British Prime Minister Winston Churchill talks to an officer aboard the destroyer HMS Kelvin en route to the Normandy coast during World War II.
At first, Winston Churchill intended to land in Normandy with the Allied forces on the day of the opening of the second front on June 6, 1944. He informed the Allied Force Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, that he was going to oversee the disembarkation from the ship on the coast of Normandy. To all Eisenhower’s objections, the prime minister replied that he could appoint himself a member of the ship’s crew and the general would not stop him.
Winston Churchill was dissuaded from such a dangerous step only thanks to the intervention of King George VI: the king said that if the prime minister considers it necessary to go to the scene of events, then he, the king, also believes that his duty is to take part in the war and stand in the head of their troops.
Nevertheless, the British prime minister nevertheless achieved his goal. On June 12, on the sixth day after the so-called D-Day, Winston Churchill crossed the English Channel in the destroyer Kelvin and landed on the Normandy coast at Courcelles-sur-Mer at 11 o’clock in the afternoon.
Location: English Channel
Photo Time: June 12, 1944