In 1943, a large manor house near Portsmouth, England, became the headquarters of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, the Allied naval commander for D-Day.
Ramsay’s job was to plan for and direct all of the vessels which would transport men and materials to the Normandy beaches.
It was a huge assignment.
Seven thousand ships and landing craft would be used on June 6, 1944, for the initial invasion.
And thousands more vessels, loaded with men and supplies, would follow in the days and weeks to come.
To aid in the planning, the Royal Navy contracted with a British jig saw manufacturer in secret to construct a very large wall map of the English Channel and adjacent coasts of England and France.
Because the actual landing zones were to be kept secret, the manufacturer was instructed to make a map of a very large area.
The sections of the Channel which were actually needed were hung on the wall in the manor house and are still there today.
Allied leaders joined Ramsay at the manor house as D-Day approached.
As the D-Day invasion, dubbed “Operation Overlord,” proceeded, naval staff moved markers on the map to represent the locations of ships and convoys in the Channel.
The red lines on the map show initial travel routes for assault vessels leaving English ports.
The little ships depict either individual vessels or convoys.
The red circle, called “Piccadilly Circus” because of the heavy traffic, was a navigation checkpoint.
The green lines show paths to the beaches which minesweepers had cleared of German mines.
It is in the library of the manor house that General Eisenhower made his decision to postpone the invasion, originally scheduled for June 5th, by twenty-four hours, due to inclement weather.
He returned there in 1963, with CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, to reflect on the impending twentieth anniversary of D-Day.
When you listen to Eisenhower speak, it becomes clear why he was the presidential choice of so many Americans.
Intelligent, kind, plainspoken.
Deeply respectful of the troops who served under him.
Let’s get back to that.
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I’ll see you tomorrow.
— Brenda
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