D-Day
When I firs heard that I was going to be deployed in Normandy i could already feel the anxiety setting in. The battle was already going on for about 2 days and there was already a high amount of casualties. I've already been in another battle but each one is different then the next. The Battle of Normandy started on June 6, 1944 before the actual invasion 300 bombers both English and American were setting down heavy fire on the coast weaken German troops. 13,000 men were parachuted in to sabotage rail roads, blow up bridges, and seize landing fields. While on the boats getting ready to board the beach we would be briefed on or mission. We would have to wait, not really knowing of what was to come, as you got closer you could start to hear the gun shots and the explosion. The boats would stop before the shore and we would jump into the cold salty water from that moment on I knew it was all serious from this point on. When in the water there was no cover, we were all open targets. Some of us made it to the shore the others shot down and left in the water. My mission as a combat medic was to fight my way with all the other soldiers through the beach, if a soldier was to be injured i would help him enough for him to keep fighting but if the injury was to serious I would call in the medical tent found a safe distance away from the main battle to come and pick up the soldier.
The battle of Normandy battle layout
We would fight all day and night you would sleep in the old French coastal villages but you could always hear the gun shots never stopping the same constant sound, "pom pom...pom". About 15% of the Allied troops had never seen combat. By June 11 more then 326,000 troops, 55,000 vehicles, and 105,000 tons of supplies had been landed on the beach. Every day there would be another and another injured. After a while I started to feel their pain. The hardest thing to face when your helping a soldier is when you know they're not going to make it but all you want to do is be there for them and see them fight on. By June 30, 1944 the Battle of Normandy was won. There was an estimate of 209,000 casualties for the allies and about 200,000 German casualties.