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“The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!”
Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower issued this order of the day on June 5, 1944, and printed copies on a smaller sheet of paper were distributed to the Allied forces before the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6. This copy with Eisenhower’s signature was inserted into a numbered copy of Crusade in Europe, Eisenhower’s war memoirs by the publisher.
The volume recounts how General George Marshall appointed Eisenhower to plan the defense of the Philippines, his appointment as Supreme Allied Commander in Northern Europe, and his actions in that position, including the planning of the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
Eisenhower dictated the book to Kenneth McCormick of Doubleday and Joseph Fells Barnes, former foreign editor of the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. His aide Kevin McCann revised the manuscript, and Doubleday published it in 1948. Eisenhower received an advance of $635,000 for the book, and the Treasury Department ruled that because he was not a professional writer, he had to pay only capital gains tax rather than personal income tax, saving Eisenhower $400,000.
Twentieth Century Fox created a 26-episode television series called Crusade in Europe based on Eisenhower’s book. It aired from May to October 1949. It was the first extensive documentary series for television and received a Peabody Award and one of the first Emmy Awards.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.
Printed Order Signed, to Allied Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen, June 5, 1944. On
“Supreme Headquarters / Allied Expeditionary Force” letterhead. 1 p. Bound in DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, Crusade in Europe. New York: Doubleday, 1948. First Edition. Copy 359 of 1,426. Publisher’s wheat cloth. 559 pp., 7 x 10 in.
Inventory #27940
Price: $6,500
Complete Transcript of Order
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which 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. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good Luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
Dwight D Eisenhower
Excerpts from Book
“When the conference started the first report given us by Group Captain Stagg and the meteorologic staff was that the bad conditions predicted the day before for the coast of France were actually prevailing there and that if we had persisted in the attempt to land on June 5 a major disaster would almost surely have resulted. This they probably told us to inspire more confidence in their next astonishing declaration, which was that by the following morning a period of relatively good weather, heretofore completely unexpected, would ensue, lasting probably thirty-six hours. The long-term prediction was not good but they did give us assurance that this short period of good weather would intervene between the exhaustion of the storm we were then experiencing and the beginning of the next spell of really bad weather.
“The prospect was not bright because of the possibility that we might land the first several waves successfully and then find later build-up impracticable, and so have to leave the isolated original attacking forces easy prey to German counteraction. However, die consequences of the delay justified great risk and I quickly announced the decision to go ahead with the attack on June 6. The time was then 4.15 a.m., June 5. No one present disagreed and there was a definite brightening of faces as, without a further word, each went off to his respective post of duty to flash out to his command the messages that would set the whole host in motion.” (p275)
“Among those who were refused permission was the Prime Minister. His request was undoubtedly inspired as much by his natural instincts as a warrior as by his impatience at the prospect of sitting quietly back in London to await reports. I argued, however, that the chance of his becoming an accidental casualty was too important from the standpoint of the whole war effort and I refused his request. He replied, with complete accuracy, that while I was in sole command of the operation by virtue of authority delegated to me by both governments, such authority did not include administrative control over the British organization.... All of this I had ruefully to concede, but I forcefully pointed out that he was adding to my personal burdens in this thwarting of my instructions.... I later heard that the King had learned of the Prime Minister’s intention and, while not presuming to interfere with the decision reached by Mr. Churchill, he sent word that if the Prime Minister felt it necessary to go on the expedition he, the King, felt it to be equally his duty and privilege to participate at the head of his troops. This instantly placed a different light upon the matter and I heard no more of it.” (p276)
Historical Background
Planning for an Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe began in 1943. When it commenced in early June 1944, Operation Overlord involved 4,000 ships, 11,000 planes, and nearly 3 million soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces invaded a fifty-mile stretch of the coast of Normandy, France, in what remains the largest seaborne invasion in history. An extensive aerial and naval bombardment of the area took place before the amphibious landings, and some 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops parachuted into the area after midnight. Infantry and armored divisions began landing at 6:30 a.m. and faced heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches. Specially modified amphibious tanks dealt with clearing minds, demolishing bunkers, and providing mobile bridges. The Allies failed to achieve any of their goals on the first day, but they established a foothold with 160,000 troops. The five beachheads were not all connected until June 12. Allied casualties on D-Day exceeded 10,000, while German casualty estimates ranged from 4,000 to 9,000. By the end of June, more than 875,000 Allied personnel had reached France.
Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower was placed in command of all Allied forces in Europe in 1943, and he signed these orders of the day on June 5, 1944, to encourage the men under his command. Smaller versions of this letter were distributed widely among the forces. Eisenhower also drafted an “In case of failure” message, in case the invasion failed and he had to withdraw the troops. In it, he took full responsibility for choosing the time and place for the invasion and praised the “troops, the air and the Navy” who “did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do.” Eisenhower folded the message up and put it in his wallet. When he discovered it a month later, he showed it to an aide and then threw it away, but the aide asked to keep it, and it is now at the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) was born in Texas but grew up in Kansas. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1915. He served in the United States Army during World War I and was promoted to Major soon after the war. At the beginning of World War II, he joined the General Staff in Washington and quickly came to the attention of Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall. In November 1942, Eisenhower became Supreme Commander of Allied forces in North Africa, and in December 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Eisenhower as Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe, and Eisenhower had primary responsibility for planning the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944. In November 1945, he returned from Europe to replace Marshall as Chief of Staff of the Army. Three years later, he became President of Columbia University, where he served until 1953. In 1952 and again in 1956, he won landslide elections as a Republican candidate for President of the United States. He served as President from 1953 to 1961. He was the only general to serve as President in the twentieth century.
Condition: Autograph: fine. Book: lacking original slipcase; heavy wear to top edge and rubbing to boards.
