Description:

'OPERATION OVERLORD' ARCHIVE OF LT. COL. MEYER J. FRECHIE (1,600+)
Lt. Col. Meyer J. Frechie (1907 - 1988) held one of the most important positions in the planning, execution, and follow-up of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, namely, complete oversight and coordination of the transportation logistics for men and materiel for the D-Day invasion. Frechie, a Jewish graduate of the Wharton School of Business, worked as a traffic manager for the railroad and steamship industries before the war. After the United States' entry into World War II, the military actively courted Frechie for his skill in transportation logistics. He joined the war effort as a civilian traffic manager for the Army in 1941 before officially joining the Army with the rank of captain in February 1942 and was sent to London. There, he was put in charge of coordinating the covert transport of Allied servicemen and supplies from England to Normandy for D-Day. According to the lengthy text accompanying his citation for the Legion of Merit, Frechie's war-time activities were, in part, as follows: 'The Operational Branch, Movements Division, Office of the Chief of Transportation, was activated in August 1943. Lt. Col. Frechie, being the only officer available with amphibious operational experience, was designated Chief of said Branch. He developed his staff by sending his officers and men thru a series of strenuous exercises with the British and American Forces at various places in the United Kingdom in preparation for D-Day…[he] was responsible for the movement of all troops, vehicles, equipment and supplies for movement ‘OVERLORD'. From D-Day to 7 September 1944 a total of 1,302,954 personnel, 260,433 vehicles, and 1,272,532 deadweight tons of supplies have been shipped from the United Kingdom ports to the Continent. The entire ‘OVERLORD' movement program was executed by the movement instructions issued by the Operational Branch…Lt. Col. Frechie arranged for the building of scale models of various landing craft and scale wood blocks of various general purpose and special purpose vehicles to be used in movement ‘OVERLORD'…Participating in actual exercises where one or more of the plans were tested by actual execution, Lt. Col. Frechie analyzed the results and proceeded to make final plans for movement to implement Army requirements. Lectures were made to the Air Force and Ground Services outlining movement plans; ports and depots were visited and careful studies made of their capacity to handle the vast quantity of supplies, vehicles and personnel necessary to sustain the operation. Many obstacles were confronted and surmounted by Lt. Col. Frechie in perfection of operation ‘OVERLORD'…'. Frechie was discharged from active duty in November 1945 and served in the Army Reserves until 1953. He was promoted to colonel in 1946. This vast archive includes over 1,600 documents, letters, imprints, etc. covering Frechie's service from 1942-53. Among some of the most important items included is an approx. 200pp. book 'Berth Allocation Ports UK' marked 'Most Secret' on the cover. It contains drawings of dozens of British ports, with the hand-drawn addition of vessels of all types which could be accommodated within each port and a listing of port facilities and dock capacities. Also present is Frechie's file of perhaps 150 documents, almost all generated in preparation for the movement of men and materiel to the beaches, from 1942 to August, 1945. Literally every aspect, transport by rail, road, air and sea is addressed in great detail, even down to by what means potatoes would be shipped to the Continent. Almost all of these documents have various levels of secrecy attached to them, most of the latest being 'SECRET'. There is also a file of hundreds of diverse documents relating to Frechie's military career (a mix of originals and copies), booklets written by Frechie, including 'Preliminary Analysis and Recommendations Cargo Documentation Procedure' and 'Historical Critique of the United Kingdom Overlord Movements' (three copies); a review of transport effectiveness written by Frechie in November, 1945; certificates of appointment as Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, copies of his Honorable Discharge, citations for the Bronze Star and Legion of Merit, and much more. About half of this archive is comprised of personal correspondence. There are 659 letters from Frechie to his wife Rita and son Allen, including many duplicates. They are dated 1942-1945 and 1947, and there are also numerous letters dated only with the month and day. There are also 230 letters to Frechie from his wife and son, the majority dating to 1942. There are also hand-written letters and copies of V-Mail to (144) and from (246) Frechie's parents, Bessy and Jack, and numerous copies of V-Mail from Frechie's mother, including some duplicates, and about 250 letters to and from other close relatives. Overall very good. An important archive documenting a critical facet of the D-Day invasion.

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January 25, 2023 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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