Friday Smiles 383: Back to the Eisenhower Museum

It's Friday, so let's join Annie (at A Stitch in Time) along with the wonderful ladies at Friday Smiles.

This is where we left off  last time. Ike met with leaders in Europe to make plans and coordinate British and American troops.

Although Ike was inspired by the rank and file,

he was not pleased with what he learned about Patton, the man he had chosen to train the troops and lead the operations in Africa.

Patton didn't believe men should lie in bed in field hospitals if they weren't sick.  He didn't believe in what was then known as "shell shock."  Patton called the men cowards and slapped two of them.  Word of the incidents spread, eventually reaching Ike who ordered Patton to apologize to the men.  Since this was during the Sicily invasion, the incident actually worked in Ike's favor.  He was able to pass along false information that Patton had been recalled to Europe, although he was still commanding troops in Africa.

Operation Corkscrew, as you can probably read, was the code name for the Allied invasion of the Italian island of Pantelleria on June 11, 1943, prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily.

It was in November 1942 that Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force of the North African Theater of Operations.

Shown in the photo above were Ike, Churchill, and Ike's Chiefs of Staff.

Here he is shown planning Operation Overlord.

I'm sure many of you have heard of Operation OVERLORD.  It was the code name for D-Day, or the Battle of Normandy.  It was the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied France.  The operation had many commanders but the overall supreme commander was Ike. Operation Overlord is not only notable for the significance it would have in World War II but it was an operation that required the kind of logistics that were unprecedented. 

The element of surprise was essential for the operation to succeed. 

Keeping it top secret was a challenge however because of the many parties that participated in the landings. 

Beside the Americans there were also British, Australian, and Canadian troops, as well as members of the French resistance.

The success of operation Overlord shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s familiar with how much military planning was done.

This operation was planned out so well that it would have been surprising if it failed especially if one takes into account the state of the German military at the time. The training of the Allied troops was a testament to how well prepared the operation was. 

The troops were trained with live ammunition on terrain that closely resembled the place of invasion. They were trained how to properly operate in teams and use teamwork to their advantage even in getting rid of obstacles like enemy gun placement and trenches. Special units were trained in taking out special targets such as close range artillery.

Planning was affected by a lack of forces and equipment, notably landing craft, and by the need to divert resources elsewhere, especially in the Mediterranean. During 1943, however, the Allies achieved a much more favorable strategic position in Europe. The German U-boats in the Atlantic were defeated and the Allied armies in the Mediterranean achieved increasing success, as did Soviet forces on the Eastern Front.

The Allies enforced tight security to prevent the Germans learning the details of the invasion. The skillful use of intelligence and deception was also a key factor in the operation. An elaborate plan was implemented by Churchill in order to convince the Germans that the invasion would be in the Pas de Calais. It worked. The Germans, faced with the need to defend coastlines stretching from Norway to southern France, focused their attention on Pas de Calais.

Land, sea, and air.  Ike was responsible for all of it.

This shows some of the uniforms worn on D-Day.

Reinforcements were needed and Ike planned for that.  Eleven divisions were to be landed within the first two weeks through two artificial harbors that would be towed across the Channel. Once a foothold had been established, a force of a hundred divisions, the majority shipped directly from the United States, were to be assembled in France for the final assault on Germany.

This was the first of three films strategically placed throughout the museum.  The first film, D-Day: Leading to Victory, explained the challenges of organizing the Invasion of Normandy and the impact of the successful invasion that turned the tide of the war.

I think this is a good place to stop.  I know some of you skip through the museum photos and what I write, but some (and you know who you are) seem to enjoy this museum.

With many schools in the states debating whether to hold in-class or virtual classes, I thought you might like a few "politically correct" school jokes to keep you smiling while debating whether to send your children to school or not.

No one fails a class anymore…
They are merely “passing impaired.”

You don’t have detention…
You’re just “exit delayed.”

Your bedroom isn’t cluttered…
It’s just “passive restrictive.”

Students aren’t lazy…
They are “energetically declined.”

Your locker isn’t overflowing with junk…
It’s just “closure prohibitive.”

Kids don’t get grounded anymore…
They merely hit “social speed bumps.”

Your homework isn’t missing…
It’s having an “out-of-notebook experience.”

You’re not sleeping in class…
You’re “rationing consciousness.”

You’re not late…
You just have a “rescheduled arrival time.”

You’re not having a “bad hair day”…
You’re suffering from “rebellious follicle syndrome.”

You don’t have smelly gym socks…
You have “odor-retentive athletic footwear.”

I'll share more of these next week.  I think my hand is about to fall off from all the typing I've done on this post.

Now let's head over to Annie's because she knows how to put a smile on everyone's faces.  And whatever you do, please don't forget to start your weekend off right with a few Friday Smiles of your own.  And remember, if you would like to play along, Annie would love to have you join us.