Why are only the Normandy landings referred to as D-Day?
score:9
The Normandy landings were referred to as D-Day in the U.K. and U.S. press because on the day of the landings, and in the following weeks, the code name for the operation (Operation Overlord) was still secret. The press wanted to report that 'the attack' on the Axis powers had started, and used the standard term D-Day as there were no restrictions on the use of this term. As it was used at the time in the press, the term has stuck. For example, the newspaper front page: http://www.archives.com/genealogy/newspapers-d-day.html has the headline "D-Day Chronology" near bottom.
Upvote:3
D-Day was a watershed (though not necessarily decisive) event in World War II. It represented the counterinvasion of France, and a springboard for the a strike at the German heartland, thereby undoing Germany's "rise" in the 1940 Battle of France.
World War II is widely regarded as the greatest war in human history, not only compared to wars before, but to wars afterward. Certainly, everyone hopes that the scope and scale of World War II will never be exceeded.
In this context, D-Day means "THE Day" of THE greatest war in human history.
Upvote:4
It was the largest and most important in that war, so the general term attached itself to the specific day.
This kind of thing happens all the time, like all tissues being called Kleenex or all bleaches Chlorox.
Upvote:9
The D merely stands for Day; in French, it's referred to as "Jour J". The term is indeed used for other D-Days, just not in regular English conversation.
Quoting from "D-Day" on Wikipedia:
The terms D-Day and H-Hour are used for the day and hour on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. They designate the day and hour of the operation when the day and hour have not yet been determined, or where secrecy is essential. For a given operation, the same D-Day and H-Hour apply for all units participating in it. When used in combination with numbers, and plus or minus signs, these terms indicate the point of time preceding or following a specific action. Thus, H−3 means 3 hours before H-Hour, and D+3 means 3 days after D-Day.
The article continues, to mention that several other lanugages use the initial letter in a similar fashion:
- Hari H (Indonesian)
- Час Ч (Chas Ch, Russian)
- Dagen D (Swedish)
- Dan D (Slovenian)
- E eguna (Basque)
- Jour J (French)
- Lá L (Irish)
- Tag X (German, an exception)
- Ziua-Z (Romanian)
The article also links to "Military designation of days and hours", which has examples of other terms, just as F-Hour or O-Day.
More post
- 📝 Did the Soviet Union or its satellite states have any broadcast propaganda media for an international audience?
- 📝 Why are most of the world's oldest buildings in Europe and not in the Fertile Crescent?
- 📝 Was Fredrick the Great considered a strong military leader or was it all because of the superior officers that came out of Prussia at the time?
- 📝 What was the strategic importance of Judea?
- 📝 Why was there no solution found to Soviet famines and near-famines?
- 📝 There are two restaurants (one in Saigon, one in Hong Kong) called "全記". Where does that name come from and what does it mean?
- 📝 The crusades against the Moors
- 📝 How big was the kapa trade out of Hawaii?
- 📝 In what language was the first Zionist congress in Basel in 1897 held?
- 📝 Are steam engines still in regular use anywhere in the world?
- 📝 What were Hiroshima and Nagasaki known for prior to World War II?
- 📝 What is the origin of Friedensreich Hundertwasser's surname?
- 📝 Why would the heads of the Manhattan Project have been imprisoned in the event of its failure?
- 📝 What did the word "leisure" mean in late 18th Century usage?
- 📝 Did ancient miners have ways of predicting ore/stone deposits?
- 📝 Why is Jewish God so Popular?
- 📝 Was Carausius the grandfather of Magnus Maximus?
- 📝 When did the last formal and recorded duel take place?
- 📝 From where did Aryans originate?
- 📝 Did either Chinese government (Beijing or Taipei) operate an administrative structure in the Kowloon Walled City at any time between 1898 and 1994?
- 📝 Have there been any notable people that have claimed that classism and not racism is the current cause of racial inequality?
- 📝 What "Treaty of 1785" is referred to in the August 1955 report of the Secretary of Defense's Advisory Committee on Prisoners of War?
- 📝 Did officers use cases / bags / pouches in the 18th century?
- 📝 How did the HMAS Sydney know the real Straat Malakka's secret callsign, "IIKP", but not HSK Kormoran?
- 📝 Did a sumo referee ever actually commit ritual suicide over a reversed decision?
- 📝 Has any place exhumed more dead bodies than San Francisco?
- 📝 What was the planned line of succession for the Nazi Party in the event that Hitler died?
- 📝 How did Muhammad bin Qasim die?
- 📝 How did the authorities not find the speakeasy clubs during the prohibition?
- 📝 How long would it take to build 30 miles of Roman road?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why are only the Normandy landings referred to as D-Day?
- 📝 Was Frederick Douglass right that in his day 'religious slaveholders are the worst'? If so why would this be?
- 📝 Why are Germans referred to so differently in different languages?
- 📝 Why are the German and French languages so different?
- 📝 Why are military uniforms often flared or poofy above the knee?
- 📝 Why are many African-Americans in Mississippi concentrated in the northwestern area?
- 📝 Is there a historical explanation as to why the USA people are so litigious compared to the French?
- 📝 Why did only the English adopt, evolve and use the longbow en masse in war?
- 📝 Why were Albanians the only nation in the Balkans who converted to Islam during the Ottoman occupation?
- 📝 Why is this Latin text black but the Latin numerals are red?
- 📝 Why are there so many laws about eye injuries in the Code of Hammurabi?
- 📝 Why are the signatures on the United States Declaration of Independence structured as they are?
- 📝 Why are the USA and Canada's states border so straight?
- 📝 Why are the French and Indian Wars / Seven Years' War not considered WW 1?
- 📝 Are tanks the only reason for the abandonment of trench warfare?
- 📝 Why was uranium mined in the 1500s, but only "discovered" in 1789?
- 📝 Why are the majority of Dresden inhabitants atheists or agnostics?
- 📝 Why are most of the world's oldest buildings in Europe and not in the Fertile Crescent?
- 📝 Why does the amount of days in an year on average of the Gregorian calendar only have 4 decimal places (365.2425)?
- 📝 Why is the United States the only developed country whose labour laws leave most up to the employer?
- 📝 Why were so few Luftwaffe attacks flown against the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944?
- 📝 Why are there no photorealistic paintings from the old days?
- 📝 Why is the leap day on February 29th?
- 📝 Why are the Portuguese so obsessed with salted codfish?
- 📝 Why are the historical large cities in the southern US not the large cities in the South today?
- 📝 Why has there only been one dynasty in the history of Japan?
- 📝 Why are the ceilings so high in older houses?
- 📝 Why are only Homo Sapiens left?
- 📝 Why are some amphoras pointed on the bottom?
- 📝 Why are some Pharaohs depicted wearing the red or the white crowns even after the unification of Egypt?