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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Jun 06, 1944
Page
1
Weather details show local thundershowers and cooling by Wednesday. Cash cotton prices reported at Decatur alongside community notices of travel for Lt and Mrs McLaughlin and others. Homecoming plans, invasion day services, hospital moves, and a string of local engagements fill the page. Four young suspects face disposition after a small burglary.
The article chronicles the second Battle of France as Allied forces launch the invasion toward Paris with Eisenhower leading the operation. It recalls Dunkirk to Paris, German blitzkrieg, Paris fallen, and Petain's armistice plea as Britain’s Churchill vows continued resistance.
President Roosevelt prepared a wartime radio address asking Americans to join in prayer as Allied forces land in France. The message pleads for strength faith and perseverance, urging continued devotion and sacrifice until victory and a lasting peace.
At 3:35 a.m. on D Day in Decatur sirens and radios reported Allied landings in France. Churches filled as citizens prayed across denominations, buses halted, stores closed, and a citywide quiet gave way to urgent, unified prayer for the Allied effort.
Allied air forces deployed 11,000 aircraft in the initial assault on Normandy with 5,000 feet of cloud cover and just fair weather. The operation faced little German resistance as British bombers led large aerial actions supporting the landings.
Roosevelt spent invasion night in blackout bedroom drafting a victory prayer for Allied liberation. He will broadcast at 10:00 p.m. Eastern to urge national unity and prayer as invasion reports arrive. Stephen Early described detailed briefings from the Pentagon and indicated no immediate Congress appearance.
Coach Frank Thomas announced the signing of Lew Bostick captain of the 1938 Alabama football team as line coach for the 1944 eleven. Bostick formerly played guard for the Clemson Rat team and served as an assistant at Howard College.
The dawn broadcast reports Allied forces including Americans British and Canadians landing on the Cherbourg peninsula and moving inland. A massive sea and air bombardment preceded fierce fighting as German reserves prepare to counterattack.
Allied and American warships bombard Western Europe as Allied invasion forces land on hostile coasts. Royal Navy ships lead the assault alongside U S vessels in the initial harbor and beachfront actions. The immense flotilla carries landing craft of many types and crews trained from Florida to Chesapeake Bay, with shore battalions integrated into Army brigades.
German officials and press claimed Berlin life stayed normal as Allied landings began. Broadcasts and reports questioned the invaders, with assertions of invasion plans and revenge moods, while some broadcasts described dummy landings with explosives.
Allied forces landed in Normandy early today on a broad front advancing inland with strong airborne and seaborne operations. Churchill said air power and paratroop strength vastly exceeded expectations as 11,000 planes were available and dozens of bridges were seized, signaling a major front in the European war.
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force reports Allied American British and Canadian forces landed on the Normandy coast by daylight and advanced inland from established beachheads. General Eisenhower described the operation as a crusade toward decisive victory amid lighter German resistance.
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