The astonishing achievement of D-Day

Today we are commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day – ‘Operation OVERLORD’ – with fitting ceremony and reverence, though, some polls suggest, without much understanding. Some confusion in the public mind about the precise meaning and importance of the Normandy landings is surely understandable. D-Day itself, 6 June, however vital, was the culmination of a long process, and the beginning, not the end, of a bloody and grinding struggle. Historical anniversaries, especially a round figure such as 80, are a good opportunity for education, and school children and television viewers will certainly emerge more knowledgeable, and often moved and impressed after this week. 

The scale and complexity of the invasion are even now astonishing, and it ought to deter any country – China, let us say – contemplating a major seaborne attack. Would any of the world’s armed forces today, or any alliance, be capable of the level of planning achieved in 1944? I doubt it.