the battle of normandy

The Battle of Normandy kicked off the spectacular success of the D-Day landings, thanks in no small part to an astonishing campaign of deception that completely misled German commanders. However, the penetration from Normandy was more problematic, and was only achieved after heavy and costly fighting.

Data from the Battle of Normandy

• Who: American, British, Canadian and French forces under the supreme command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 – 1969) against the West German armies under the command of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt (1875 – 1953).
• How: Following the largest amphibious landings in military history, the Allies were able to gain a foothold on the continent and penetrate Normandy after heavier-than-expected fighting.
• Where: The Normandy peninsula, in western France.
• When: From June 6 to August 19, 1944.
• Why: The Allies were attempting to establish a second front, liberate Western Europe, and advance on Nazi Germany.
• Result: The German Army in Normandy was all but destroyed and the Allies pushed east towards the German border.

Warstrategies

When the US entered World War II in December 1941, the Americans and their British allies agreed on a policy of defeating Germany first while holding off the Japanese in the Pacific. It was clear that a defeat of Nazi Germany would ultimately mean the landing of an Allied army on the European continent.
For Americans, the question was simple. A large force had to be landed in northwestern Europe to defeat the bulk of the German forces and then march on Berlin . English military leaders, obsessed with the carnage of the First World War, were less enthusiastic. They preferred a strategy of dispersal of German power, continuing the Mediterranean campaign. For a time English policy prevailed; however, at the Casablanca conference in January 1943, the British were forced to agree to a major military landing in France . In May, a tentative date was set for the operation, now codenamed Overlord, for May 1, 1944.

Operation Overlord

The prospect of transporting enough troops across the English Channel to establish and defend a beachhead, and then reinforce it before the Germans could build up their own strength, was a daunting task. The planners decided to land in Normandy. This was mainly because it was within range of Allied air cover, had firm, sheltered beaches, and was close to Cherbourg, a major port . General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander, with General Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) as commander of the invasion ground forces.

Changeofplans

They immediately modified the original plan, widening the beachhead and expanding the initial amphibious assault from three divisions to five, backed by various commando and assault units, with three airborne divisions thrown inland to protect the flanks. They would be quickly followed by the rest of the US 1st Army under General Omar Bradley (1893-1981) and the British 2nd Army, commanded by General Sir Miles Dempsey (1896-1969).

German strategy

By the end of 1943 it was clear to the Germans that an Anglo-American invasion was coming; it was just a matter of when and where. The Germans believed that the Allies would try to land at Pas de Calais . Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the German commander-in-chief in the west, had 58 divisions under his command, but half of them were static, attached to sections of the coastal defenses. The key to the defeat of any Allied invasion was their nine motorized panzer divisions. ) and one of motorized grenadiers. However, he disagreed with his subordinate, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (1891-1944), commander of Army Group B, about how to use armored vehicles.
Von Rundstedt and General Von Schweppenburg, commander of Motorized Group West, wanted to keep the armor in reserve to launch a crushing counterattack . Rommel thought this would be impossible, given Allied control of the air. He believed that the Germans had to defeat the invasion on beaches, and so wanted the armor to be deployed as close to the beaches as possible. Hitler's solution was compromise. In Normandy, this meant that only one motorized division, the 21st, was positioned close to shore, with the others, Panzer Lehr and 12th SS Panzer, positioned further back . This left both commanders dissatisfied; Rommel considered his forward defenses to be inadequate and von Rundstedt believed his motorized reserve to be too small.

Deceptionplans

For Operation Overlord to be successful, the Allies had to train and then concentrate their forces in southern England. The commander-in-chief of aviation, Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory (1892-1944), had to ensure air superiority over the beaches and hamper German supply and reinforcement capabilities. The Allied air force concentrated on the French transport system. An elaborate deception scheme, Operation Fortitude, sought to convince the Germans that, firstly, the intended target was the Pas de Calais and, secondly, the invasion of Normandy was just for fun> . It was perfectly successful.
The Allies assembled a vast invasion fleet of nearly 7,000 warships, transports, and support vessels to escort and give cover fire or transport the 130,000 troops across the English Channel. During June 5 the fleet massed off the southern coast of England and began sailing south towards the five landing beaches in Normandy, designated from west to east "Utah", "Omaha", "Gold" , "Juno" and "Sword". The first Allied bombers en route to attack the German defenses passed over them. These were followed, beginning at 11:30 p.m., by transport planes that carried the 17,000 airborne troops to the drop zones to the east and west of the beaches.

D-Day

The Battle of Normandy began shortly after midnight on June 6, when the English 6th Airborne Division landed north of Caen . The first troops to see action were the glider-borne troops of the 2nd Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, who occupied the bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne. Other units of the 6th Airborne captured several bridges over the Orne, overran the Merville battery and defended the invasion's left flank by occupying the Ranville-Hérouvillette area . Meanwhile, around 0100, American paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions jumped into the swampy terrain around the westernmost landing beach, "Utah." The paratroopers were very effective in confusing the German response, which was not helped by the fact that Rommel was on leave. Operation Fortitude had also ensured that the Germans continued to expect the main invasion at Pas de Calais, even several days after D-Day .
Two hours later, 1,900 bombers attacked the German defenses in the landing zone, and near dawn the naval bombardment began. At 0630 the Americans of the 4th Division began their approach to "Utah" beach; the Canadians attacking "Juno" would disembark later, at 0745, due to tidal conditions.

Utah landing

In "Utah" the Americans quickly settled on land , advanced through the waterlogged ground behind the beach and linked up with airborne forces in the area; there were barely 200 casualties.

Omaha landing

At "Omaha", Allied intelligence had failed to notice that the defending 716th Division regiment, a static formation, had been reinforced . These men survived the preparatory bombardment. In addition to this, poor weather conditions meant that only five of the 32 Sherman DD amphibious battle tanks and very few of the supporting American combat engineers made it to shore. The raiding troops of the 1st Infantry Division and the 29th National Guard suffered terrible losses. By the end of the day they had occupied a tenuous position barely 1,800m deep, at the cost of 2,000 casualties.

Landing Gold

“Gold” was the westernmost Anglo-Canadian beach. It was assaulted by the British 50th (Northumbrian) Division. Unlike the Americans, the British were supported by various specialized armored combat vehicles to penetrate defenses and Sherman Crab minebreakers, designed to sweep minefields, in addition to their DD tanks. By the end of the day, the 50th Division had managed to penetrate 6 km inland, while the 47th Commando advanced west towards the Americans in Omaha.

Juno Landing

Meanwhile, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed on Juno. They met with intense resistance and were hampered by the loss of many landing craft to submerged obstacles. . It took the Canadians an hour and a quarter of hard fighting to occupy the first exits from the beach. They had also managed to penetrate about 6 km inland by the end of the day.