Is it the greatest logistical exercise ever undertaken in mankind's history?
The sheer scale of ships, artillery and men is astonishing
The sheer scale of ships, artillery and men is astonishing
D Day - 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings
- Thread starter Gavin Excell
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Dunno, trying to get defence housing to process your rent assistance application in the early 2000s was pretty ****ing epic too. Operation Overlord might just pip it I suppose.
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And all without the internet, how did people organise events before social media?
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But the Big Build is bigger..
It was an amazing bit of planning. It is difficult to picture the entire dance of all those elements in motion. I get reminded of Patton's and Bobby Lee's quotes about war.
I don't know the numbers, but there were several large, far ranging operations planned and executed, or at least attempted during the war. At least most of these modern conflicts, they had bases and mostly it was units sent to the fight. I enjoy studying older wars and am fascinated by campaigning with large armies and their support. Medieval armies maneuvering to either corner or escape enemy forces moving across the landscape with massive supply trains and herds of spare horses and livestock. It's hard to imagine such numbers on the move.
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The numbers are unimaginable for modern day observers
Yeah, like one of those massive Persian armies with their support and camp followers. They were like large cities on the move. I can just imagine one hoving into view over a ridge line.
Even the Napoleonic and US Civil War armies with their maneuvering in formation. That's why I love those pre-special effects war movies. Helps to grasp a little the visual size. It's really hard for me to see in my mind's eye how big 10,000 men look in lines three to four deep, then multiply for the really big ones.
I watched to Longest Day as a boy with my dad. D-Day has always been a big thing in my psyche, but I seem to always learn new things about it.
The We Have Ways of Making You Talk podcast has a good series on this recently with a strong emphasis on logistics.
One German general was captured early on and taken to the beaches - when he saw the sheer scale of what was coming ashore he realised the war was lost at that point.
One German general was captured early on and taken to the beaches - when he saw the sheer scale of what was coming ashore he realised the war was lost at that point.
