Warwick Pub and Project Overlord Headquarters

Heading off from Portsmouth to Warwick village had Ales at the tavern where Eisenhower would drink with his staff.

Enjoyed some nice talk a light pub lunch and a few Ales. I could tell Dad was beginning to relax and enjoy this.

Visited the Project Overlord exhibits at Southwick House.

This is the location where the Supreme Commander and staff basically planned the operation.

The giant map board used for planning the Normandy invasion is still there and set for H hour. Here is John and Dad in front of the big board and clocks that were used in planning the Operation Overlord.

We hear about the stress and the significant issues Eisenhower was facing in making this tremendous decision with some many lives and issues at stake. The uncertainty of the weather was not helping and they needed to do this when the tides and the weather were right. The responsibility was extreme and it rested ultimately on one man’s shoulders to decide when to go.

..An excerpt about Eisenhower’s decision at Southwick house.

“Ike paced and paced in the now silent room.  Minutes passed that seemed like hours.  In addition to weather and logistic woes, he knew that holding the men a further two weeks carried the same risks then as now.  And by then German intelligence would have detected the build-up and the Normandy location.  Ike's invasion force compared  to secretly moving overnight across Lake Michigan the combined populations of Kenosha, Racine and Green Bay, Wisconsin - and with all their vehicles in a heaving storm.  The chain-smoking commander stopped, turned to his staff, and quietly but firmly said, "OK. let's go."

Within thirty seconds the room emptied, leaving only a drift of blue smoke over the table, a glowing fire reflected on the polished wood floor, and a brooding General Eisenhower sitting alone near the hands of a mantelpiece clock pointing to 945pm.  Only fifteen percent of Ike's invasion force knew combat.  Fearing the worst, Eisenhower later penciled a note for the press: “Our landings have failed and I have withdrawn our troops…if any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”  Across the roiling English Channel, an obscure Normandy beach code-named Omaha impended in the murk.  General Irwin Rommel's seasoned army outnumbered the Allies ten to one.  The invasion of Europe was underway, and even Ike couldn't stop it.”

See this great article to learn more:

http://www.historyarticles.com/southwick.html

 

 

Next: Tank Museum Visit

Portsmouth

August 26, 1994: Friday

Headed to Portsmouth to stay at a hotel for a few nights as our main base of operations, I believe it was the Queens Hotel in Southsea.

We had a real Hotel debacle at the Queens Hotel as we had made reservations via fax and phonecalls (early 90s technology) but they had no record of our reservation for the first night and no rooms. After some arguing and even after I produced a printed copy of the reservation info they said there wasn’t anything they could do until the next day and they gave some info on other close locations that might help. We found a nice B&B nearby and we got settled into this nice comfortable house and right away asked the owner if we could stay here the rest of our trip. Yes was the answer, no problems. Way better than the hotel we thought. Good beds, nice bathroom, and great breakfast (awesome bangers) and I do remember also getting a great night sleep.

The next morning we hit the D-Day Museum across the promenade and open grassy areas so we easily walked there. Nice embroidery of D-Day events at the museum, I thought that was unusual but interesting. An old tradition I guess dating back to the Middle Ages, the Bayeux Tapestry for example. The rest of the museum was pretty nice and good start to our trip. The British love and maintain museums of all sorts! Good for us because we took advantage on this trip over and over again. This was a good start to our trip and made a nice base to explore parts of the Southern English Coast. Here is a tapestry representing Omaha Beach.

Great museum with great links to other information http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/d-day/d-day-links

Cool timeline from the D-Day museum in Portsmouth

D-Day hour by hour: OMAHA Beach on D-Day

First Allied troops to land: 16th Regimental Combat Team (US 1st Division) and 116th Regimental Combat Team (29th Division), 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions.

The beach had strong German defences. The German troops stationed there were in greater numbers, and of higher quality, than the Allies had believed.

Objective: The only breaks in the 100-foot high cliffs running between UTAH and GOLD Beaches were at OMAHA Beach. The landings at OMAHA were therefore vital to connect the US troops at UTAH Beach with the British and Canadian beaches to the east.

Landing craft are loaded 11 miles from beach, leading to problems with rough seas. Ten landing craft sink.

05.35 – 27 DD (swimming) tanks sink on launching in rough seas.

05.55 – The Allied naval barrage and bombing raids on the German defences are ineffective.

06.35 – The first units try to land, but are cut down in the surf by defenders' fire. There is terrible carnage.

07.00 – Chaotic situation on the beach, as troops are pinned down and take cover behind mined beach defences. Engineers are unable to clear obstacles.

07.08 – 2nd Ranger Battalion Lands and assaults Pointe du Hoc, the site of a battery of German long-range guns (to the west of the main landings on Omaha Beach).

07.30 – The second wave of troops adds to the confusion and over-crowding on Omaha Beach.

07.40 – 5th Ranger Battalion lands on beach.08.00 – The attack up the cliffs begins, assisted by tanks and destroyers firing from close inshore.

08.30 – Rangers and 116th Infantry reach top of the cliffs at Les Moulins.09.15 – After scaling 80-100 foot cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, the US Rangers find the battery empty, but discover the guns further inland and destroy them.

10.00 - 11.00 – The advance on Vierville and St Laurent gradually begins. The beach is very congested.

11.00 – Vierville is captured.

12.00 – German defences are penetrated in four places. US troops begin to move inland, although the beach is still under heavy fire.

14.00 – The first beach exit is cleared.

16.00 – Tanks and vehicles begin to move off the beach.

20.00 – St Laurent and Coleville are captured.

24.00 – A tiny, precarious beachhead has been established. There are pockets of US forces over an area approximately five miles wide by 1.5 miles deep.OMAHA Beach was the worst of all the Allied beaches on D-Day. By midnight, 34,250 troops had been landed, with around 2,000 casualties. Three men won the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Next day we plan to visit Eisenhower Allied Command post from where Operation Overlord, the Normandy Invasion, was planned.

OUR BAGS ARE GONE!

Anyway we get back to our B&B and our bags are gone. Which is unusual because we had everything unpacked and put away for the next few days so it doesn’t seem like a robbery because they took everything toothpaste and all. It turns the hotelier came and just took our bags back to the hotel since they had open rooms the next day. He threw our stuff in our bags in a haphazard manner as well. We were not happy about not be consulted and getting our permission to just take our belongings. He attempted to talk us into an o.k. not great room at the hotel but we were having none of it and got back to the B&B where they were welcome to have us for a few more nights. I think we were just mainly pissed off that the reservations were messed up and that he had just grabbed our bags, repacked them and moved them. It was a good decision to stay at the B&B and their mistake worked in our favor.

 

 

Next: Warwick Pub and Project Overlord Headquarters