The Diary of a Young Girl | June 6–June 13, 1944 | Summary

Summary

June 6, 1944

At last, some encouraging war news: the Allies begin their invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. "The year 1944 is the year of complete victory," Supreme Commander General Eisenhower announces on the radio. The residents feel heartened and Anne Frank is cautiously hopeful, feeling that at last "friends are on the way." Maybe she'll even be able to return to school in the fall.

June 9, 1944

On June 9 Anne reports "great news of the invasion! The Allies have taken Bayeux, a village on the coast of France." Anne's 15th birthday falls on June 13. Among her presents: two jars of yogurt and "two honey cookies (small)," and several books. Peter van Daan gives her a bouquet of peonies. "The poor boy had put a lot of effort into finding a present, but nothing quite worked out."

June 13, 1944

Things aren't quite working out between Anne and Peter, either. "Some mysterious force is holding us back, and I don't know what it is," Anne continues in her June 13 entry. Possibly the problem is that although Anne is still attracted to Peter, his passive personality doesn't appeal to her. "He lets me say a lot of things to him that he'd never accept from his mother," she remarks when she's trying to list Peter's good qualities, but Anne does not respect this quality. She also accuses him, despite their earlier intimacy, of "hiding his innermost self and never allowing [her] access." She now feels he loves her more as a friend than as a girlfriend. A few paragraphs later, Anne abruptly begins to discuss the sexism that permeates society. Why aren't women respected as much as men? "In childbirth alone, women commonly suffer more pain, illness and misery than any war hero ever does."

Analysis

Anne is truly thrilled by the news of the Allies' Normandy invasion, also known as D-Day. The D-Day Invasion marked the beginning of a turning point in World War II. On June 6, 1944, over 150,000 U.S., British, and Canadian forces stormed the Normandy coast in history's largest amphibious invasion. The Battle of Normandy that followed lasted two months; by the end of August, the Allies had liberated northern France.

Hitler knew the Allies would be invading France's coast, but he had no way of knowing exactly where. The Germans fortified 2,400 miles of Atlantic coastline. Meanwhile, the Allies carried out a huge operation, including false radio communications, meant to trick the Germans into thinking the main invasion targets were Pas-de-Calais (a different location in France) and Norway.

General Dwight Eisenhower planned on June 5 as D-Day, but bad weather delayed the invasion until the next day. By June 11, 1944, the Allies had secured the beaches; at the end of August, they had liberated Paris and were heading toward Germany. There was still more war to fight until crossing into Germany itself, but by then, Anne and the other residents of the Secret Annex had been arrested.