BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — For few the date of June 6 has no meaning as history is littered with different events that occurred on the day:
- 1523 – Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union
- 1816 – 10″ of snowfall in New England, part of a “year without a summer” which followed the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia
- 1844 – Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) formed by George Williams in London
- 1916 – The death of Yuan Shikai, ruler of much of China since 1912, causes the central government to virtually collapse in the face of warlords
- 1918 – Battle of Belleau Wood, the first United States victory of WW I
- 1925 – Walter Chrysler founds automobile manufacturer Chrysler Corporation
- 1932 – The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States, at a rate of 1 cent per US gallon (1/4 ¢/L) sold
- 1962 – The Beatles meet their producer George Martin for the first time and record “Besame Mucho” with Pete Best on drums.
However, the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II 75 years ago today on Tuesday, June 6, 1944, is without question the most vital of all events that occurred on the date.
Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later western Europe) from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides and the time of day that meant only a few days each month were deemed suitable. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.
The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 US, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 6:30 in the morning. The target 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly at Utah and Omaha. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods and barbed wire, making the work of the beach-clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled using specialized tanks.
The Allies failed to achieve any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, a major objective, was not captured until July 21. Only two of the beaches (Juno and Gold) were linked on the first day, and all five beachheads were not connected until June 12; however, the operation gained a foothold which the Allies gradually expanded over the coming months. German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead.
So what does this have to do with water polo? Without question some of the soldiers on both sides of the conflict had previously played the game. But for one soldier who did not land on that day and was being held by the Germans, the game of water polo played a critical role in the invasion.
The Story of George Lane – Spy & Water Polo Player
Born in Upper Hungary on January 18, 1915 with the birth name Dyuri or György Länyi, Lane’s family were Jewish; his father Ernest Länyi was a wealthy landowner. The family moved to Budapest after the end of the First World War, when his parents’ land was allocated to the new state of Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Versailles.
He moved to London in 1935, where he befriended the Dean of Windsor, Albert Baillie. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford and then read English at the University of London, but also trained with the Hungary men’s national water polo team, and wrote for a Hungarian newspaper on a freelance basis.
After the outbreak of World War II, he volunteered to join the British Army. He was accepted as an officer cadet by the Grenadier Guards, but as an alien was also served with a deportation notice. Connections with political friends removed the threat of deportation, and he served for a year as a sergeant in the Alien Pioneer Corps. He joined the Speical Operations Executive (SOE) – the British secret service – and undertook clandestine missions in occupied Belgium and the Netherlands. After he refused to serve with SOE in Hungary, he transferred first to No. 4 Commando and then the German-speaking X Troop in the No. 10 Commando unit. He was commissioned in 1943.
He met the entomologist Miriam Rothschild the same year, while recuperating at her house in Northamptonshire, England. She was herself half-Hungarian, and they were married in August 1943. They had four children, and adopted two: two sons and four daughters.
While commanding one of the Operation Tarbrush commando reconnaissance raids on the coast of the Pas de Calais in preparation for D-Day, Lane was captured by the Germans on either May 18 or 19, 1944. He expected to be executed in accordance with Adolph Hitler’s Commando Order – which ordered the immediate execution of all spies – but instead he was questioned over tea by Field Marshal Rommel, with Lane pretending to know no German, and to be Welsh to hide his Hungarian accent when speaking English. He was later imprisoned at Fresnes Prison near Paris and then Oflag IX-A/H at Spangenberg Castle in Hesse.
He later escaped and was liberated, finding shelter with his brother-in-law Victor Rothschild in Paris, whose house had plenty of Château Lafite and Dom Pérignon but no hot water. He was awarded the Military Cross for his war service, for his part in the Tarbrush raids.
Following the war, he was formally naturalized as British in 1946 and assisted his wife to run her estate at Ashton Wold near Oundle in Northamptonshire after the war.
The couple divorced in 1957 and Lane moved to the United States. He worked as a stockbroker and married Elizabeth Heald in 1963. She was the daughter of Conservative politician and former Attorney General Sir Lionel Heald. They lived in London and had a son.
Lane died in London on March 19, 2010, survived by his second wife, their son, and three daughters from his first marriage: Rozsika (Rosie) Parker; Charles Daniel Lane; Johanna Miriam Lloyd-Jones; and Charlotte Theresa Lane.
