The historian Michael Beschloss regularly posts to Twitter primary documents from American history. Today it is the above statement drafted by General Dwight Eisenhower on June 5, 1944. (Eisenhower misdated it, writing "July" for "June.") The statement was for release in the event the D-Day invasion, set for the next day, June 6, should be repelled. His handwriting isn't the greatest but this is what it says:
Our landings in the Cherbourg–Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.
The edits Eisenhower made are notable. It appears that the first sentence originally said:
Our landings in the Cherbourg–Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and the troops have been withdrawn.
He then continued:
This particular operation . . . .
At this point, he crossed out "have been withdrawn" and inserted "I have withdrawn" before "the troops" so that the first sentence then read as I have set it out above. He also crossed out "This particular operation" and started the second sentence, instead, "My decision." One surmises that the rest of the second sentence would have read something like:
This particular operation was based upon the best information available.
He changed it to:
My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available.
He squeezed out every drop of mistakes-were-made in order to stress that the decision had been his. This was on the day before the invasion. Of course the statement was never released, since the invasion achieved "a satisfactory foothold."
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