The Weatherman Who Saved D-Day From Disaster
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2024
- The weather man who saved D-Day from disaster in 1944
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We are preparing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the 6th June 1944.
We remember this date as a great military victory, but it could have been a disaster.
Or it might have simply never happened at all.
Because D-Day was nearly thwarted by the British weather.
You might be aware that the allied landings in Normandy had already been postponed due to poor weather.
But do you know the full story of how both the decision to postpone and also the decision to go for the 6th actually came about?
And what would have happened if General Dwight Eisenhower had looked out at the rain and wind lashing the windows of his HQ and postponed it from the 6th June altogether?
This is the story of what actually happened to cause D-Day to be postponed
And how history could have been very different.
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Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:53 d-Day 5th June 1944
2:03 British weather!
3:19 Group Captain James Stagg
4;35 SHAEF Briefings
5:30 Key Irish Role
6:41 Weather changes
8:00 Divisions
8:43 3rd June Breifing
10:00 D-Day postponed
11:50 Hope
13:49 Final Decision
15:15 D-Day Is On
17:07 Disaster Averted
18:38 Meteorologists win D-Day?
20:31 Pegasus Bridge
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My name is Chris Green and I love to share stories from British history. Not just because they are interesting but because, good or bad, they have shaped the world we live in today.
History should not be stuffy or a long list of dates or kings & queens.
So rather than lectures or UA-cam animations, I tell stories that bring the past to life.
My aim is to be chat as if I were having a coffee or meal with you. Jean in Maryland, USA recently wrote: "Chris, is the history teacher I wish I had at school!"
Just for the record, I do have a history degree in Medieval & Modern history from the University of Birmingham.
Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Chris Green Communication Ltd t/a The History Chap. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Chris Green Communication Ltd does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
As my Dad who was a Meteorologist said, 'Never underestimate the importance of the weather forecaster.'
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Maureen Sweeney was 21 years old when she took weather readings at the remote Blacksod weather station in June 1944. The weather report from Belmullet was enough for the chief meteorological officer, Group Captain James Stagg, to advise that the invasion be postponed by 24 hours. She only received recognition for her wartime role from the US Congress in 2021.
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Since I saw the movie "the longest day" Stagg has always been one of my hero's! Thanks again for a great history story,Chris!
Thanks for watching my video, glad you enjoyed it.
Got back yesterday from Normandy with my brother to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the D day landing. The place was alive and buzzing. Shame we couldn’t stay till the actual day. But man what a experience. The American graveyard unfortunately for me felt more like a tourist attraction than a memorial. The british memorial brought me to tears seeing all the names.
God bless Our ancestors for what they did for us. 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇨🇦
Really wish I was there.
Loved my last visit but this year would have been very special.
@@TheHistoryChapI wish we could have stayed. You could feel the energy in everyone there.
@@TheHistoryChap thanks chris. enjoyed it. hope u are having a nice break. see u friday.
The delay meant my dad's ship (HMS Gazelle) was left circling in the Bristol Channel in the...inclement...weather!
Must have been a pretty lousy experience
One of my Grandfathers went in with the British Airborne on the Morning of D-day.
He knew both Richard Todd, who with Johnny Frost attended his funeral when I was a young lad.
Thanks for watching my video & for sharing your family story.
It certainly was for my Great Uncle. He was Able Seaman aboard a LCI(S) when it took a direct hit and exploded. His name is on a memorial in Portsmouth.
Thanks for sharing. RIP
Good video. Here in USA, that war affected us greatly. Churchill became a revered figure. FDR secretly desired to join the war against Hitler but the mood in the heartland was isolationist - till Pearl Harbor. Fascinating to learn about Stagg, And the Irish.
Brilliant bit of work Sir. I enjoyed your video lecture on the Normandy Landing. I await your video lecture. Oh... before I forget "more please!"
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And people around the world wonder why the British are obsessed with the weather! Cracking video Chris. It’s fascinating how often weather conditions mess up the best of plans right through history
Glad you enjoyed my video, thanks for watching.
I know that Operation Husky (Sicily in July!!) took place in marginal weather and Torch wasn't exactly blessed!
Maybe Eisenhower thought he was cursed?
Excellently presented as always Chris.
I could well imagine the tension in that room and all attention focused on one scientific, not military man.
Glad you enjoyed this video Charlie. I think the story should be used in management training
Was just looking for a UA-cam video to listen to while cooking and this popped up! Thanks Chris!
Ha ha, i've missed my British audience but I hope that you enjoy it.
I'm doing it while working out 😅
Excellent presentation, thank you
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What a great story about a truly momentous, watershed moment in history! I'm looking forward to the next vid on the ‘Ox and Bucks.’
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Jolly good Chris👍👍👍
Many thanks. Pegasus Bridge coming on the 5th June.
Well researched and presented - as always. Wasn’t aware of the Irish forecast element. Look forward to the next instalment.
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed my video.
Rest in peace all those brave lads who gave their lives on D day and subsequently. RIP Maureen Sweeney. Great episode Chris, you've given more information about the weather situation on the run up and into D day than I've ever heard before.
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I knew it was delayed due to the weather but tis video was excellent... Thank you..👍👍
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@@TheHistoryChap Loved it..
Excellent story, again you nailed it, thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching.
I always look forward to Chris's videos! Many thanks for posting and can't wait for the next live chat!
Live chat this Friday.
Awesome presentation of a factor that gets overlooked -weather. It's amazing how everyone worked together to get the weather forecast right which permitted the Allies to land and begin the destruction of Hitler's armies.
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Thank you again for another great post. I knew the weather delayed D-Day but never the people behind the forecasting.
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Thank you , Chris for a great video. My birthday is on the 5th June and the weather is always unpredictable at that time of year.💂♂️
June is a strange month for weather. Either a feast or a famine!
I always remember the Met men at RAF Cottesmore standing on the roof of their building and looking at the sky every morning. Then at RAF Valley years later visiting the Met office there and all the shiny tech they had, plus they got the rain shower timing bang on when we were getting the tour.
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Love the podcast (w/ visuals to boot!) One of the best: perfect presentation and very knowledgeable.
Thanks for your kind comment.
Thanks Chris, lovely history as always
Glad you enjoyed it.
Great video which fills out the story of the weather forecast very well. Looking forward to the Pegasus Bridge coverage on the 5th. That's a great segment of The Longest Day. "Hold until relieved. Hold until relieved."
"Ham and jam. Ham and Jam. Ham and bloody jam...."
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Fascinating story well told.
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What a great story, so well presented!
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Another well presented video, thankyou once again Mr Green.
I can only imagine the frazzled nerves of all involved.
My pleasure. Always lovely to receive a comment from you Darren.
@@TheHistoryChapI appreciate you bringing up some of the lesser known people who were involved, the Sweeneys for example. Good work.
Bravo Zulu (Well Done) Chris. I hope you have included at least one video on naval contribution to Operation Neptune, the Normandy landing. I have no familial connection to the European Theater of WW2 as my whole family was engaged in the Pacific.
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One glider did land in the river and one of the pilots did help the Padre look for his communion kit.
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Well once again, and one that's in time for the 80th anniversary of D-Day this Thursday, you continue to display and gift us with your superstar British military history UA-camr historian status, Chris old bean. It certainly is extremely fair to say that Captain James Stagg and Maureen Flaven, later to be Maureen Sweeny as you reveal at the video's end, truly were the heroes in this, as it really is thanks to them that Yank SHAEF icon, and of course future US President of the 50s, old Dwight Eisenhower made the VERY correct, and MASSIVE history savers at that, decisions that he did, THANK GOD, cos otherwise, as you've pointed out as to what could very well have happened if D-Day's plan for June 5th or much later on HAD gone ahead, GOD KNOWS where 1944 and the Allies war with Hitler could very well have gone, the Nazi jackboot could very well still be existent to this day. So THANK GOD to Eisenhower that he listened to our weather forecaster hero Captain Stagg, who passed on the deliverances of barometer reading figures from Maureen Flaven/Sweeny, THEY were the real heroes in this for sure.
And we'll certainly be ready for your June 5th 2024 video on Pegasus Bridge, old bean, cos I HAVE known sorta a few basic facts about that, but again nothing, zero, ZILCH, regarding FULL historical details themselves, so I'm more than ready for ya with that in two days time. And now that I've literally just been thinking about it, would you possibly consider a video about our WWII British Army leader hero Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery aka Monty, victor of El Alamein against Erwin Rommel, cos I've quite admired and loved Monty, who the Americans rather hated due to what he tended to do with his military tactics, the facts of which I've been unable to believe upon to say the truth, for so long ever since my high school days, so... could we perhaps have a video about HIM, Field Marshal Montgomery/Monty, one day?
Max, thanks for your kind words and I'm glad that you enjoyed this video.
Working hard on Pegasus Bridge story as we speak.
Like your idea about Montgomery.
I will add to my list for future productions, so please watch this space!
Great presentation, as always 👍
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Excellent thanks for this one, something we dont often think of or give recognition to
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Must have been one of the worst June day of all time
That later storm must have been incredible.
If you want a really big storm check out my video about the Great Storm of 1703. Thousands of sailors drowned, Royal Navy warships going down, the Queen evacuated from her place. Bonkers!
ua-cam.com/video/VKnWUNZIvpg/v-deo.html
Especially for Germans
Oh, very cool...thank you❤
You're welcome 😊 Hope you enjoy it.
Excellent story and well told!
Many thanks Martin.
Another great video. Thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching.
Some stuff left the UK on the 3rd and 4th of June and some stood on the station being battered in the storm until everyone else left on the 5th of June to land on the 6th.
I now think 1944 was an El Nino year because that year was very wet and stormy and also cold in Europe.
I am now looking at the NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory government website and they list 1941 to 1942 as El Nino years...
but it now gets interesting because...
2872 - JOURNAL OF CLIMATE VOLUME - 20 ~ © 2007 American Meteorological Society
The Years of El Niño, La Niña, and Interactions with the Tropical Indian Ocean by GARY MEYERS
shows that when El Niño or La Niña and/or positive or negative Indian Ocean dipole occurred
says there was a positive effect in the years 1944, 1945, and 1946
which would greatly affect the weather in Europe making it more wet and stormy which reflects what really happened.
I also hope Chris talks about the area called Piccadilly Circus
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Love these videos. Would love to see something about the COPP teams who surveyed the beaches before d-day!
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An excellent and thorough video as usual. Thanks 😊
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A dour Scot surly you must be mistaken lol. My father in law landed D-day plus 6. Later shot in the arm at The Battle of The Bulge. Once they got the order to retire from their position he said he ran faster than Jessie Owens back to safety. Somehow the 6th June sounds the right date, it rolls off the tongue. Easy to remember therefore hard to forget. Scary now that we can't repel inflatable small boats today.
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My paternal grandfather became a weather officer for the US Army Airforce in the Pacific during WW II. He was trained for this during the war with what I think of as real high stakes testing. Every week the class was tested, and every test the bottom 10% of the class were removed from the course to the infantry.
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A riveting tale well told!!
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It should be part of the UK School curriculum in History, Mr History Chap Channel. ✌️
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Great video.
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! BRAVO! I love your channel because you often answer questions we didn’t know needed asking! I love this episode because we’ve all heard😢 the abbreviated version of this story and to learn all the nitty gritty has been exciting! QUESTION: I’m assuming by ‘44 they knew all about the jet stream so WHY didn’t they bring in weathermen from the Bahamas and say the Carolinas in the US to get the full picture? Cheers from across the pond!
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The weather reports came in from the Baffin Islands to the west. What was happening there would effect the English Channel 3 days later
That’s interesting. Not of my research suggested that including the history of the events as recorded by the Royal meteorological Society..
One very important fact always get overlooked in the telling of these events. The main reason that the Germans had no knowledge of the forthcoming change in the weather is that they lacked the weather reports coming from their ships in the Atlantic. Each ship carries a small weather station, the results of these observations are transmitted back to the HQ correlating this information. The Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy hunted down these German ships deliberately, thus denying a very important strategic knowledge. The RCN lost several ships in the North Atlantic due to heavy icing on their super structures, the ships rolling over in heavy swell, brave, brave men.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this story. Thank you Ireland for the part you played! I learned information in this video I had not known before.
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I live in Tipperary Ireland and I must visit the museum at Black Sod light house, the agreement between the UK & Ireland on sharing weather forecasts and weather data, pre dates WW2 and was agreed at independence, thus Ireland wasn't (technically) seen to be breaching neutrality by sharing this information.
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good video
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In the Pacific in late 1944 after MacArthur had landed his forces on Leyte, a typhoon struck and damaged and scattered Adm. Halsey's fleet.
Didn’t realise that. Thanks for sharing
I never knew Irish weather reports are that important
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Looks like this will be a good serie.....
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Stagg’s son unfailed a plaque to his father in Dalkeith we raised money for
a couple of years ago. When I was researching him I looked up his birth on Scotland’s people and it turned out he was born in Musselburgh just down the road from Dalkeith
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Wait a minute, Chris, do you mean a Scotsman can be dour? Say It Ain't So Chris! 😂😅
A wondrous tale of what might have been if the invasion has been postponed until later in the summer? I am glad for the advancement of technology in meteorology. Another success, keep it going, I'll have to call you better because you are on a roll! LOL 😂😅
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Same with the proposed Olympic landings on Kyushu. We were very lucky that one didn't come off. The decision to go was Monty's finest moment.
PS Never forget the Krauts were completely fooled by Fortitude.
Eisenhower made the decision to go, not Monty
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@@lastguy8613 Read The Longest Day (or see the movie). Instead of wanting to wait for every last detail to be nailed down as was his habit, Montgomery, when asked by Ike, very decisively said, "I would say, 'Go'".
@@formwiz7096 Coincidental to this video I'd just started re reading Rick Atkinson's the guns at last light. Whatever the advice he received from all his senior commanders the decision was Eisenhower's alone to make, and he was the one carrying a pre written resignation letter in his pocket if the landings failed
I'm not trying to knock Monty here at all btw, I think he made many great and brave decisions during the war and a couple of not so great ones
@@lastguy8613 Never said it wasn't. You seem to have a hard time understanding the English language.
James Stagg had a lot of pressure considering his rank. Probably being dour was an asset. If he had been wrong, you have to wonder if the ship movements would have made the Germans reinforce Normandy before
a later landing.
I reckon it would have.
Short answer : would it have been delayed by a month ? Possible, even probable
Would it have ended in disaster due to a storm rhe next day? No. Beachheads well established and sufficient supplies landed before the storm.
Interesting perspective. Would they have had materials to conduct an invasion if the first had ended in disaster? Furthermore, would they have had the political will (both in the USA and UK)? Maybe we should have a live debate on this one (I mean wider community not just me and you!)
@@TheHistoryChap interesting thoughts. (both the material and the live debate). As far as political will to carry out a second invasion had the first one failed I'm absolutely not sure either way, but when it comes to men and material, absolutely they could have pulled off a second landing. 2 of my uncles were in training and their divisions (the US 66th and 75th infantry divisions) were in Normandy (at least what was left of the 66th after the Leopoldville sinking) and Britain (the 75th) by fall of 1944. Although I have to admit a second landing could have been far more difficult, but also could have benefitted from the lessons learned, and thus been easier.
Rommel was also in the wrong place at the start of El Alamain and that ended badly for him as well.
Interesting comparison. Thanks for sharing
James Stagg's son went on to play rugby for Sale and Scotland!
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Amazing really... meanwhile nowadays they cant even get the weather correct from hour to hour...
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Can I correct something. Force 6 is not a storm. Force 8 is a gale, 9 a severe gale, and 10 a storm.
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Wonder if the Soviets would have launched Bagration if D-Day was postponed?
Interesting thought, thanks for watching my video.
No problem with BRITISH weather. It was the weather of those troublemakers, the FRENCH. It was THEIR beaches and it was THEIR weather that damaged the Mulberries. Anyone would have thought that they did it deliberately. Remember, they still haven't forgiven us for rescuing them from the Nazis. The shame must be almost unbearable. Joking apart, unlike the vast majority of the French people who just bent with the wind and put up with, or collaborated with, the Nazis, the French resistance, putting their lives at risk time after time, did a superb job especially leading up to D-Day.
You are very naughty 😆
I blame the French weather myself
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Sounds like every fall or early spring day when you have to take down a roof and get it closed bevore rain, minus peopel trying to kill ypu.
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@@TheHistoryChap A while agoe you mentioned to make the story of the Emden and its crew, i was realy looking forward to it, i hope you get there. It is not that i do not like the story of ouer most respected british cousins, it is more that it is an adventure with a twist that would even be entertaining for a british audience because it is so victorian in spirit.
A repeat of this may have to done if Russia’s ears are not clipped
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England saved by good weather!!! I think this calls for a video about England being saved by bad weather during the attempted attack by spanish armada!!
Strangely enough, guess what is on my production list for the near future?
I knew it I'm psychic! Lol jk 😜
The English Channel has some pretty awful weather seas. Its an utter horror when it choses to be.
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Excellent thanks 👏
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Great video.
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