Imagine our world without NATO, a world where France had been a member of the Communist Block. Had D-day failed, at least a year would have been required to mount a new invasion. Given a year’s delay, the western Allies and the Russians would have met at the Rhine instead of the Elbe. Result, no West Germany. The most effective French resistance units were Communist. Given another year of combat, they would have generated enough popular support to dominate the National Assembly when France was liberated. Result, no NATO.
The one element of D-day SHAEF’s could not control was the weather. Had the forecast for D-day been wrong, D-day would have failed.
In many ways D-day was the pragmatic precursor to NATO. In addition to American, British, and Canadian units, the invasion also relied on Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Polish and Rhodesian forces. Many of these became founding members of NATO in 1949.
On 5 June, the 80th anniversary of the evening D-day was launched, please join us at 6:30 pm for dinner and discussion of how diplomacy saved D-day. DACOR's past president Jim Dandridge will interview John E. Ross, author of The Forecast for D-day and the Weatherman behind Ike’s Greatest Gamble. They will report how a secret agreement with neutral Ireland, clandestine weather observations from occupied Europe, and Gen. Eisenhower personal trust in SHAEF’s chief meteorologist all resulted in D-day’s success.
Neither scientist nor historian, John Ross’ schooling in journalism led him to believe that the most important of a reporter’s core questions – what, who, when, where, how, and why – how and why are by far the most interesting.
Son of a World War II Air Corps pilot instructor, he was weaned on a diet of US military history. Ross knew well that Eisenhower postponed the D-day invasion of Normandy for 24 hours because of the weather. Given the state of meteorology in the 1940s, he wondered: How did Ike know? In preparation for writing The Forecast for D-day and the Weatherman behind Ike’s Greatest Gamble, Ross interviewed several men and women who participated in making the all-important weather forecast and scoured archives in England and the United States for its historic documentation.
Long fascinated by the confluence of natural science and historic events, his most recent book Through the Mountains: The French Broad River and Time (Univ. Tenn Press 2021, 2023) was a finalist for the 2022 Reed Environmental Writing Award sponsored by the Southern Environmental Law Center and for the 2022 Thomas Wolfe Literary Award sponsored by the Western North Carolina Historical Association. Ross is currently writing a similar book, Beyond the Blue Horizon: Virginia’s Great Valley and Ridges, to be published in early 2025 by UVa. Press.
For more information about The Forecast for D-Day, please visit https://d-dayforecast.com/. Books will be available for sale at the event.
Location
Setting: In-Person DACOR Bacon House 1801 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 UNITED STATES
