Archives Live: D-Day

Before the event

Mystery Document

Get student to discuss:

• What can you see?
• What type of document is it?
• When was it made?

Ideas for feedback and discussion:

• Consider the scene, where the people might be. It looks like they are on a beach, either on the sand or in the sea.
• The weather looks sunny and bright because sunhats are being worn, indicating it might be summertime or somewhere warm.
• Students might comment on the activities the people are doing, such as playing in the sand or sitting and relaxing. Mostly they seem happy.
• There are many people visible in the background, as well as buildings and beach huts.
• Type of document: if children say ‘picture’- you can clarify what type of picture, a photograph. This captures a snapshot in time. You could discuss the ‘third’ person in the image, the photographer.
• Get children to consider when this was taken/made. Their clothing/beachwear might help give a clue and the fact it is in black and white.
• Other question to ask as follow up: what do you think this document has got to do with D-Day?

Information about the photograph

This is a photograph showing families on a beach in Normandy, France, c. 1930s-1940s. Families and friends are together, enjoying the sand and sea.

As early as 1942, the BBC launched an appeal for the general public to submit their holiday photographs. Millions of photos ended up being sent in. It was a way of gathering intelligence on the best landing beaches for D-Day. The beach ‘Luc-sur-Mer’ would go on to be codenamed ‘Sword’ Beach on D-Day.

Map of the south coast of England and the north coast of France

Hand out the map showing the south coast of England and the north coast of France. Ask students to find the five beaches where the Normandy landings took place. These places are listed as part of the key term matching activity.

As an extension, you could ask students to think about how long the journey might have taken from the coast of England to the coast of France, and the different ways in which the troops may have travelled there (by boat but there were also airborne divisions). Also, they could begin to consider what the journey might have been like.

D-Day: Context:

In the accompanying PowerPoint, there are questions related to the planning of D-Day. Students can work in pairs/groups, or this can be a full class discussion.

1. What did the Allies do in preparation for Operation Overlord?
2. How did the Allies ensure the location of the invasion was kept a secret?
3. What difficulties do you think the Allies faced on D-Day?

The following points are some ideas to support student discussion.

Ideas for feedback and discussion:

• Some ideas for preparation: Finding a suitable location/recruitment and training of soldiers/ paratroopers. Planning which weapons to use.
• Checking the level of mines/barricades used on each beach.
• Deception: Using spies/ spreading false information.
• Operation/Invasion: Could mention the different roles during the invasion.
• Operation Invasion: Difficulties faced/tactics.

Key terms matching activity

Give students the key terms matching activity, they can do this individually or in pairs. This activity is designed to help with understanding key areas of Operation Overlord/D-Day.

Answers: 1F, 2E, 3B, 4G, 5H, 6C, 7A, 8D

Major Logan Scott-Bowden

Students read this brief information about Major Logan Scott-Bowden:

• Major Logan Scott-Bowden was part of the heroic effort to plan Operation Overlord.
• Before D-Day, Logan secretly swam ashore to the French coast from mini submarines called X-craft to collect samples of sand.
• His job was to make sure the beaches could handle the weight of the tanks, trucks and other vehicles that would take part in the invasion.

Students can discuss the interesting things they found out about Logan’s involvement in D-Day with another student and begin to consider questions they might want to ask his son – who will be present for the event – relating to his father’s involvement in D-Day.

Images of D-Day experiences

Either show on the PowerPoint slide or hand out these images. Each image reveals something different about the experiences of people involved in D-Day. Get students to discuss what they show about D-Day and the people involved.

What do these pictures tell you about the experiences of people who participated in D-Day?

Preparations for the event

These are discussion questions to prepare students for the live event.

• What question would you like to ask Brigadier R L Scott-Bowden MBE, whose father was Major Logan Scott-Bowden? You might want to decide on one question for the whole class. You will be able to submit questions prior to the live event.
• Do you have a family member who was involved in D-Day? How do you know this story? You can get students to think about how they know this story e.g. through written documents like diaries, or through spoken stories passed down from relatives.
• Why do you think it is important to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day?

During the event

Take a look at the mystery document (please see page 14)

1. Which of these words is not in the document?

• A) Tank
• B) Reconnaissance
• C) Bigot
• D) Position

2. What words are missing from the title of the document?

After the event

The aftermath: Nursing

Looking at the document, get students to discuss:

•  What can you see?
• What type of document is it?
• What can you infer?

Ideas for feedback and discussion:

• It is a photograph, in black and white. It is taken from inside a tent, looking out.
• There are two people carrying a stretcher, with what looks like a person lying on the stretcher.
• There is also a woman standing beside the stretcher, looking at the person being carried.
• It can be inferred that the person on the stretcher is possibly a casualty of D-Day and the woman looking down at the stretcher is a nurse.
• The tent could be where the patient is being treated, because there are no hospital buildings nearby.

Then reveal:

This is a photograph showing a casualty arriving at the no. 50 Mobile Field Hospital in Normandy, France, 1944. Over 20,000 troops landed on Juno beach on D-Day, taking heavy casualties.

In the foreground of the photograph is Iris Ogilvie, an RAF nursing sister, waiting to receive the patient. Iris was one of only two nurses dealing with these casualties for over a week before other nurses began to arrive.

Questions for further discussion:

• How must Iris have felt as one of the only nurses available to treat so many casualties?
• What would some of the challenges be when treating causalities in tents such as this?

(Could highlight key phrases on the document such as ‘two very composed young women’, ‘added a fresh paragraph to nursing history’ and ‘all the sisters have lived like soldiers’)

The aftermath: Mobile Field Hospitals

Read the document. This could be done individually, or it could be read aloud to the class.

The document is a description of the nurses Iris Ogilvie and Molly Giles – members of the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service – arriving at the no. 50 Mobile Field Hospital on the Normandy beachhead on D-Day plus 7.

Discuss the following questions in relation to the document:

• What words could you use to describe these two young women?
• What is the meaning of the phrase ‘added a fresh paragraph to nursing history’?
• What might the nurses have experienced to ‘have lived like soldiers’?