DETERMINING D-DAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 84, 8 March 1945, Page 5

DETERMINING D-DAY

BATTLE WITH WEATHER INVASION'S "FALSE START (N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright.) (Rec. noon) RUGBY, Mar. 7. Striking new facts about D-Duy landings and the tremendous organisation behind them were given

in the House of Commons today by the First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr Alexander), when introducing the Naval Estimates. His main point was tha't despite unfavourable weather around D-Day, the

naval operations were carried out just as planned and, although the Allies had not expected a tactical surprise, yet it was achieved.

He began by remarking that all other events in the past year had been overshadowed by the operation which took the Allied forces once more to France and started for them the last campaign in Europe which would end only when Germany was defeated. The date finally chosen for D-Day was June 5 with June 6 and June 7 as alternatives. "I realised that the decision which the Supreme Commander would have to make actually to launch the operation was one of the most difficult and far-reaching of the whole war," he said. "Not only was good weather necessary for the assaults, but also for the period immediately following them, to ensure a start for the build up. No one expected, however, the decision to be as difficult as it actually was. FALSE START. "The weather deteriorated between June 1 and June 3. The Supreme Commander decided to allow the forces to move despite the unfavourable weather in order to gain many advantages of launching the operation on the first possible day. In the early morning of Juno 4 the weather was clear. Conditions next day would not be acceptable and postponement tor 24 hours was ordered. By this time the whole of one force and portion of another were at sea—and all those ships and craft had to reverse their course and to harbour with some difficulty against a head sea. To make quite certain of their return, aircraft and destroyers were sent after them at full speed. On the evening of the same day the forecast stated that there was a chance of suitable conditions on June 6. On the strength of this forecast the irrevocable decision to make the assault in the early hours of June 6 was taken. The decision was a terribly hard one, but events proved that it was right. "We have every reason to be thankful to the Supreme Commander and his advisers for their courageous decision to launch the operation when they did. The losses of ships and landing craft of all types were much lower than had been expected although the damage to tank landing craft and smaller craft, aggravated by the bad weather, was higher than estimated. CASUALTIES NOT HEAVY. "Before the operation we had counted on heavy and bitter casualties as part of the price of gaining a foothold on the Continent. _ The smallness of the actual casualties is something for which we can nevw he sufficiently thankful."

The First Lord paid a moving tribute to the work of the Royal Marines and gave some details of the Royal Navy's achievements during the landings. Mr Alexander warned the country not to assume that the U-boat war was over. He said ■ the mastery achieved against the U-boats a year ago had been maintained. At the beginning of 1944 the main U-boat effort was in the North Atlantic. They were driven from there and with the loss of the Biscay ports the U-boats operated from Norwegian bases, where they were considerably further from their old hunting ground in the MidAtlantic.

"From" Norway they have made their biggest concerted effort against Russian convoys with results inconsiderable in proportion to the forces employed," he said. "In spite of the uppalling weather during these convoys, heavy casualties have been inflicted on the enemy. The number of U-boats sunk continues to increase satisfactorily. Despite the continued encouraging successes against the Üboats, however, it must certainly not be assumed that the war against the U-boat is over. The enemy is employing new equipment and new types of U-boats may be used at any time. With this new equipment we may be sure they will develop new tactics." Concluding, the First Lord said: "I have never been more convinced of the continuing need of this country for the maintenance of its Navy. We have had five years' experience of war which has shown that when we were left alone in the war, the Navy had to fight a defensive battle at sea sufficiently long to regain the confidence ot the world, get the sea routes oieared to recover losses and mount up our land forces, and finally to throw them against the mad monster on the Continent."—Official Wireless.