D-Day: Lessons Learned from the Beachhead

June 4, 2024

by Stephen T. Messenger

In two days, we remember the 80^th anniversary of the largest amphibious assault in miliary history: D-Day. But the decision to launch began two days earlier, June 4th, when Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower had to make arguably the biggest choice of his military career.

Ultimately, on June 6^th, 1944, Allied forces launched over 156,000 troops on thousands of ships and aircraft across the English Channel into Nazi occupied France. In a daring and audacious gambit, the Allies used paratroopers to drop behind enemy lines, aerial bombardment, ships to deposit soldiers on heavily fortified beaches, ranger teams scaling 100-foot cliffs, deception operations, and a massive logistics tail to support the event.

Eisenhower was the commander for the operation. He was responsible for the planning, preparation, and execution of this massive undertaking. The weight of the free world was upon his shoulders.

This D-Day, we encourage you to grab some popcorn and watch the Saving Private Ryan opener, Episode 2 of Band of Brothers, or a documentary on this event (appropriate for your audience, of course). It’s amazing!

But instead of this being a history article, we’re going to examine a number of lessons we can take in our own leadership journey as we solve difficult problems.

Planning is Essential

A major amphibious assault on France was in the works long before D-Day. Just like our landing planners, it’s important we have a deliberate planning process for our long-term success.

This includes understanding the mission and problem we’re trying to solve, developing courses of action, wargaming to make them better, selecting the best one, and communicating it effectively. Planning is critical to any event, big or small. Without a plan, we’re just winging it, and to be honest, many people like to do that.    

Study, Train, and Rehearse

Being good at amphibious landings did not happen overnight. Beginning in 1942, the Allies conducted a number of amphibious landings. Before the war, Americans practiced assaults on U.S. beaches, drafted doctrine, established an Amphibious Training Center, and conducted numerous, smaller wartime landings in North Africa, Italy, and the Pacific.

Practice and refinement are critical to any task that we tackle. It is not enough to put the plan on paper—we have to rehearse our actions and refine based on what we learn.

No One Does Hard Things Alone

The D-Day landings were a combined effort of 13 Allied nations. Most remember the United States, Great Britain, and Canada landing on the beaches. But thousands of French Resistance conducted covert operations in France; Polish, Belgium, and Czechoslovakian pilots flew for the Royal Air Force; and the Danes steered ships across the channel.

It’s so important to include a coalition of the willing to help us solve our hard problems. It is harder to go alone than to go with friends.   

Reframing Is Encouraged

The original D-Day landing was scheduled for June 5^th. There was a narrow band of acceptable conditions between 5-7 June with full moon illumination for identifying glider landing sites and low tide at dawn to see underwater obstacles. That plus needing perfect weather conditions created a razor-thin decision space.  

On the morning of June 4^th, Eisenhower’s weatherman said conditions weren’t right and recommended postponing the landing. Ike agreed and pushed the invasion by 24 hours. Leaders must constantly be assessing the environment and make decisions based on changing conditions—not blindly following a plan.

Let Them Do What They Do Best

Once General Eisenhower gave the order for D-Day on June 6^th, there was little else for him to do. He went and visited the troops. He wrote some correspondence. But ultimately he trusted in his men and the mission.

There were no more decisions nor plans to be made. It was simply stepping back and letting the best people do their best work. Leaders should do only what they can do.

Sometimes, and more often than not, that means providing purpose, direction, and motivation, then stepping back and getting out of the way!   

June 6^th, 1944

This D-Day, we hope you’ll reflect on what an incredible undertaking this operation was. With a lot of planning, the right people, continued decision-making, and trust in our people, there is little we cannot accomplish.

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