23. Before Star Trek, There Was the Normandy Campaign
Jimmy Doohan had cause for confidence, as the superbly trained Canadians turned out to be more than a match for the German defenders. However, it was no cakewalk. For one thing, the invasion planners had overestimated the effectiveness of heavy aerial bombardment that had targeted the beaches in the days and weeks before the invasion. It was assumed that the aerial raids would have destroyed or seriously damaged the German fortifications and inflicted such heavy losses so as to enable the attackers to advance against relatively little opposition. Those estimates turned out to be overly optimistic, and things did not work out quite that way on the actual day of battle.
Intense Allied aerial attacks in the runup to D-Day wreaked havoc on German infrastructure, road and rail transport, and communications hubs throughout Normandy and Northern France. However, bombing proved largely ineffective against the actual defenders on the beaches targeted for amphibious attacks on June 6th and left them mostly unscathed. The first wave of Canadians to disembark from their landing craft were mowed down by Germans who fired from heavily fortified and well-situated positions that overlooked the beaches. Fortunately for Star Trek fans, Doohan was not among those killed that day.
