Today is the 74th anniversary of D-Day, which was the Normandy landing portions of Operation Overlord. The 82nd Airborne Division’s social media team, with, I would expect, an assist from the Division historian, are doing a historical reenactment via twitter of the All American Division’s part of the operation 74 years on.
#AADDayReenactment
We're in it, folks! This is our D Day Reenactment. For the next 17 hours we'll bring you an "as it happened" play-by-play of The Division's actions during D Day.
Follow along, ask questions, comment.
We're typing this as we go cuz we want to interact w/ u pic.twitter.com/G5oBQ7ui0s— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 5, 2018
We're trying to balance between information overload and providing context. There will be periods of up to 10 minutes when we will not have updates. We'll be going until noon Eastern tomorrow. Once we get into the drops, we'll provide a more traditional "play-by-play" of events
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 5, 2018
Eisenhower’s letter to the troops:
Let's go back to June 5th PM. As our Paratroopers were boarding, they were read a letter from Ike. It read, in part: "You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you." pic.twitter.com/xrvx269ikv
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 6, 2018
And his letter taking responsibility in case it all went wrong:
But, there's another letter that Ike wrote. On July 5th, Ike drafted this speech in the event that the D Day invasion failed. "My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do." pic.twitter.com/T2nX9xNHMn
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 6, 2018
There is the occasional dig on their rivals in the 101st Airborne Division:
So why didn’t we blacken our faces like the 101st? Same reason we didn’t carry the stupid-ass cricket? It was ineffective. We know this from Gavin's memoir "On To Berlin." We blackened our faces for Sicily but not for Normandy. The 508th was the only unit that did these. pic.twitter.com/72JiPpCQpS
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 6, 2018
And there are maps of the battlespace!
The Pathfinders, The Division's first element in on D Day, lands in Normandy in "DZ O" on this map (just north of La Fiere). pic.twitter.com/Tr5du8CiPq
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 6, 2018
The second serial of our Pathfinders drops into Drop Zone "N" (south of Amfreville) pic.twitter.com/bNMffGF5Od
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 6, 2018
Some of y'all are asking about the drop pattern (actual drop locations vs. planned drop zones). This map shows how scattered our Paratroopers are all over Normandy. Only ~ 10% of all Paratroopers landed on their designated DZs pic.twitter.com/Nsuob5GY2v
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 6, 2018
4:11 AM – 3rd Battalion, 505th PIR under Lt.Col. Edward C. Krause captures Sainte-Mere-Eglise pic.twitter.com/JhxfzmKFGu
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 6, 2018
3/505 under Lieutenant Colonel Krause, flies the first American flag in Normandy. Ste-Mere-Eglise is the first town liberated in France.
— All American Division (@82ndABNDiv) June 6, 2018
They have about an hour or so left to go in their social media reenactment, so if you’re a World War II buff or just curious, click across and check out the whole thing.
All the way!
Open thread.
ETA: Ike’s letters.
D-Day and Operation Overlord: The 74th Anniversary of the Normandy LandingPost + Comments (261)