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Codename Operation Neptune, Tuesday, June 6, 1944, commenced the largest known seaborne invasion in world history that took place at the beaches of Normandy to liberate Nazi-occupied France in World War II — D-Day. The seaborne operation followed a 1,200-plane airborne assault, codenamed Operation Overlord, that ended on August 30, 1944, and involved the countries of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Greece, and South Africa.

Statement by United States President Donald J Trump on the 81st Anniversary of D-Day: “In the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, American and Allied forces stormed a 50-mile stretch of beach in Normandy, France, winning a crucial victory that turned the tide of World War II and changed the course of history.  The largest amphibious invasion in history—Operation Overlord—was achieved through meticulous planning, utilizing 13,000 aircraft and gliders, 23,400 paratroopers, 5,000 ships and landing craft, and roughly 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops.  By nightfall, the valiance and intrepidity of the Allied soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and merchant mariners had carried the day, establishing beachheads on all five of the landing beaches – Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold, and Juno.  This victory, though, was achieved at great cost.  More than 9,000 Allied service members were killed or wounded that day, to ensure that freedom would once again prevail over the European continent.

“On the 81st anniversary of D-day, we pause to pay homage to the warfighters whose indescribable valor, fierce determination, and unwavering patriotism delivered this pivotal victory for the global cause of freedom.  The monumental victory forged on land, at sea, and in the skies of Normandy led to the liberation of Europe, the defeat of the evil Nazi regime, and the preservation of democracy.  We are grateful for those young men who answered their nations’ calls and faced the carnage of war in order to defeat tyranny—and we are eternally indebted to the souls who gave their lives in this noble struggle.  It is our solemn obligation to remember their heroic stories, honor their sacrifices, and ensure that the freedom for which they died for may never again be in peril.”

Operation Neptune involved more than 5,000 vessels and nearly 160,000 troops—132,000 men transported by sea alone—crossing the English Channel on 6 June. The decision to cross the English Channel was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and General Bernard Montgomery led the 21st Army Group, which comprised all the land forces in the invasion.

An estimated 4,000 to 9,000 German men were killed, with allied casualties estimated at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed deaths on D-Day alone. For the entire 2-month, 3-week and 3-day operation, American armies suffered 124,394 casualties, of whom 20,668 were killed, and 10,128 were missing. Casualties within the First Canadian and Second British Armies were estimated at 83,045: 15,995 killed, 57,996 wounded, and 9,054 missing. Between 13,632 and 19,890 French civilians were killed during the liberation of Normandy.

German forces in France reported losses of 158,930 men and by the end of the Normandy campaign, 55 German divisions (42 infantry and 13 panzer) had been rendered combat ineffective; seven of these were disbanded. 

On May 8, 1945, the European Theatre of World War II ended with the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies in Karlshorst, Berlin. Many consider D-Day as the beginning of the end of European Theatre of World War II. Adolf Hitler, the man who lead the Nazi’s to the brink of a Nazi World Order, is alleged to have committed suicide on 30 April 1945.

With the defeat of Nazi Germany, the world saw the horrors of war — Nazi concentration camps, the attempted genocide of the Jewish people and others the Nazi’s considered “unworthy of life,” unprecedented unethical medical experiments, slavery, mass unmarks graves, and countless cases of rapes and torture by occupied Nazi forces.

Known as the Nuremberg Trials, Allied powers—United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union—form the International Military Tribunal (IMT) where Nazi leaders stood trial for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Of the 199 defendants tried, 161 were convicted, and 37 were sentenced to death.

Resulting from the aftermath of the Nuremberg Trials, the Nuremberg Code is essentially a code of ethics regarding medical experimentation.

The first clause of the code states that “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential” in medical experiments. The clause continues by saying that any person involved must have a legal capacity to give consent “without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion.” 

The European Theater which started on September 1, 1939, with the invasion of Poland, resulted in tens of millions of civilian and military deaths, a majority of which were Russian; and the fall of the European powers with the rise of a bi-polar geopolitical world divided between the communists led by the former Soviet Union, and the democracies led by the Republic of the United States of America.

Author: Mario Lotmore