1) The document describes a scene from the film Churchill (2017) where Churchill is shown having an emotional breakdown two days before the D-Day invasion of Normandy, expressing doubts about the operation due to its high risk of casualties. 2) Churchill was traumatized by his role in the failed Gallipoli operation in 1915 and feared a similar outcome with thousands of allied soldiers dying within two days of the Normandy invasion. 3) A brief break in the stormy weather on June 6th provided an opportunity for the invasion to go ahead successfully. Churchill recovered and gave a resounding speech announcing the allies had gained a foothold in Normandy.

1. A Recall of the Overlord Operation
I received quite a shock when I casually turned on my TV this morning and
happened to access a film that had already started. The film in question was
Churchill (2017) starring Brian Cox in the role of Winston Churchill and Miranda
Richardson in that of Clementine Churchill and my entry point was the scene that
showed Churchill in agitated contention with Dwight Eisenhower and Bernard
Montgomery only two days before D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, would take
place. At this juncture it was not even known whether the invasion would go ahead
in view of prevailing stormy weather conditions. It was already too late to proceed
with the invasion on the 5th
of June as originally planned and the outlook for the
following way was unfavourable. Even so, Eisenhower and Montgomery pressed
for immediate action while Churchill argued strongly for a delay. It soon became
clear that in his heart of hearts he was against the entire invasion project itself for
this he deemed to be of uncertain outcome and likely to end in an excessive
number of dead British and allied soldiers.
The root of his distaste for a large-scale invasion became apparent when he
recalled in anguish the failure of his attempt to capture the heights of Gallipoli in
1915 when he, as First Lord of the Admiralty, was in command of this operation, a
failure that earned him a bad reputation not only in British political circles but also
and, more profoundly, in those of Australia and New Zealand. He contemplated in
horror the prospect that twenty thousand young allied soldiers would die within
the coming two days. In the privacy of his apartment he suffered an emotional
breakdown when thrusting his breakfast tray on the floor and then sobbing like a
child on his bed. After vainly pleading with him to take a grip on himself,
Clementine, his despairing wife, came close to leaving him. This was not the
Churchill one expected to see on the basis of his reputation as a man of iron
resolution and unflinching courage. In addition to all this, close-up shots of his facial
features revealed clear signs of aging and a decline towards senility.
A weather report indicated that a brief clearing of the generally prevailing stormy
weather favoured the chances of a successful landing of allied troops on the
beaches of Normandy on the sixth of June, - in fact, as a voice-over sequence
pointed out, ‘on the sixth hour, on the sixth day of the sixth month.’ Churchill
recovered his spirits largely thanks to encouragement from his wife and Field

2. Marshal Jan Smuts and delivered a resounding speech in his typical style which was
broadcasted to the British nation as he announced that the allies had successfully
secured a foothold in Normandy on the way to the liberation of Europe.
Historians may dispute some aspects of picture as presented by the film,
particularly with regard the depth of depression that Churchill may have suffered
in the lead-up to D-Day, the state of his marriage and his poor relations with
Eisenhower and Montgomery, who allegedly treated him as something of a
busybody and a bit of a nuisance. Even King George VI had to insist that Churchill
could not witness the invasion from the deck of a naval vessel as he so wanted to
do. There can be no doubt that Churchill and Eisenhower entertained
fundamentally divergent notions on the right strategy to end the war. Churchill felt
that allied forces should approach Germany from the south of France and Italy
instead of taking the perilous and costly option of invading Normandy. Perhaps we
do not have to follow the filmmaker’s lead in his cynical assertion that Churchill
wanted the Germans and Soviets to knock each other out and thus relieve the
Western allies of doing the dirty work themselves.
Historians will affirm that it was no easy matter for the allies to coordinate the
efforts in the fight against the Nazis. The very title of the D-Day campaign was ‘the
Overlord Operation’ expressed the hope that a coordinating and guiding force
should direct the entire campaign. Overall command of this operation was held by
Dwight Eisenhower. It was he who had to make the final decision to proceed with
the D-Day invasion but even he did not have a free hand in the matter. It was the
brief break in cloudy and stormy weather conditions that signaled to him that the
invasion could succeed. Was the real overlord in this case the weather, Saint Peter
or Providence? By way of a parallel, Richard III lamented the failure of the sun to
shine on his troops as they entered the field of battle but consoled himself with the
thought that the sun also denied its rays to the enemy. The dismal cloudy weather
that hampered the allies also denied the German air force any ability to reconnoiter
the Channel and thus get a warning of the imminent invasion. On account of
adverse weather conditions senior officers, Rommel included, took leave from
active duty during in the early days of June.
Any talk of the controlling power of the weather broaches a wider question. What
power or influence underlies both the realm of the weather and the domain of

3. human affairs? Does the threefold reference to the number six mentioned above
suggests something mysterious, even creepy? 666, for example? What does the ‘D’
in D-Day signify? ‘Day’ or ‘Departure’? There were other D-Days during War II and
so the fact that the term now refers to one specific day in history resides in the
perceived importance of this day itself. Words and numbers crept into events that
surrounded the invasion in an odd name when the Secret Service noted that the
code names of sections of the Normandy beaches on D-Day {UTAH, OMAHA, JUNO,
etc.) appeared in the solutions of a crossword puzzle in The Daily Telegraph, much
to the consternation of the said organization.
Those familiar with the Gematria in Kabbalistic or rabbinic tradition need not be
surprised by the quest for the deeper significance of numbers and letters but it is
not so usual to trace the putative deep significance of dates though in most cultures
calendars are seen as being imbued with religious or mystical significance. A
remarkable string of recurring numbers had occurred much earlier in English
history, by the way. Edward I died in Carlisle on his way to combat the Scots on the
seventh day of the seventh week of the seventh year of the fourteenth century
(July 7 in 1307). His son died in 1327 and his grandson Edward III in 1377. To say
the very least, 7 was not a lucky number for English monarchs named Edward
during the 14th
century.
The Normandy campaign recalls the great invasion that proceeded from Normandy
in 1066. We have already noted the prominence of the number 6 in connection
with D-Day. There are other links too. The battle of Hastings took place on 14th
October (according to the Julian calendar). Eisenhower was born on – and Rommel
died - on October 14th
(according to the Gregorian calendar). Rommel was seriously
wounded when the vehicle in which he was being driven was strafed by the RAF at
Montgomerie-Foy, a small village. The German army in Normandy was destroyed
within ‘the Falaise pocket,’ Falaise being the native city of William the Conqueror.
The days in which we are now living are becoming no less fraught with danger than
the days of the Normandy invasion. Will the weather and Providence once more
save the day? There has been a lot of UFO activity over the Ukraine recently.
Hmmmm. Who is the real Overlord?