Problems, Understanding and Decision-Making

Abstract

Thus did Montgomery describe D-Day. But success in Normandy was by no means foreordained. Brooke’s war diary for 5 June 1944 reads:

I am very uneasy about the whole operation. At best it will fall so very very far short of the expectation of the bulk of the people, namely all those who know nothing of its difficulties. At worst it may well be the most ghastly disaster of the whole war. I wish to God it was safely over.²

In spite of the enemy’s intentions to defeat us on the beaches, we found no surprises awaiting us in Normandy. Our measures designed to overcome the defences proved successful. Although not all our D-Day objectives had been achieved — in particular, the situation at Omaha beach was far from secure — and in all the beach-head areas there were pockets of enemy resistance, and a very considerable amount of mopping up remained to be done, we had gained a foothold on the Continent of Europe.¹