Continuing with the 10 Things You Might Not Know About D-Day by Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer in the June 6th Chicago Tribune. The last posting was June 10th.
7. In 1964, Dwight Eisenhower said that a single person "won the war for us." And, it wasn't Patton or MacArthur, but a relatively unknown ANDREW HIGGINS who designed and built the amphibious assault craft that took the soldiers to the beaches of Normandy.
He realized the need for small craft to bring the soldiers to shore as well as the steel shortage so, in 1939, bought the Philippines' entire crop of mahogany and his New Orleans company produced thousands of what became known as Higgins Boats.
8. EXERCISE TIGER-- American forces were ambushed by German torpedo boats off the southwestern coast of England while training for the assault on Utah Beach. More than 700 Americans were killed. This was more than were killed at the actual attack on Utah beach a few months later.
This took place April 28, 1944, and was immediately covered up. Close to 3,000 ships and 30,000 soldiers were participating when they were attacked by nine German torpedo boats. Two ships weresunk and one badly damaged. Some of the casualties came from "Friendly Fire."
A Giant Undertaking. --Cooter
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