The secret Atlantic weather war behind D-Day
In June 1944, German weather forecasters in Paris predicted the storm that hit the English Channel, and they got it right. What they missed was the short break inside it, the day and a half the Allies used to land in Normandy.
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Sources
Sources
- History.com, "The Weather Forecast That Saved D-Day": https://www.history.com/articles/the-weather-forecast-that-saved-d-day
- JSTOR Daily, "The Weather Forecast That Saved D-Day": https://daily.jstor.org/the-weather-forecast-that-saved-d-day/
- Legion Magazine, Eisenhower and Rommel: https://legionmagazine.com/eisenhower-rommel/
- Met Office, "How accurate was the movie Pressure?": https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2026/how-accurate-was-the-movie-pressure
- Met Office archive, Group Captain Sir James Stagg's papers: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/library-and-archive/archive-hidden-treasures/group-captain-sir-james-staggs-paper
- American Battle Monuments Commission, "OK, let's go": https://www.abmc.gov/video/ok-lets-go
- The National WWII Museum: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/history-through-viewfinder-4
- Wikipedia: James Stagg; Weather Station Kurt; German weather ship Lauenburg; North Atlantic weather war; Utah Beach; Mulberry harbours; Normandy landings; 741st Tank Battalion; Maureen Flavin Sweeney
- Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy (2017), on the June 1944 storm and the Mulberry harbours: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40722-017-0088-4
- Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day (1959); Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light (2013)
Film (public domain, picture only)
- US Navy and US Coast Guard film of June 1944 from the US National Archives (LCIs Leave England for Normandy Invasion; 29th Division Troops Embark LCIs; Activities Aboard USCG-Manned LCI(L)-88; D-Day: Normandy Invasion; Heavy Weather and Concrete Barges in Harbor), US Army film, England, June 3, 1944; D-Day Minus One (US Army Air Forces, 1945); United News, "D-Day!" (1944); The Coming of the Dial (GPO Film Unit, 1933).
Weather maps
- US Weather Bureau, Daily Series Synoptic Weather Maps, Northern Hemisphere Sea Level, June 3-6, 1944 and June 5-6, 1935 (NOAA Central Library, public domain).
Photographs (public domain)
- Imperial War Museums (CH 14235, CH 15748, TR 1541, SP 579, FL 19179, A 21748, A 23993, MH 3661); US National Archives, US Army Signal Corps, US Navy and Naval History and Heritage Command, US Coast Guard (Robert F. Sargent), Library of Congress, US Army Air Forces (from the collection of Walter F. Wisnieski); Polish National Digital Archives; NASA; Paul Gierszewski; SimonP.
Credits (via Wikimedia Commons)
- General Eisenhower, 1944, colour portrait via PhotosNormandie (CC BY-SA 2.0); Bundesarchiv photographs by Langhaus, Jesse, Schwoon, Berndt and Linden (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE); beach reconnaissance photographs, May 1944, and a DD tank, June 1944, USMC Archives (CC BY 2.0); Irving Krick, Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive, UCLA Library (CC BY 4.0); Kew Observatory by AndyScott (CC0 and CC BY-SA 4.0); the D-Day map at Southwick House by Hchc2009 and Hogweard; Southwick House by Amber Kincaid (CC BY-SA 3.0); Enigma machines by Alessandro Nassiri, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Magnus Manske (CC BY-SA 3.0); Bletchley Park by Paul Shreeve (CC BY-SA 2.0); U-537 and Weather Station Kurt, Bundesarchiv and Library and Archives Canada via ww2db (CC0); Blacksod Lighthouse and harbour by James Emmans (CC BY-SA 2.0); Blacksod Point pier by Robert Bone (CC BY-SA 2.0); the Mullet Peninsula by Pymouss (CC BY-SA 4.0); Cross Beach by Andreas F. Borchert (CC BY-SA 4.0); the EIRE sign at Erris Head by Enter (CC0); La Roche-Guyon by Carsten Steger and Johnckarnes (CC BY-SA 4.0); Rennes by Fab5669 (CC0) and a 1930s postcard scanned by Claude_villetaneuse.