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Shortly after midnight the staff officers of HQ LXXXIV Corps had gathered to toast their commanders 6th June birthday. General Erichs Marcks intended to make a early morning start to the map exercise at Rennes & it would be more convient to do so in the first minutes of his birthday, than a few hours later on his departure. The party was brief, a glass of Chablis, a toast, a remark a joke, a bit of laughter & chatter. Then the group broke up, scattering to their assorted destinations in the dank June night. Some to their beds, others for more wine, their mistresses, or for a few to the HQ officers and a dull night of checking the occasional message from the corps subordinate units, or 7th Army HQ. By 02:00 all were settled in to finish up another night of no invasion. The next few hours only haphazard bombing by the English night bombers disturbed anyone.

Near Caen Major Hans Lueck was awakened first by distant bombs, then by his orderly with a report of paratroops. Near a hour later at 03:15 he decided the reports of capturing three English bomber crew was more accurate than the single paratrooper report. Returning to bed he managed to remain undisturbed until his regular awakening at 05:00.

At the Cabourg officers mess Lieutenant General Joseph Reichert was ready to end the card game with his staff. The clock was well past 01:00 & the effects of the evenings wine and cognac had worn thin. As the group dispersed to their beds the adjutant checked the divisions communications. Aside from notes bout English bombers and the continuing bursts of rain there was nothing when he annotated the logbook at 01:35.

Martin Poppel stared from his seat in a concrete observation post, overlooking a beach. Rain was beating down again & the night such that nothing could be seen beyond the dimmest indication of white capped surf on the shoreline. It was clear from the sound and the unusual northeasterly wind the storm of the previous day was continuing, even if the wind and rain had abated somewhat. Poppel had personally written off the invasion for the day. The monotony was broken by a phone call from the CP checking communications at 04:00.

Around 05:00 the German armies across western Europe began to stir. Adjutants awakening their charges & and NCOs rousting theirs. The soldiers could see the rain continued as a intermittent drizzle & the dark overcast obscured the earliest morning twilight.
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