On this day 78 years ago, the largest invasion force in history launched from the south of England. May we never forget the valor of these young men who in the middle of the night parachuted into occupied France, joined in the grey dawn of morning by 132,715 of their comrades-in-arms, along with medics, doctors, nurses and every other essential element in the Big Picture that was that Big Day.
Their mission was nothing less than the liberation of occupied Europe from Nazi domination.
These thoughts are uppermost in my mind on this day because I have spent today in Southampton, England. Southampton in the pre-war years was a huge port, handling more than twenty million tons of shipping a year. The people of Southampton knew their city would likely be ground zero for any German attempt to destroy Great Britain. While Neville Chamberlain was proclaiming “Peace in our time,” the first blackout exercise in Britain was being undertaken in Southampton.
All too soon the city’s preparedness was tested and their worst fears realized. And the onslaught never let up. From June 1940 to June 1944, Southampton sustained 57 calamitous air raids in which 31,000 incendiaries and thousands more bombs were dropped by German aircraft on the city.
It was not just the port of Southampton the Nazi regime wanted to destroy. Pre-war, the Vickers Supermarine Aviation Works produced the first prototype of the Spitfire. The airplane went into production in Southampton and barely survived when the building housing it suffered a direct hit in 1940. Luckily another production works at Castle Bromwich was untouched and able to put the earliest Spitfires into the skies for the Battle of Britain.
Staring out into the expanse of rolling fields and tall old oaks that have seen more of war and danger than any of us alive today, I raised a glass of Drambuie this evening to Jimmy Potter. A Scottish friend of mine 20-plus years my senior, now long since gone, in 1940 Jimmy lied about his age and stood on tiptoe to get into the RAF. He was among the few who flew those Spitfires round the clock during those terrifying early days when all seemed lost. He was also one of the lucky ones who survived. “Never have so many owed so much to so few.”
Our regular ritual was to have a Drambuie together in salutation of those who never made it home — from this and every other war. Here’s to you, James Potter.
But all this was hardly the end of Southampton’s role in turning the tide of war. Southampton became both the operational and logistical hub that would see Southampton at the center of Operation Overlord. Every type of armament, materiel and the men who would lead the charge into continental Europe were staged in the fields and forests around the city.
Mulberry harbors, Rhino pontoons, expanded rail, food, fuel airstrips, docks, all of it was here in Southampton. Every building, every road, every tiny lane was filled with military vehicles and personnel. What didn’t fit was staged outside the city. Two-thirds of all those who were part of the initial assault sailed from Southampton.
Between D-Day and the end of the war 11 long, hard months later, more than three and a half million men and women shipped out from Southampton, accompanied by more than 250,000 different vehicles. I know, from a very special firsthand source. My maternal grandfather was a quartermaster (logistician) for Patton’s 3rd Armored.
These forbears of ours succeeded, though it was a close thing on that day. Would we today be willing -- and able -- to do the same? I like to think the answer is yes. I know it is a resounding yes from every one of those I had the privilege of serving with. If the Free World were challenged by tyrants and their minions, I believe we would come together today just as we did then. It may yet come to that.
We never know how much we are capable of until we are called upon to do what we must.
Ask any Ukrainian.
© Joseph L Shafer, 2022
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My thanks to those who have asked me for additional articles and my apologies for my lengthy absence. I am working on something that simply will not let go of me. When I finish that bit of writing, I will again post more frequently.
Thank you for another poignant reminder of the incredible actions and sacrifices of those before us. I was proud to serve in the small capacity I did and would do it again then and now.
Excellent article. We have family there and love the area and history and how much the Americans have been remembered for their service in England.
I pray if the need ever comes to do the same in America we would serve immediately.
Blessings to you & your family.
Barbara D-D. (Retired USAF)