How the D-Day Beaches got there Code Names

[Drew5233]

Brigadier Belchem, Chief of Staff, 21st Army Group personally chose the code names for the two British and Canadian beaches from a standard army code book. The old army manual lists short words that are easily pronounced.

The two American beaches named Utah and Omaha are thought to have been chosen by the two American corps commanders and named after the US States where they were from. However General Collins came from Louisiana, not Utah and General Gerow came from Virginia not Omaha.

Brigadier Belcham passed away in 1981 so it may never be known the true origin of the American code names for the beaches.


Cheers
Andy

[plant-pilot]

The British still use Operation names from a long list. Single names that are not complicated, selected at random, have given us some recent ones such as Op Banner (Northern Ireland), Op Tosca (UN in Cyprus), Op Herrick (Afghanistan), Op Telic (Iraq) and Op Corporate (Falklands).

Of course you all know that, but what you may not know is that the operation names can be re-used. They are only taken off the list if they are used for a 'big' or memorable operation.... for instance 'Market' or 'Garden' will not be used again.

[Slipdigit]

Originally Posted by Drew5233

The two American beaches named Utah and Omaha are thought to have been chosen by the two American corps commanders and named after the US States where they were from. However General Collins came from Louisiana, not Utah and General Gerow came from Virginia not Omaha.

Omaha is not a state, it is a city in Nebraska.