[Ads-l] more on "D-Day"

[dave@wilton.net]

The use of "[letter]−[number]" in military plans/communications to denote a date relative to an operation's start dates to WWI, as does American use of "H-hour" and "D-day." So it's not at all surprising to see Italian use of the practice decades later. It's a very useful notation, because if the day of the intended operation shifts, all the plans and communications are still valid.
 
The American use seems to have come from the French practice, adopted while the AEF was newly arrived in France and learning the ropes from its allies. There are early uses of "J-day" (i.e., "jour") in operations orders before the terminology was anglicized. "H-hour" (heure/hour) did not have to change.
 
[ https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/d-day-h-hour ]( https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/d-day-h-hour ) 
 
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From: "James Landau" <00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
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Subject: [ADS-L] more on "D-Day"



Hugh Sebag-Montefiore _Enigma: The Battle for the Code_  New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000 ISBN 0-471-40738-0 page 108
A decode of an Italian encrypted message read "With reference to the message 53148 dated 24.  Today 25 March is day X-3"
"X" therefore was 28 March 28, 1941, the day the Italian navy sailed into and was badly defeated at the Battle of Cape Matapan.
It would seem that "X" would be Italian naval jargon for what in English would be "D-Day".
The footnote on page 287 for this quote reads "Alberto Santoni's _Il Vero Traditore_  pp. 308-9, Milan, 1981
James Landau
jjjrlandau at netscape.com

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