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There is not much agreement on the issue. But the most ordinary and likely of explanations is the one offered by the U.S. Army in their published manuals. The Army began using the codes "H-hour" and "D-day" during World War I to indicate the time or date of an operation's start. Military planners would write of events planned to occur on "H-hour" or "D-day" -- long before the actual dates and times of the operations would be known, or in order to keep plans secret. And so the "D" may simply refer to the "day" of invasion
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This is true. I have heard D-day applied to other training and real-world operations plannning in which I was involved. I worked in the army as a computer programmer and many of my duties were clerical as well. At one time, I worked in a G-3 Operations and Planning office and, so, typed, retyped, and edited operations orders and found that military planning is notorious for it's being subject to change and contingent on a variety of factors/circumstances. Even basic operations covered in SOPs (standing operating procedure) indicates that, even in mundane tasks, things are subject to change. Perhaps it is for security reasons so that the date/time of certain choreographed operations doesn't leak out in early editions of the order. Timing is everything in some logistics and all the enemy has to do is screw up the timing of one essential part of an operation and most of the rest of the operation is fucked. Perhaps due to the complexity of planning in these particular combined operations (properly called "Operation Overlord"), it became known as the "ultimate D-Day". Shrug. Just an educated guess based on experience.