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2019 A Bloody Dawn

29th, 75 Years On, The Role of Irish

May Personnel finally explored

‘Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force:
| You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which
EXAMINER we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon

you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere
march with you.’
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied
IRISH Forces, June 6th 1944

e v e n t y -
five years
Sago, a
curious poetic
message was
emitted on the
a i r w a v e s :
Wounds my
heart with a
m o n o t o n o u s
languor … So
went the
coded phrase
b r o a d c a s t
from the BBC
to alert the
F r e n c h
R e s i s t a n c e
fighters that
the largest
land invasion of the 20th century was on. More than
150,000 troops were landed on the beaches of
Normandy, and amongst that huge number were hun-
dreds of Irish personnel who formed part of the over-
whelming force that would turn the war in Europe. As
we celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, their con-
tribution is, finally, fully explored.
The epic Allied invasion of German-occupied Normandy
on D-Day, 6 June 1944, has been extensively chronicled. The
largest seaborne invasion in history, it began the liberation
of German-occupied France, and later Europe, from Nazi
control, laying the foundations of the Allied victory on the
Western Front.
What is less well known, however, is that thousands of
Irish and members of the Irish diaspora were among the
Allied units that landed on the Normandy beaches. Their
vital participation has been overlooked abroad and even
more so in Ireland.
There were Irish among the American, British and
Canadian airborne and glider-borne infantry landings;
Irishmen were on the beaches from dawn, in and amongst
the first and subsequent assault waves to hit the beaches; in
the skies above in bombers and fighter aircraft; and on naval
vessels all along the Normandy coastline. They were also
prominent among the D-Day planners and commanders.
This Irish contribution to the most extraordinary military
operation ever attempted in the history of warfare is at last
told first time in A Bloody Dawn – The Irish at D-Day by
Irish military officer and longstanding writer of military his-
tory, Dan Harvey.
Lieutenant Colonel Dan Harvey, now retired, is the
author of A Bloody Dawn: The Irish at D-Day (2019);
Soldiering Against Subversion: The Irish Defence Forces and
Internal Security During the Troubles, 1969–1998 (2018);
Into Action: Irish Peacekeepers Under Fire, 1960–2014
(2017); A Bloody Day: The Irish at Waterloo and A Bloody
Night: The Irish at Rorke’s Drift (both reissued 2017); and
Soldiers of the Short Grass: A History of the Curragh Camp
(2016). C