The Normandy Landings, the 70th anniversary of which falls tomorrow, will go down in history as one of the most extraordinary military operations.

For the soldiers in the front lines (including the East Lancashire Regiment) the action was scary, dangerous, immensely tiring and simply chaotic. Traffic jams were major logistical problems.

Then there was the nightmare, for the infantry and tank units engaged in direct combat, of friendly fire. Artillery falling short, or, worse, bombers mistaking their targets.

In one operation alone (‘Totalise’ on August 8) Canadian and Polish units lost 315 killed or wounded when US B-17 planes bombed them in error.

The allied troops threw yellow smoke grenades to mark their positions and signal the Americans to stop. That made it worse. The Americans were using yellow smoke grenades for their targets.

When you next curse the weather forecasters for getting it wrong, spare a thought for the senior meteorologist, Group Captain Dr James Stagg.

On his shoulders rested the decision on when it would be safe to send the unprecedented armada of ships across the channel. He had no satellite imagery to guide him. Many of his own expert colleagues disagreed with his assessments of the same data.

In blazing sunlight he told Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery to delay the invasion. A day later, with rain and wind battering the windows, he said they had to go. It was as well they did.

On June 19 this part of northern France suffered its most violent storm in 40 years.

More ships and materiel were lost than during the invasion itself. But had the armada been crossing in the storm, the liberation of France, and the defeat of Hitler, would have been set back considerably.

In words that capture something of the enormity of what was being undertaken in Normandy Churchill told the House of Commons on D-Day that, “... what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place.”

Thank God the plan worked, in the end.