Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings (76 page)

One of Eisenhower’s great assets as an Allied commander was his deftness in dealing with political issues. In North Africa, however, he found himself overmatched by the complexity of French wartime loyalties and rivalries. Unable to convince French General Henri Giraud to embrace a public role as an ally, he made an arrangement with French Admiral Jean François Darlan, a former Nazi collaborator. Here, Ike appears to regret his decision as a pleased Darlan looks on. (U.S. Army Photo)

Another aspect of Eisenhower’s leadership was his ready smile, which Rear Admiral Morton Deyo believed was worth twenty divisions. Here he reacts to a witticism from Churchill, who worked unceasingly to convince Eisenhower to extend Allied operations in the Mediterranean through 1943. In the end, Churchill got his way, though it was as much the momentum of events as Churchill’s charm and persistence that led the Allies into Sicily and Italy. (U.S. Naval Institute)

Roosevelt and Churchill at the Casablanca Conference in January of 1943. Behind them are most of the members of the Combined Chiefs of Staff (left to right): Ernest King, George Marshall, Dudley Pound, Charles Portal, Alan Brooke, John Dill, and Louis Mountbatten. (U.S. Navy Photo)

The SHAEF commanders pose for a group photo in Southwick House near Portsmouth. Seated in the front row are (left to right) Eisenhower’s Deputy, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, Eisenhower, and General Bernard Montgomery, who commanded Allied ground troops. Standing behind them are Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, commander of the U.S. First Army; Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay who commanded the naval forces as ANCXF; Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory who commanded the air forces; and Major General Walter “Beetle” Smith, who was Ike’s Chief of Staff . (U.S. Naval Institute)

Shipbuilding was a central, indeed decisive, element of Allied strategy and planning. In this photo, long lines of workers enter the Henry J. Kaiser Shipyard near Portland, Oregon, one of eighteen Kaiser Shipyards that built mostly Liberty Ships. A banner over the entrance gate reads: “REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR.” (U.S. Naval Institute)

Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel (LCVP), commonly known as Higgins boats, were the workhorses of all amphibious landings in World War II. They could carry either thirty-six soldiers or one or two small vehicles at a time. (U.S. Navy Photo)

A new LST is launched sideways into the Ohio River at the Neville Island Shipyard below Pittsburgh early in 1943. Before the end of the war, this shipyard would employ 16,000 workers and produce 147 LSTs. Other LST construction sites included Seneca, Illinois, and Evansville, Indiana. By mid-1944, workers at these yards could build an LST in just over two months. Despite that, competition for resources, especially steel, meant that production never fully caught up with need. (U.S. Naval Institute)

Landing Craft Infantry (LCI), called “Elsies” by their crewmen, were larger than Higgins boats but could not carry vehicles. The most common was the LCI(L), with the second “L” standing for “large.” These vessels could carry up to 200 soldiers at a time, who disembarked along twin ramps deployed on either side of the bow. (U.S. Coast Guard Photo)

A Rhino Ferry hardly looked like a vessel at all. Manned by Seabees, they were essentially raft s powered by twin outboard motors. Many of them were towed across the Channel by LSTs. Here a fully-loaded Rhino Ferry heads for the beach on D-Day. (U.S. Navy Photo)

Many of the rehearsal landings for D-Day occurred during the spring of 1944, and were conducted along a stretch of beach called Slapton Sands on Devon’s south coast just west of Dartmouth. The pebbly beach, marshy Slapton Ley, and the rising ground behind the beach were all superficially similar to the terrain in Normandy. Here a group of soldiers rushes out of an LCVP (Higgins boat) onto the beach during an early exercise. (U.S. Navy Photo)

The early exercises were sometimes disappointing. Here some GIs, having successfully landed from some LCTs, appear to be loitering about the beach with little sense of purpose or urgency. Such behavior prompted the American V Corps commander, Leonard Gerow, to wonder if, in a real invasion, any of them would get off the beach alive. (Britannia Museum Collection)