who wonders if this means she will be able to go back to school.

12:15: Canadian troops have captured the town of Reviers as they push outwards from Juno, which is rapidly reaching capacity as more troops land.

12:10: Churchill is giving a speech to a packed and nervous group of MPs about the progress of the Italian campaign. He looks tired and pale. He finally moves to the invasion. "I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning, the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place."