Word: germane
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...beaches between the Orne and the Vire that the man-toman battle was fought in most savage fury. On Sword, Juno and Gold beaches, British and Canadian troops hurled in an astonishing force of "specialized armor" -mine-clearing tanks, pillbox-blasting tanks, ditch-filling tanks, flamethrowing tanks-but the German 716th Infantry Division, in fortified seaside hotels and summer villas, fought back viciously, inflicting 4,000 casualties...
Onto the U.S. forces' Omaha Beach, a concave sweep of sand 300 yards deep beneath fortified bluffs, the U.S. ist and 29th Divisions sent in a spearhead of 1,450 men. They ran head on into most of the German 352nd Division-undamaged by the inaccurate air bombardment-and were soon shelled, mortared, mined, machine-gunned. But even as the German commander at Omaha announced victory and began diverting his reserves against the British, U.S. Colonel George A. Taylor ordered an advance: "Now let's get the hell out of here!" Inch by inch, behind accurate naval gunfire...
...night the Allies poured reinforcements onto the hard-won strips of Europe-36,250 in the Utah sector, 34,250 at Omaha, 83,115 on the British-Canadian beaches and airborne area. The German infantry began to crumble. Still desperately fighting, the British punched out gains of six miles, the Canadians eight. The U.S. 1st and 29th Divisions battled into fortified villages behind Omaha, dug in. In the Utah sector the seaborne forces linked up with the airborne, pressed inland. The battle neared its moment of truth-the expected counterattack of Rommel's blazing Panzers. But that moment never...
What happened was a breakdown in the German command. Rommel, believing the weather too foul for an invasion, was away in Germany on DDay. The 21st Panzer Division, instead of counterattacking, was fed into a piecemeal defense of Caen. The 12th SS Panzer and the Panzer Lehr Divisions were held in the rear from 0400 to 1600 by command from Hitler himself. Smothered by Allied air attack, they did not get into action until D-plus-one, D-plus-two and D-plus-three...
There was deadly fighting yet to come and stirring history yet to be made. Montgomery drew the German armored strength onto the Second British Army and First Canadian Army at Caen, while the First U.S. Army broke out at St.-LÓ. Hitler and Rommel held back the German 15th Army near Calais, waiting for a second invasion that never came. George Patton, with his ivory-handled pistols, led the Third U.S. Army from Avranches to Le Mans to Orleans to Verdun to Metz in the most spectacular armored advance of the war. There was the unforgettable moment when Paris...