[Skybird]

To clear at least this one detail, I am basing on memory I have about TV docus about D-Day and the occasional read here and there, nothing systematic since I am not overly interested in WWII. But if over the years I repeatedly read and see historians claim on TV, internet and in writing that on D-Day the more unexperienced units were sent first (that must not include whole divisons, but can be the most unexperienced companies in a battalion or other most unexperienced battalion in a brigade/division), and when I had little reason to doubt that since militarily it makes sense (militarily, lets leave peacetime morals out of this since war is not peace, then this leaves an echo, a mark in my memory. And so I say that some historians say that unexperienced units got sent first.

Do I have book titles, names, publication dates and publishers? No. It's the kind of media input that you get when you randomly watch and read media that I refer to, TV as well as reading. I claim however that it was not just one or two sources, but several interview partners, historians and/or authors and film makers. If I had made notes about them at the time I stumbled over them, I today would give you maybe seven or eight names, I do not know for sure, but I think that numbers matches quite well.

Do not ignore that probably a majoirty of GIs landing on that day were greenies who had not seen combat before, which made the veterans's experience probably an even more precious resource you wanted to save as a High Commander, so to have them survive at least the initial combat phase where the highest blood toll was to be expected. A dead greenhorn is a smaller loss than a dead experienced veteran, and the highest losses were suffered by green units and in the first couple of days of combat deployement. Many US units spend time in England after having been brought there, and had their earlier losses from before D-Day replaced and filled up there.

Militarily, it makes sense. I do not say it is nice. But militarily, it makes sense. Back then, wars still were fought differently than today. It still was more like Napoleonic squares than modern specialised fire teams with few soldiers in them who all have very specialised roles to fill.