d day

[peanut247]

why is d-day so called . what does the d stand for?

[VHG]

It does not stand for anything.

When planning the mission they did not know which day the actual invasion would be on so they called the actual day of the invasion "D" (D Day).

Things that were to happen BEFORE D Day were known as things like "D minus 10" (10 days before the landing).

Thing that were to happen AFTER D Day were known as things like "D plus 5".

So the battle plan would say that troops would have to be moved to Portsmouth on "D minus 2" or that a certain town would be captured on "D plus 4", things like that.

More here

http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm

[jno]

likewise, it was to happen at H-Hour.

[Quizmonster]

And the French call it J-jour or Jour-J, the word jour being their word for day.

[Quizmonster]

Doom, death, disembarkation and a raft of other supposedly relevant d-words have been suggested over the years, but the fact is that it doesn't stand for any of them.

[bobthebandit]

I thought D-Day was Decimal Day. ie when we switched from � s d in 1970!