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Article: DEAFEAT AT NORMANDY! Our Near-Loss on D-Day - And What the World Would Look Like if We'd Failed
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 5, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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THE TRIUMPHANT success of Operation Overlord and the ensuing
Normandy campaign, launched 50 years ago tomorrow, led to the
destruction of German armies totaling more than 250,000 men. Its
very success, however, tends to lead modern historians, in the
brilliance of hindsight two generations later, to take it all for
granted, as a forgone conclusion. Yet it was far from that.
Realization of the grim losses on Omaha Beach had, by mid-day
on June 6, caused Gen. Omar Bradley, a competent and "unflappable"
commander, to fear that his 29th and 1st Divisions had "suffered an
irreversible catastrophe." He came within an inch of ordering
withdrawal of the Omaha force - representing the main bulk ...