Talk:D-Day (military term)

The reasoning for D standing for 'day' is laid out explicitly here, where it says: "When used in combination with figures and plus or minus signs, these terms indicate the length of time preceding or following a specific action. Thus, H-3 means 3 hours before H-hour, and D+3 means 3 days after D-day. H+75 minutes means H-hour plus 1 hour and 15 minutes." It makes perfect sense. Kuitan (talk) 10:10, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

copy?
anon User_Talk:70.177.170.196 dropped a large section of material in D-Day today. I am concerned about copyvio issues for 2 reasons (a) user has history of adding copyvio, see hisory of Nicomachean Ethics (b) user vandalized a page 3 minutes before this addition Wolfman 17:57, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I removed a whole pile of stuff that belongs in Battle of Normandy. Only stuff relevant to the phrase D-Day belongs here. DJ Clayworth 18:58, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Actually, that remaining picture isn't a "plan"--it's a (French) illustration of the whole Battle of Normandy out to 19 August. And, the color is kind of dingy. On the other hand, having a picture does brighten up a page. Maybe Image:D-day allied assault routes.jpg instead?
 * &mdash;wwoods 20:45, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

i have a report on d-day any suggestions?

Disambiguation to Animal House character
I think that the recently added disambiguation statement about a character in the movie Animal House doesn't belong here. I was thinking about being bold and reverting it, but I decided to see if there is consensus about this. Any feedback? --Rogerd 23:11, 29 October 2005 (UTC)


 * I see that User:Wwoods moved it to the "see also" section. I think that is better--Rogerd 00:58, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

I remove more stuff that belong at Battle of Normandy (if it belongs anywhere - the crossword stuff is just wrong). DJ Clayworth 18:21, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

What the D Stands for.
If anyone is interested the D in D-day stands for "Disembarkation", that means to get off the ship. All amphibious landings have a scheduled D-Day. I don't know how this got changed over the years. It used to be taught in school when I was a boy, but has morphed over the years into nonsense about the D meaning nothing or meaning "Day". I suspect that people who didn't know what the D stood for are writing the history books. Sad that no one remembers, except the people who where there.Lracgraystrider 02:21, 8 December 2006 (UTC)Lracgraystrider 02:05, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Hai — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.80.199.221 (talk) 17:19, 19 May 2021 (UTC)


 * You might be write (are you talking BEFORE WW2 or after). The WW2 documents use D-Day and H-Hour and even M-Month, so I your story might have been created after ww2. Remember that amphious invasion was extremely uncommon. I find it hard to believe they reserved D-Day for date of 'disembarkation' off a ship.--155.144.251.120 02:33, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

It makes no sense whatsoever for the article to state "While the initial D in D-Day does not stand for anything, it often represents a variable, . . .". Aha! It doesn't stand for anything; it merely represents something. Clear as mud.Daqu 05:56, 6 April 2007 (UTC)


 * The initial D, does not stand for anything, the whole "D-Day" is used as a variable - it is somewhat ambiguous I'll grant you. Can't immediatley think of a nice re-phrasing though. David Underdown 07:47, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

uuufuvh


 * As the article states, the use of "D-day" and "H-hour" go back to (at least) the First World War. If "D" stands for "deliverance", what does the "H" stand for? Or the "J" in "Jour J", or the "X" in "Tag X"? Mind you, some letters do have mnemonic values; see http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/t/05513.html
 * —wwoods 05:09, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

The D in "D-Day" may have stood for various things in the past, including disembarkation, but today there seems to be an underlying consensus that it stands for Day. This creates an awkward Day-Day phrase, but seems to be the correct explanation. I believe this should be changed in the text from saying "the D does not stand for anything," since it does, to saying it has had various meanings through the past, while today it is believe to represent Day, formulating this Day-Day phrase. TN

D-Day can be refered to as 'Day of Days'. SF.


 * I asked a couple of Operation Overlord Vets the question of the meaning of D-Day's "D". They concur that D means Day.  All the other terms were created to glamorize it.  They say it is common for the military to use initials for everything,  and it is not uncommon for part of the initialing to be repeated in full, redundantly.  So "D" is the initial used for the day an operation begins, therefore, D-Day is just an illiteration.  They say the reason Operation Overlord has been referenced as "The D-Day" is due to it's Historical Significance and identification simplicity.  They said that at the time, the participants of Operation Overlord did not refer to the Battle as "D-Day", until after it became a lexicon of the english language. pimort 17:05, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

HelloEveryone

The weather was ok as the task force was in the misdstof a storm, It was choppy and it was alo tide I was Taught D-Day stands for Delliverance Dayw —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomtob1 (talk • contribs) 09:11, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Lock The Article
I think you should lock this article, because of recent vandalism. Dalt 19:14, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

I really think this article should be merged with the "Battle of Normandy" article as a sub-section. It is the name for the Battle and should redirect to the Battle of Normandy page.[User post previous of 4/29/07 who did not add time stamp]

I agree, I think that merging 'D-Day' with 'Battle of Normandy' would be the best idea. It's rather short, and doesn't really cite its sources. Merging would be good! Sincerely, Captain Vimes 06:10, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

I do not believe you should merge the 'D-Day' article with the 'Battle of Normandy' article for they are two distinctly different terms. Yes, D-Day has been overwhelmingly used to denote the first day of Operation Overlord, but it must not be forgotten what its true origins are: the first day of ANY operation. Thus it does not seem accurate to merge it with the opening battle of one specific operation. It should be expressed that colloquially D-Day is used as the opening of World War II, but to convey that that is its sole explanation is false. TN

This has bugged me for years... what does the "D" stand for? I think I finally came up with a sensible answer. The "D" is last syllable of "Normandy", so it can mean Normandy Day. DN —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimbob92065 (talk • contribs) 02:18, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

The first D in D Day has never stood for another word! Military field guides clearly indicate it is a code for the planned invasion date for ANY operation, so that secrecy could be kept. There are also A, B, and C days, all of which are codes themselves with their own special secrets. The only reason Operation Overlord is now widely referred to as D Day is because of the sheer magnitude of what occurred on the beaches of Normandy. I was able to find a copy of a WWII field guide, and saw the codes with my own eyes. In conclusion, in regards to the first D in D Day, people are looking for a deeper meaning that DOES NOT EXIST. (63.229.44.111 (talk) 10:33, 17 April 2010 (UTC))

Normandy Beach Invasion Summary
this section is effectively offtopic as it is spefically about the normandy landings rather than the military term D Day. While tthe last couple of sentences in this section are humorous the subject is off topic. Looking at the history of this article and the fact it already seems a concise definition of the term, it should be locked.

I am also deleting the Normandy graphic and the history guy reference link for the same reasons. Dondilly 20:01, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

D-Day Intro
That is a very bad way of stating that this is the way that commanders of the various armed forces commanders use to avoid giving a date upon which an operation is due to commence. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:09, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

What is D-Day?
What Is D-Day ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.195.217.128 (talk) 00:09, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Veteran input to meaning of D-day
The D in D-day refers to deployment. The H in H-hour refers to hostilities. For example, on June 6,1944, D-day initiated the commencement of hostilities for the combat commands involved in the invasion. During the first gulf war, D-day occurred several months before H-hour.


 * Not actually true. The D refers to Day, and the H refers to Hour. If you have a reference for D-day occurring before H-hour feel free to let us know about it, but remember that there can be several D-days and H-hours for different ops - so there could be a D-day for the deployment operation (and an H-hour) but there can also be a D-day and an H-hour for the operation that initiates hostilities. There is a reference above, which I'm copying here that explains. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:07, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Overthinking D-Day
There seems to be a lot of debate about the meaning of D in D-Day. It appears that, back in WWI when the term is first recorded (in conjunction with H-Hour), it was indeed apparently just a simple way to come up with a name to use instead of a specific date when an operation was going to begin. One can imagine that when developng the operations plan, that speicifc dates for achieving various objectives had to be referenced to some point in time - this is expected to happen 3 days after the operation begins, that is supposed to occur on 5 days after it starts, etc. Of course, weather or other complications might mean the actual date for the beginning of the operation might change so rather than have to redo these plans with every change in start date, it would be a lot easier to put everything down relative to a placeholder for the actual date (not to mention being good for operational security in case the plans fall into the wrong hands). D-Day as is "D for day" is an obvious choice, just as H is for having an arbitrary reference to the hour for the start of the operation. In printed documents, briefings, etc., it would be natural to, as in the example above, talk about D+3, D+5, etc.

Of course, in a theater, commaand, etc. where more than one operation is being planned or if several operations are going to be related to each other or even just executed during the same time frame, using D-Day and H-Hour for all of them would be confusing in the extreme - thus, in the Pacific, where there were lots of landings, one sees other shorthand abbreviations beyond D-Day (X-Day for the Olympic landing, Y-Day for the subsequent Coronet landing, etc.).

Thus, while the D in D-Day may have originally had some special significance (if only as convenient shorthand for Day), there's nothing really special about it and indeed as operations become more complicated other arbitrary letters (X-Day, Y-Day, etc.) were used instead. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:801:4280:A710:FDCC:1F77:F0F1:7964 (talk) 22:30, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

So, pedantically, the attack occurred on D-Day +1. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:346:1180:4320:4CDF:D401:FFB3:43B3 (talk) 16:17, 6 June 2022 (UTC)

Previous days?
I seem to remember that D-Day is known to be the 4th day after the initially planned attack. It's the 4th day because the days A,B,C had unsuitable conditions for the invasion.Is this correct? Darky65 09:37, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
 * No, I don't think so, the whole point is that the actual date for "D-Day" is not set until it is decided to put the operation into effect, it's just there as a placeholder in the operational orders, with all other dates defined relative to it. David Underdown 11:14, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

D-Day
Months before the invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France, the soldiers were told the weather would be perfect, but when they got to sea, a storm began. They were lucky, though, because the storm made the French soldiers think that no one would attack, so they weren't on guard. Their German commander left to visit his family back in Germany, so that left the other soldiers off guard. When the allies got there, it was easy for them to attack. That was the turning point in the war. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.11.133.49 (talk) 14:30, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

how can you not know im 14 and i now a-z of dday
D-Day was the invasion of normandy and if im correct this is not a generic term because ist signifing a specific event —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.59.44.124 (talk) 16:53, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

there is one D-Day
the all have DIFERENT initials —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.59.44.124 (talk) 16:56, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

dday
D DAY was not the turning point Because the Battle of Brittian was, once we gained air SUpperiorty we had turrned the tied many people died at omaha the tide was down so they had 100 yds of no cover hence the name the longest day at omaha they hit the weakest point if the wall if they had hit there intended target they would have all died. and the tanks only 6 of the 32 tanks made it a shore God was with them that day they were lucky. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.59.44.124 (talk) 17:00, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

what does d day mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.201.131.21 (talk) 23:47, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

unanimous support for move. This makes a lot of sense. Someone going through all the links to D-Day and dabbing the minority really intended for the military term or for Invasion of Normandy would be a good deed.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:05, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

Requested move
Judging from the titles of the articles that link to D-Day (hundreds of them), nearly all of them mean the day of the Normandy Landings. It would make sense for the link to D-Day to take them directly to where they expect to go, not to an article on the generic meaning of the term "D-Day". I therefore propose renaming this article to "D-Day (military term)", making D-Day a redirect to Normandy Landings and adding a link back to D-Day (military term) from a hatnote on Normandy Landings. Colonies Chris (talk) 14:32, 2 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Support Normandy Landings is clearly the primary topic. --Rogerb67 (talk) 01:04, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Support clearly Normandy is what is normally meant. Remember to add a hatnote and correct the few linkages when the move is made. 70.51.10.188 (talk) 05:07, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Support — I remember happening upon this anomaly some time ago, while looking for the Normandy D-Day, and I thought it was strange. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 07:56, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Support - the Normandy Landings are pretty obviously the primary topic. Pfainuk talk 11:53, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Support - This makes a lot of sense to do this, but I think we should do it anyway :). I think that the US military quit using this terminology some time ago.  --rogerd (talk) 12:26, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Support - I would certainly have assumed that clicking on D-Day would take me to the Normandy Landings, rather than to an article on the military term. Scog (talk) 17:14, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Edit request from Gryphonis, 6 October 2010
Please change:

When referencing a local time zone, "Z-8" ("zulu minus eight") refers to Universal Co-ordinated Time (formerly Greenwich Mean Time) minus 8 hours, or 8 hours behind UTC. "Z+10" means 10 hours ahead of or earlier than UTC. This is because the time zone at zero degrees longitude is designated by the letter Z, which is phonetically designated as 'zulu', there being 24 principal time zones world wide, each designated by a distinct letter of the roman alphabet. Thus, for example, Vancouver Canada local time is 1 o'clock in the morning when it is 9 o'clock in London UK, since Pacific Standard Time is Z-8 (9-8 = 1 in this example).

To: When referencing a local time zone, "Zulu" refers to Universal Co-ordinated Time (formerly Greenwich Mean Time). For other zones see list of military time zones.

Because the section is wrong. List of military time zones are correct.

Gryphonis (talk) 09:56, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Done Thanks, Celestra (talk) 00:59, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

angie leigh
What is meant by the reference to angie leigh?Longinus876 (talk) 14:40, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 12 February 2016
The article says that D-day was attempted by the allied forces to free Europe from 'Nazi.', which should obviously be changed to either Nazi-Germany or Nazi-/German occupation for the sake of proper syntax.

Mark Kamphuis (talk) 15:31, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done Cannolis (talk) 15:58, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

History of the terms D-Day and H-Hour
The article states in its History section that the US military created them in 1918. But the french language article mentions in a quote, an example of the use of Jour-J and Heure-H (French language for D-Day and H-Hour) by the French military leadership : "Raymond Cartier et Jean-Pierre Cartier,, vol. 2, Presses de la Cité, coll. « Coup d'œil », 1984 (ISBN 978-2-258-12293-2, p. 169 « Devant eux, le capitaine ouvre solennellement une enveloppe jaune cachetée. Le contenu est d'un laconisme extraordinaire, quelques mots qui font chanceler les consciences : Jour J : 16 avril. Heure H : 6 heures.» (The quotation reports a part of the content of a dispatch sent on spring 1916 to the french troops to lauch the catastrophic and immensely bloody offensive of the Chemin-des-Dames) two years before their use in Englisby the US military h 74.57.165.55 (talk) 02:47, 20 June 2024 (UTC)