When the German port strategy became apparent, we had to move swiftly to counteract his plan. We captured Cherbourg in a mighty rush, but he hung on to other harbors, and when he couldn’t do that, he destroyed them. That was the story of Brest, where American Ground, Air, and Naval forces fought such a long, bitter battle. In Brittany, where we were joined by French resistance forces. At the channel ports of Calais, won by the Canadians. Le Havre, captured by the British. Dieppe and Boulogne, Canadians. And Dunkirk, besieged by the Czechs. We just didn’t have enough working ports, that’s all. Supply suffered, our offensive was slowed, and the German was gaining time to consolidate a new defensive line. It takes a lot of freight per day per man to keep an Army fighting in the field. The fellows I charged with getting it to the front had a tough nut to crack, but they did it! All of us are glad to salute those men in the lines of communication.

As Supreme Commander, let me break in at this point to say just a word about the Navy. From the moment of embarkation to that of landing, the full burden fell upon the Navy and our merchant fleets. They had to sweep the mines, bombard the coastal batteries, marshal and protect the transports along the coastline preparatory to landing and, finally, man the small boats that carried the soldiers to the beach. On that day there were more than eight thousand ships and landing craft on the shores of Normandy. It was a most intricate task and a vital one for the success of our plans. The courage, fidelity and skill of the Royal and American Navies have no brighter page in their histories than that of June sixth, 1944.