What does the D stand for in D-Day?

Day-Day.

Check it out here

D stands for day. The invasion, (or any major operation) was planned way in advance without a date being assigned for commencement. For purposes of planning, you assumed the operation would start at D-Day and H-hour with the day and time to be determined later. then you can plan for how things will proceedstarting from Day 1-0hour and start counting as in D+1 day, D+2 day, etc. Only at the last minute did anyone know what day the whole thing will actually take place. With June 6, 1944 they had to wait on the weather among other things

There is not much agreement on the issue. But the most ordinary and likely of explanations is the one offered by the U.S. Army in their published manuals. The Army began using the codes “H-hour” and “D-day” during World War I to indicate the time or date of an operation’s start. Military planners would write of events planned to occur on “H-hour” or “D-day” — long before the actual dates and times of the operations would be known, or in order to keep plans secret. And so the “D” may simply refer to the “day” of invasion.

D-Day stands for Day of operation

My history teacher told me the D in D-Day doesn’t stand for anything…

For those who don’t mind using wikipedia:

Try:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. “D-Day” often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar terms. The initial D in D-Day has had various meanings in the past, while more recently it has obtained the connotation of “Day” itself, thereby creating the phrase “Day-Day.”

By far, the best known D-Day is June 6, 1944 — the day on which the Battle of Normandy began — commencing the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II. However, many other invasions and operations had a designated D-Day, both before and after Operation Overlord. The invasion of France was originally planned for June 5, 1944 but bad weather and heavy seas delayed that.

The terms D-Day and H-Hour are used for the day and hour on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. They designate the day and hour of the operation when the day and hour have not yet been determined, or where secrecy is essential. There is but one D-Day and one H-Hour for all units participating in a given operation.

When used in combination with figures, and plus or minus signs, these terms indicate the point of time preceding or following a specific action. Thus, H−3 means 3 hours before H-Hour, and D+3 means 3 days after D-Day. H+75 minutes means H-Hour plus 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Planning papers for large-scale operations are made up in detail long before specific dates are set. Thus, orders are issued for the various steps to be carried out on the D-Day or H-Hour minus or plus a certain number of days, hours, or minutes. At the appropriate time, a subsequent order is issued that states the actual day and times.

The earliest use of these terms by the U.S. Army that the Center of Military History has been able to find was during World War I. In Field Order Number 9, First Army, American Expeditionary Forces, dated 7 September 1918: “The First Army will attack at H hour on D day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel Salient.”

D-Day for the invasion of Normandy by the Allies was originally set for 5 June 1944, but bad weather caused Gen. Dwight. D Eisenhower to delay until 6 June and that date has been popularly referred to ever since by the short title “D-Day”. (In French, it is called Le Jour J or, occasionally, Le Choc.) Because of this, planners of later military operations sometimes avoided the term. For example, Douglas MacArthur’s invasion of Leyte began on “A-Day”, and the invasion of Okinawa began on “L-Day”. The Allies proposed invasions of Japan that would have begun on “X-Day” (Kyūshū, scheduled for November 1945) and “Y-Day” (Honshū, scheduled for March 1946).

*******

*******

And, a non wikipedia source at:

http://ask.yahoo.com/20000627.html

We knew D-Day was June 6, 1944, when Allied forces launched the Invasion of Normandy. We also knew it marked a turning point in World War II. And, like millions of others, we had sat spell-bound through the dramatic and horrifying opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. But we had no idea what the “D” in D-Day stood for, so we set out to find the answer.

We perused the Yahoo! D-Day category, where we learned that the campaign was officially called Operation Overlord. Unfortunately, we found little mention about the literal meaning of the term “D-Day.” Several sites noted that it was a code name for the actual day of the invasion, but none seemed willing to elaborate.

It was time to go straight to the source. We did a quick search on “military dictionary” and made a beeline for the resulting Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. When we searched on “D-day,” the dictionary pointed us to an entry on “times.”

There, straight from the Joint Chiefs, we found this somewhat opaque definition of the term:

D-day. The unnamed day on which a particular operation commences or is to commence

So there you have it, it seems that the letter D in D-Day stands for, yes, the letter D. Strange? Perhaps, but true nonetheless. In any case, make sure to check out the entire entry on military “times” for a fascinating look at C-day, M-day, F-hour, H-hour, and the whole alphabetical gang!

heh – that’s actually a good question w/good answers. i never really gave a second thought to it, somehow i always imagined d the standing for “dooms day”… too much dr. strangelove, i suppose

The initial D in D-Day has had various meanings in the past, while more recently it has obtained the connotation of “Day” itself, thereby creating the phrase “Day-Day.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day

I’m afraid I can’t give you my source for this answer, because I can’t remember it. But I know that D is for “Decisive”.

i wanted to know what d-day meant too. it turns out d-day really has no meaning.