82 years ago today June 4, 1944 was one of the most tense and consequential days of World War II.
Here's what was happening as American and Allied forces stood on the razor's edge of the greatest invasion in history.
Allied leaders had set June 5, 1944 as the invasion's D-Day, but on the morning of June 4, meteorologists predicted foul weather over the English Channel on the 5th, leading Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours.
In the early hours of June 4, chief meteorologist Group Captain James Stagg believed foul weather was only hours away, and recommended a postponement. Knowing that the weather held the potential to be an even fiercer foe than the Nazis, a reluctant Eisenhower agreed in the early hours of June 4 to delay D-Day by 24 hours.
The decision to postpone was a difficult one, as any delay made it increasingly difficult to keep the operation a secret. If the weather did not improve, D-Day would have to be delayed until the tides were again in the Allies' favor and that would not happen for another two weeks.
At 6:00 A.M. on June 4, Eisenhower decided to postpone the invasion for at least one day, hoping for better weather on June 6.
For the next 24 hours the men of the Allied invasion force remained sealed aboard their ships cramped and tense, they waited.
At their bases in England, the pilots and airborne troops also marked time.
"All southern England was one vast military camp, crowded with soldiers awaiting final word to go.... The mighty host was tense as a coiled spring...coiled for the moment when its energy should be released and it would vault the English Channel in the greatest amphibious assault ever attempted."
Here's what was happening as American and Allied forces stood on the razor's edge of the greatest invasion in history.
Allied leaders had set June 5, 1944 as the invasion's D-Day, but on the morning of June 4, meteorologists predicted foul weather over the English Channel on the 5th, leading Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours.
In the early hours of June 4, chief meteorologist Group Captain James Stagg believed foul weather was only hours away, and recommended a postponement. Knowing that the weather held the potential to be an even fiercer foe than the Nazis, a reluctant Eisenhower agreed in the early hours of June 4 to delay D-Day by 24 hours.
The decision to postpone was a difficult one, as any delay made it increasingly difficult to keep the operation a secret. If the weather did not improve, D-Day would have to be delayed until the tides were again in the Allies' favor and that would not happen for another two weeks.
At 6:00 A.M. on June 4, Eisenhower decided to postpone the invasion for at least one day, hoping for better weather on June 6.
For the next 24 hours the men of the Allied invasion force remained sealed aboard their ships cramped and tense, they waited.
At their bases in England, the pilots and airborne troops also marked time.
"All southern England was one vast military camp, crowded with soldiers awaiting final word to go.... The mighty host was tense as a coiled spring...coiled for the moment when its energy should be released and it would vault the English Channel in the greatest amphibious assault ever attempted."
