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For the first day of the Invasion of Normandy, see Normandy landings.
In the military, D-Day is the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. The best-known D-Day is during World War II, on June 6, 1944—the day of the Normandy landings—initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate western Europe from Nazi Germany. However, many other invasions and operations had a designated D-Day, both before and after that operation.[1]
The terms D-Day and H-Hour are used for the day and hour on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. They designate the day and hour of the operation when the day and hour have not yet been determined, or where secrecy is essential. For a given operation, the same D-Day and H-Hour apply for all units participating in it. When used in combination with numbers, and plus or minus signs, these terms indicate the point of time following or preceding a specific action, respectively. Thus, H−3 means 3 hours before H-Hour, and D+3 means 3 days after D-Day. (By extension, H+75 minutes is used for H-Hour plus 1 hour and 15 minutes.) Planning papers for large-scale operations are made up in detail long before specific dates are set. Thus, orders are issued for the various steps to be carried out on the D-Day or H-Hour plus or minus a certain number of days, hours, or minutes. At the appropriate time, a subsequent order is issued that states the actual day and times.
Other days such as A-Day (Battle of Leyte), L-Day (Battle of Okinawa) etc. have different meanings for the military.
Other languages have terms equivalent to D-Day such as «Hari H» (Indonesian),Час Ч (Russian), Dagen D[citation needed] (Swedish), Dan D (Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian), E eguna (Basque), Jour J (French), Lá L (Irish), Tag X (German), and Ziua-Z (Romanian). The initial D in D-Day has been given various meanings in the past, while more recently it has obtained the connotation of «Day» itself, thereby creating the phrase «Day-Day», or «Day of Days».[2]
History
Official U.S. Twelfth Army situation map for 2400 hours, 6 June 1944
The earliest use of these terms by the United States Army that the U.S. Army Center of Military History has been able to find was during World War I.[3] In Field Order Number 9, First Army, American Expeditionary Forces, dated 7 September 1918: «The First Army will attack at H hour on D day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel Salient.»
D-Day for the invasion of Normandy by the Allies was originally set for June 5, 1944, but bad weather and heavy seas caused U.S. Army General Dwight David Eisenhower to delay until June 6 and that date has been popularly referred to ever since by the short title «D-Day». Because of the connotation with the invasion of Normandy, planners of later military operations sometimes avoided the term to prevent confusion. For example, Douglas MacArthur’s invasion of Leyte began on «A-Day», and the invasion of Okinawa began on «L-Day». The Allies’ proposed invasions of Japan would have begun on «X-Day» (on Kyūshū, scheduled for November 1945) and «Y-Day» (on Honshū, scheduled for March 1946).
References
- ^ Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
- ^ «D-Day». The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005. p. 220. ISBN 0-19-280666-1.
- ^ «What does the «D» signify in D-Day, and the «H» signify in H-Hour? Archived 2021-04-15 at the Wayback Machine» U.S. Army Center of Military History. Last updated 3 October 2003. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
External links
- «Digital Documents and Photographs Project». Documents and Photographs regarding the D-Day Invasion, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. Archived from the original on 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - U.S. Army official Normandy D-Day web site
Coordinates: 49°20′00″N 0°34′00″W / 49.3333°N 0.5667°W
On the morning of June 6, 1944, Allied forces staged an enormous assault on German positions on the beaches of Normandy, France. The invasion is often known by the famous nickname “D-Day,” yet few people know the origin of the term or what, if anything, the “D” stood for. Most argue it was merely a redundancy that also meant “day,” but others have proposed everything from “departure” to “decision” to “doomsday.”
According to the U.S. military, “D-Day” was an Army designation used to indicate the start date for specific field operations. In this case, the “D” in D-Day doesn’t actually stand for anything—it’s merely an alliterative placeholder used to designate a particular day on the calendar.
1 / 8: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
The military also employed the term “H-Hour” to refer to the time on D-Day when the action would begin. This shorthand helped prevent actual mission dates from falling into enemy hands, but it also proved handy when the start date for an attack was still undecided. Military planners also used a system of pluses and minuses to designate any time or day occurring before or after D-Day or H-Hour.
For example, D+2 meant two days after D-Day, while H-1 referred to one hour before H-Hour. These terms allowed units to effectively coordinate their operations ahead of time even when they didn’t know their actual start date, and they also provided flexibility in the event that the launch day shifted.
Use of these terms stretches back to World War I. One American field order from September 1918 noted, “The First Army will attack at H-Hour on D-Day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel salient.” Other nations had their own shorthand. In World War I, the French used the code date “le Jour J,” while the British called their operation start days “Z-Day” and “Zero Hour.”
What is D-day?
The main D-day meaning for most is of course the link with the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944. It was the largest military invasion ever. On that day 156,000 Allied troops were deployed, crossing from southern England to Normandy to establish a bridgehead by means of air and amphibious landings.
The Allied landings in Normandy marked the beginning of Operation Overlord and the start of the final liberation of Western Europe, and the end of the Second World War.
What does the ‘D’ in D-day stand for?
In military communication, the letter ‘H’ for the Hour and ‘D‘ for the Day were used to indicate the start of a military operation. Thus, an hour before the start was expressed as “H -1”, the hour after as “H +1”. The day before was expressed as ‘D -1’, and the day after as ‘D +1’.
The advantage of this notation was that if the date changed, all other dates in the plan did not have to be corrected. In other words, it was a kind of variable.
So the ‘D’ does not stand for ‘Decision’, ‘Doom’, ‘Deliverance’ or similar words. In fact, it does not stand for anything, but the variable was chosen according to the time format that was linked to it, e.g.: Day, Hour, Minute, …
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First use of the term ‘D-Day
June 6, 1944 was not the only time the term ‘D-Day’ was used to designate the day of a major attack. D-Day also stood for the opening day of many amphibious assaults in World War II, including earlier battles in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and against the Japanese in the Pacific.
In fact, the earliest known use of the term dates back to World War I. The U.S. Army Center of Military History identifies this distinct origin:
The First Army will attack at H hour on D day with the objective of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel Salient.
Following the order of September 7, this first D-Day took place on September 12, 1918, when more than half a million American troops attacked a 30-mile-wide German position, known as the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. It was the first independent American offensive of the war and the largest American military undertaking up to that time.
The American public came across the term “D-Day” at least in 1919, when it appeared in an article written by Colonel Frederick Palmer in Collier’s Weekly, titled America’s Greatest Battle: “We had thirteen days from Saint-Mihiel ‘D’ day (the day of attack) to the Argonne ‘D’ day, in which to move all of our troops and all they required, to bring up our heavy artillery, prepare our dumps of ammunition, to assemble our trains, and school our ground divisions to the work,”.
For the Western Allies, the Normandy landings were the first, largest and most important invasion of the Second World War. The combination of these three factors is probably the reason why we explicitly consider this moment as D-day.
D-day meaning today
Today, we still use the term D-day to announce an important event. The reason for this can be deduced from the fact that D-day, as the first day of Operation Overlord, was perhaps also the moment of truth during the Second World War.
Over the years, the term, which was originally seen as military jargon, has become part of our everyday vocabulary.
However, the term ‘D-day’ is often used by some without knowing its origin. D-day Info is therefore the chance to rediscover it!
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D-Day, (despite all the celebration behind the specific one on June 6, 1944) is actually the generic Army term for any amphibious landing. There were countless D-Day’s throughout Europe and Asia during WW2, but nowadays when someone says D-Day it’s 99% sure they are talking about the Allied attack on Normandy, France in 1944.
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Canadian, British, and American armies landed on Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah, and Omaha beaches in northern France in attempt to breach the German defences protecting their western flank. Unfortunately for the mother fucking Nazi’s, our bad ass Westerners knocked them the fuck out. About 110 000 soldiers landed on June 6th 1994 and about 10 000 became casualties. The Americans had particular difficulty securing Omaha beach where German defences mowed down their soldiers with supressive machine gun, mortar and airial fire.
Luckily for us, we fucking rock and we rocked those fudge packing Nazi’s all the way back to Berlin and squeezed them between the left ass cheek of the Canadians, British, and Americans and right ass cheek of the Russians.
FUCK YOU ADOLF HITLER!
Nazi: Hey look, it’s the Canadians
Nazi 2: Hey look it’s the British
Nazi 3: Hey look it’s the Americans
Nazi 4: Hey look we’re gonna fucking die!
Adolf Hitler: Give me Canadian men and American equipment and I’ll win the war.
Canada rules!
I purpose for the unification of America and Canada to become the «United Sates of North America»….we’ll take over the world.
by Jordan January 7, 2004
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To everyone with negative things to say about d-day: how about you show some fucking respect for the people who fought and died there. They are the reason you have many of the freedoms you enjoy, so shut the fuck up and show some appreciation.
Liberal assclowns have no reverence for those who have fought and died to maintain the blanket of freedom under which they sleep at night.
by Aaron December 8, 2003
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6, June 1944 not 1943 or 1994 you retards read a fuckin book for once D-Day was an important turning point in the war and it was not to save France from the fuckin Commies it was to free a peoples from a tyrant.
D-Day os on 6, June 1944 consisting of a larga force of Americans, British, and Canadians, and have respect for the men who died cause of the Krauts
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Landing craft and ships unload troops and supplies at Omaha Beach a few days after D-Day. (Photo: Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / US National Archives)
Landing craft and ships unload troops and supplies at Omaha Beach a few days after D-Day. (Photo: Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / US National Archives)
It was the largest invasion ever assembled, before or since, landed 156,000 Allied troops by sea and air on five beachheads in Normandy, France.
D-Day was the start of Allied operations which would ultimately liberate Western Europe, defeat Nazi Germany and end the Second World War.
We’ve compiled a list of frequently-asked questions about D-Day. We hope that you will visit The D-Day Story to find out more about it.
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Why is the term ‘D-Day’ used?
When a military operation is being planned, its actual date and time is not always known. The term ‘D-Day’ was therefore used to mean the date on which operations would begin, whatever date that was. The day before D-Day was known as ‘D-1’, while the day after D-Day was ‘D+1’, and so on. This meant that if the date changed all other dates in the plan did not have to be corrected. The armed forces also used the term ‘H-Hour’ for the start time.
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What does the ‘D’ stand for?
The ‘D’ does not stand for ‘Deliverance’, ‘Doom’, ‘Debarkation’ or similar words. In fact, it does not stand for anything. The ‘D’ is derived from the word ‘day’. ‘D-Day’ means the day on which a military operation begins. The term ‘D-Day’ is still used for military operations, but to the general public it is generally used to refer to the Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944.
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Which Allied nations took part in the fighting?
The majority of troops who landed on the D-Day beaches were from the United Kingdom, Canada and the US. However, troops from many other countries participated in D-Day and the Battle of Normandy: Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.
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How many Allied troops were involved in D-Day?
On D-Day, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops in Normandy. 73,000 American (23,250 on Utah Beach, 34,250 on Omaha Beach, and 15,500 airborne troops), 83,115 British and Canadian (61,715 of them British) with 24,970 on Gold Beach, 21,400 on Juno Beach, 28,845 on Sword Beach, and 7,900 airborne troops.
By the end of 11 June 1944 (D+5) 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies had been landed on the beaches.
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How many Allied aircraft were involved in D-Day?
On D-Day 11,590 Allied aircraft were available to support the landings. They flew 14,674 sorties and 127 were lost. The airborne landings on both flanks of the beaches involved 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders of the RAF and USAAF.
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How many Allied ships were involved in D-Day?
Operation Neptune, including D-Day, involved huge naval forces, including 6,939 vessels: 1,213 naval combat ships, 4,126 landing ships and landing craft, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels.
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What was Operation Overlord and when did it take place?
The armed forces use codenames to refer to military operations. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of north-west Europe. Operation Overlord began on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) and continued until Allied forces crossed the River Seine on 19 August 1944.
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What was Operation Neptune and when did it take place?
The armed forces use codenames to refer to military operations. Operation Neptune was the assault phase of Operation Overlord and involved landing the troops on the Normandy beaches. It began on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) and ended on 30 June 1944. By then, the Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy.
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What was the Battle of Normandy and when did it take place?
The Battle of Normandy is the name given t o the fighting in Normandy from D-Day until the end of August 1944. The liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 is sometimes used as the end point of the Battle of Normandy.
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How many people were killed on D-Day and in the Battle of Normandy?
The number of people killed in the fighting is not known exactly. Accurate record keeping was very difficult under the circumstances. Books often give a figure of 2,500 Allied dead for D-Day. However, research by the US National D-Day Memorial Foundation has uncovered a more accurate figure of 4,414 Allied personnel killed on D-Day. These include 2,501 from the USA, 1,449 British dead, 391 Canadians and 73 from other Allied countries. Total German losses on D-Day (not just deaths, but also wounded and prisoners of war) are estimated as being between 4,000 and 9,000. Over 100,000 Allied and German troops were killed during the whole of the Battle of Normandy, as well as around 20,000 French civilians, many as a result of Allied bombing.