Lilias Sheepshanks, who has died aged 92, gave up a promising career as a concert pianist for a life of good causes as an army officer’s wife; nevertheless, she was close to many of the great musical figures of her day, including the conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent, who was her godfather, and the composers Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
World War II: The "Easy" Victory at Utah Beach on D-Day nationalinterest.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalinterest.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
What It Took to Win While Storming Utah Beach During D-Day
Taking this particular beach was allegedly easier than the others, although that word does not describe the terrible cost of running ashore against enemy fire.
In the weeks leading up to the still-undefined D-Day, commanders argued about every detail of Operation Overlord. Sometimes, the arguments grew contentious. In one, just a few weeks before the Normandy invasion was launched, British Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, under whose aegis the airborne forces would operate, got cold feet and told Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley, commander of the U.S. 1st Army, which was slated to land at Utah and Omaha Beaches, that he feared casualties among the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions would be catastrophic and urged the commander of Overlord ground forces, General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, to cancel them.