Assembly Resolution No. 520
BY: M. of A. Peoples-Stokes
COMMEMORATING the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day
Invasion on June 6, 2019
WHEREAS, On June 6, 1944, the military might of the Allies combined
for the most extensive aerial and sea borne assault ever planned; the
D-Day Invasion at the beaches of Normandy, France changed the direction
of World War II, and the history of the twentieth century; planned for
over two years by the Allied Forces, the D-Day Invasion was an intricate
coordination of the world's greatest military forces, and an exercise in
cooperation that marked the turning point of the war, and the world's
history; and
WHEREAS, The Allied Invasion of Europe, code-named Operation
Overlord, consisted of five infantry divisions, two American, two
British, and one Canadian, assigned to beaches code-named, from west to
east, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword; on the first day of the
invasion, two American airborne divisions landed behind the western end
of the assault area and one British at the eastern, while amphibious
armor was to swim ashore with the leading waves; and
WHEREAS, The Americans constituted the United States 1st Army, under
Major General Omar Bradley, and the British and Canadians--the British
2nd Army, under General Miles Dempsey; and
WHEREAS, The invasion was supported by more than 13,000 fighter,
bomber, and transport aircraft, that, between April 1st and June 5,
1944, flew 200,000 sorties and succeeded in breaking all the bridges
across the Seine and Loire rivers to isolate the Normandy Invasion area
from the rest of France; and
WHEREAS, The air campaign was designed not only to disrupt German
anti-invasion preparations but also to serve as a deception operation,
in an attempt to persuade the enemy that the landings would be made in
the Pas-de-Calais area, directly opposite Dover, England, rather than in
Normandy; and
WHEREAS, Meanwhile, intensive logistic preparations provided, by May
1944, almost 6,500 ships and landing craft, which would land nearly
200,000 vehicles and 600,000 tons of supplies in the first three weeks
of Operation Overlord; and
WHEREAS, June 5, 1944, was fixed as the unalterable date by Supreme
Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, General Dwight D.
Eisenhower on May 17th; as the day approached, and troops began to
embark for the crossing, bad weather set in, threatening dangerous
landing conditions; after tense debate, a 24-hour delay was decided on,
requiring the recall of some ships already at sea; and
WHEREAS, On the morning of June 5th, assured of a weather break, an
armada of 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vessels
began to leave English ports; that night, 822 aircraft, carrying
parachutists or towing gliders, roared overhead to the Normandy landing
zones; and
WHEREAS, Leading the unit of paratroopers, called Pathfinders, was
Captain Frank Lillyman from Upstate New York, who was the first Allied
soldier to land in France; and
WHEREAS, The airborne troops were the D-Day vanguard, and their
landings were a heartening success; the American 82nd and 101st airborne
divisions, dropping into a deliberately inundated zone at the base of
the Cotentin Peninsula, suffered many casualties but nevertheless
secured their objective; the British 6th Airborne Division seized its
objectives at the eastern end, and its special task force also captured
key bridges over the Caen Canal and Orne River; and
WHEREAS, When the seaborne units began to land at dawn on June 6th,
the British and Canadians on Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches overcame
light opposition, as did the Americans at Utah; the American 1st
Division at Omaha Beach, however, confronted the best of the German
coast divisions, and its landing threatened to fail; only dedicated
local leadership eventually got the troops inland; and
WHEREAS, On June 7, 1944, the beachhead consisted of three separate
sectors: the British and Canadian between Caen, not taken, and Bayeux;
that of the American 5th Corps, between Port-en-Bessin and
Saint-Pierre-du-Mont; and that of the American 7th Corps, west of the
Vire River behind Utah Beach; and
WHEREAS, The narrow gap between Gold and Omaha at Port-en-Bessin was
quickly closed, but it was not until June 12th that the American corps
were able to capture Carentan; the beachhead then formed a continuous
zone, deepest southwest of Bayeux, where the 5th Corps had driven nearly
15 miles inland; and
WHEREAS, Thanks to the success of the airborne landings, the flanks
of the beachhead were firmly held, but efforts to break out of the
center were frustrated by fierce German resistance and counterattacks,
particularly around Caen in the British-Canadian sector; and
WHEREAS, The Americans were able to break into the base of the
Cotentin Peninsula and advance on Cherbourg; the last bastion in the
heavily fortified city fell on June 28th, and clearance of the port
began at once; the German defense of Normandy had taken a turn for the
worse; Saint-Lo fell in the second and third weeks of July, and the
success of the American 1st Army's battle of attrition was to lay the
basis for the long-awaited breakout; and
WHEREAS, The Normandy campaign was a stunning success; by early
September 1944, all but a fraction of France had been liberated, and
American and British/Canadian forces occupied Belgium and part of the
Netherlands and had reached the German frontier; and
WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body that when events
of such historical consequences are brought to our attention, they
should be celebrated and recognized by all the citizens of the great
State of New York; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion on June 6, 2019.
