CHANNEL ISLAND OF ALDERNEY - BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY - BRITISH CROWN DEPENDENCY
REIGN OF ELIZABETH II (1952-PRESENT) - HOUSE OF WINDSOR
60th ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY SERIES (1944-2004) - NAVAL ASSAULT
RARE GOLD 25 POUNDS CERTIFIED BY NGC PROOF 69 ULTRA CAMEO
OBV: PORTRAIT OF ELIZABETH II RIGHT WEARING TIARA; DATE LOWER RIGHT.
REV: LEGEND WITHIN OUTER SEMI CIRCLE ABOVE; BRITISH LIGHT CRUISER HMS BELFAST (HEADQUARTERS SHIP OF BOMBARDMENT FORCE E SUPPORTING BRITISH AND CANADIAN LANDINGS ON GOLD AND JUNO BEACHES) RIGHT, FIVE TRANSPORT VESSELS ABOVE BACKGROUND; MAP OF NORMANDY FOREGROUND WITH SITE OF LANDINGS MARKED; DENOMINATION BELOW.
KM # 39
THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE KNOWN AS OPERATION OVERLORD WAS THE LARGEST AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT IN HISTORY. IT BEGAN ON "D-DAY", JUNE 6, 1944, AND RESULTED IN THE INVASION OF NAZI OCCUPIED WESTERN EUROPE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SUCCESSFUL BEACHHEAD FOR ALLIED MILITARY FORCES IN NORMANDY AND FRANCE. THE CODENAME OF THE INITIAL PHASE OF THE ASSAULT WAS OPERATION NEPTUNE.
FRANCE HAD BEEN OCCUPIED BY THE THIRD REICH SINCE 1940. AFTER THE FAILURE OF THE LUFTWAFFE TO ACHIEVE AIR SUPREMACY DURING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, GERMAN EXPANSION CAME TO A HALT IN THE WEST. THE NAZI PROPAGANDA MACHINE CALLED THE ATLANTIC WALL COASTAL FORTIFICATIONS THAT WERE BUILT TO KEEP THE ALLIES AT BAY "FORTRESS EUROPE".
THE DEFENSES OF FORTRESS EUROPE WERE PUT UNDER THE COMMAND OF GERMAN FIELD MARSHAL ERWIN ROMMEL, AND ADOLPH HITLER'S DIRECTIVE 51 ORDERED A MONUMENTAL BUILDING OF BUNKERS, TURRETS, OBSTACLES AND MINES TO IMPEDE INVASION.
THE ALLIED FORCES, UNDER THE SUPREME COMMAND OF AMERICAN GENERAL "IKE" DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, HAD BEEN PREPARING FOR THE INVASION FOR MONTHS IN ADVANCE AND HAD ASSEMBLED 6,900 VESSELS, 4,100 LANDING CRAFT, 12,000 AIRCRAFT INCLUDING GLIDERS AND TRANSPORT PLANES, 10,000 TONS OF BOMBS, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MECHANIZED AND ARMORED UNITS AND 1,332,000 MEN.
THE ALLIES HAD TO WAIT FOR THE RIGHT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO CROSS THE CHANNEL FROM THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND. WHEN THE OPERATION WAS FINALLY GIVEN THE COMMAND TO PROCEDE, PARACHUTE AND GLIDER LANDINGS, AIR ATTACKS AND NAVAL BOMBARDMENT BEGAN THE INVASION.
THE GERMANS WERE CAUGHT BY SURPRISE. THEY THOUGHT THE LANDING WAS GOING TO HAPPEN IN CALAIS AND NOT NORMANDY. ADDITIONALLY, MANY GERMAN TROOPS HAD BEEN TRANSFERRED TO THE EASTERN FRONT TO FIGHT THE SOVIETS.
NONETHELESS, THE ALLIED ASSAULT ON FIVE BEACHES (WHICH HAD BEEN CODENAMED UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO AND SWORD) RESULTED IN MANY ALLIED CASUALTIES AND TOOK LONGER THAN EXPECTED, BUT THE ALLIED BRIDGEHEAD WAS SUCCESSFUL. THE INITIAL ALLIED INVASION FORCES WERE ESTIMATED AT 156,000. CASUALTIES SUFFERED WERE 12,000 (INCLUDING 4400+ DEAD) OVERALL CASUALTIES AND OUT OF 10,000 GERMAN DEFENDERS BETWEEN 4,000 TO 9,000 CASUALTIES.
BY JULY 24, THE ALLIES HAD SUFFERED 120,000 CASUALTIES AND HAD INFLICTED 113,000 CASUALTIES (OUT OF 380,000) UPON THE ENEMY. THE NORMANDY LANDINGS SUCCEDED NOT ONLY DUE TO THE PLANNING, PREPARATION AND EXECUTION OF THE MOST AMBITIOUS INVASION IN HISTORY, BUT ALSO DUE TO THE UNBELIEVABLE BRAVERY AND DETERMINATION OF THE ALLIES IN THE FACE OF DAUNTING ODDS. THE INVASION LED TO AN ALLIED FOOTHOLD ON THE CONTINENT FROM WHICH TO FIGHT, AND ULTIMATELY, THE LIBERATION OF FRANCE AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE GERMAN DOMINATION OF WESTERN EUROPE.
ALDERNEY, A DEPENDENCY OF THE BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY, A POSSESSION OF THE BRITISH CROWN (THE CHANNEL ISLANDS BEING REMNANTS OF THE DUCHY OF NORMANDY) LOCATED IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL OFF NARMANDY'S COAST, WAS OCCUPIED BY GERMAN FORCES FROM 1940-1945. THE GERMANS HEAVILY FORTIFIED THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, AND HITLER BECAME OBSESSED WITH THE IDEA THAT THE ALLIES WOULD TRY TO RETAKE THEM AT ANY COST. TWENTY PERCENT OF MATERIALS FOR THE ATLANTIC WALL WENT TO FORTIFYING THE ISLANDS. THE D-DAY LANDINGS AND THE LIBERATIONS OF NORMANDY BYPASSED THE ISLANDS DUE TO THE SCALE OF THE GERMAN DEFENSES. THE RESULT WAS THE CUTTING OFF OF THE GERMAN GARRISONS (AND THE NATIVE POPULACE) TO SUPPLIES. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE GERMAN OCCUPIERS WAS "LET 'EM ROT". THE HMS BULLDOG SAILED INTO PORT ON GUERNSEY MAY 9, 1945, TO RECEIVE THE UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN GARRISON. HMS BEAGLE PERFORMED A SIMILAR TASK ON JERSEY, AND THE GERMANS ON ALDERNEY SURRENDERED ON THE 16th OF MAY.
CONTAINS 7.98 GRAMS OF .917 FINE GOLD (.2352 OZ AGW)
22 MM IN DIAMETER
ONLY 500 MINTED!
