Allied Attack On Normandy - The Second World War
The Second World War occurred between September 1, 1939, to September 2, 1945. Some of the countries involved were Nazi Germany, Japan, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Bulgaria. These countries made up the Axis powers. The remaining countries involved were the Soviet Union, Austraila, United States Of America, France Resistance, Great Britain, Canada, and China. These countries made up the Allies. The Germans were led by Adolph Hitler. War tactics changed significantly from World War One, which was mostly Trench warfare. Now many of the battles were fought, in the sea, in the air, and on land using new technology and urban warfare, fighting within the cities, buildings, and houses. There was an ongoing battle for developing new war equipment, as well as trying to hide the movements of many tanks, airplanes, and troops. A new development that affected all sides was the invention of Radar, created by the British.
All countries in the war used spies to gather information about each other to send back to their commanders. Each country attempted to intercept communications, which caused them to invent new technology to hide or code their messages, such as the "Enigma Machine", created by the Nazi Germans and was used to code the messages they sent. All of these things had an effect on how each country made and planned their attacks. On the eastern front the Nazies where being pushed back to the German Border by the Soviet Union. In the west, the allies were preparing to attack north-west France. Adolph Hitler was expecting this attack the only problem was knowing when and where it could come. British prime minister Winston Churchill always knew that a necessary invasion would have to happen in Northern Europe. His only question was when, where, and how?
In December of 1941 British commanders raided Vaagso beach off the coast of Nazi-occupied Norway. Allied troops were trying to tie down German troops in the north. During this attack, the Allies destroyed most of the coastal defenses, but the commander had to withdraw. Around 8 months later Canadian and British troops Raided Dieppe. The attack was designed to test the defenses and to provide combat experience for the Canadians who had not yet been involved much during the war. When they were approaching the beachhead, they were met by heavy gunfire and artillery. Many of the troops did not make it to shore, Troops that did, were immediately pinned down. To make matters even worse Nazis put shingles on the beach which lead to the tanks getting stuck. There was a great lesson to be learned from the British attack, never attack a Nazi-occupied base head-on, and an assault on Europe can't be rushed. Over Three thousand allied troops were killed or taken a prisoner, in Dieppe.
Eventually, in April 1943, British prime minister Winston Churchill had a meeting with the leaders of the Allied Forces. They had planned June 5th, 1949 this was the date that the allies would invade France. Hitler also knew of this attack from one of the German spy's but Hitler didn't know when or where. So Hitler decided to build a Seawall around Europe's coast running from Demark to nearly the Spanish border. Hitler also started building gun placements from where allies would likely attack to defend. Hitler started dropping radars in the North Atlantic Ocean. France's beaches had been covered in barb wire and landmines. Germans started building obstacles in strategic landing craft locations for the allies. Hitler stated, "I am the GREATEST modifier and builder in all time". In the summer of 1944, Hitler demanded more troops to defend the next move of the allies. German over-all commander in the west Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel had fifteen other divisions but the western Europe coast stretched for over two thousand miles or three thousand two hundred eighteen kilometers, which means he didn't have enough troops to cover the whole coast.
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel was faced with a difficult question where should he lay out his troops to maximize his defense. It caused a lot of arguments between the Germans military commanders. Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel had the idea of having a lot of Panzers armored tanks to back up the west coast of France. Then after he knew where the attack was coming from he would send the Panzer tanks in to assist. Another highly respected Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of the troops from Holland all the way to the French coast Loire, had a different perspective. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was worried about the allied air forces. He saw it when he fought in North Africa. He feared that the Panzers would be taken out by a counterattack long before they could have ever been used.
Field Marshal suggested to put them near the most likely landing sites so an invasion could be stopped a lot sooner before it really became a problem. Hitler compromised saying that the town of Runstdet would be given a small force of Panzers that he would hold in reserve, to assist with defending. Although they were not to be used unless permission was given by Hitler. The rest of the troops were laid along the whole entire Atlantic shore at Field Marshal Rommel's request. It was the worst position for Germany, there weren't enough tanks in reserve nor was there enough near the coast.
In Autumn 1943, the Allies planned a good spot to invade. Britain's General Fredrick Morgan realized there where two good options. Pas De Calais or Normandy. Pas De Calais was the favorite location because it was the shortest Sea crossing and it offered the closest way to Berlin, Germany. One of the downfalls of Pas De Calais was it was the route most likely expected by Germany. General Fredrick Morgan decided they should land in Normandy. This was a big gamble for the Allies which would depend on the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The French resistance would check up on the seawall and give information on it to the allies. Information about whether or not the allies could land Armored vehicles on it. It was clear to the British that a port facility would be needed close for landing. Since the British attacked Dieep they knew it was too dangerous to attack a German port again.
The British were forced to come up with another plan. the allies came up with an idea where they would make boxes that would be sunk to make an artificial port for the British to use. The code name for them were: Mulberries. The Mulberries would be fueled by a pipeline that was dropped on the Sea Bed. It would run for over one hundred miles or one hundred and sixty Kilometers. The Pumping station for the mulberries, on the Isle of Wight, was disguised as an Ice Cream shop. The raid on Dieppe brought up the second problem.
How can the allies get the first wave of troops off the beaches and through the German's? The man that solved the question was General Percy Hobart. General Percy Hobart was a big inventor for the British army. The troops called them "The Funnies". The Machines were extraordinary flamethrowers and floating tanks. Frail tanks for clearing mines on the shore for the British. A Bobby was a machine used for making clear paths for the allies over sand or shingles. An armored ramp to help clime Sea Walls. The fascine carrier for getting across trenches. A Bridging tank to help wider armored vehicles cross. All the was left one big problem, how to stop the Germans from rushing in reinforcements to defend before the allies could make a foothold.
The answer was to keep Germany guessing where they would attack. Operation BodyGard was the next phase. Britain got a hold of Hitler's blueprints for his secret code, the enigma machine. So Britain was sending back detailed false information that the main landings would be in Pas De Calais. It worked well with for the Allies because it would be the obvious landing spot. They also leaked to the Germans, that a small attack could be in Normandy. Their plan was to send the United States Of America General George Patton, which had recently been removed from his previous assignment, for slapping shell-shocked Soldiers. The Allies were aware that the Nazi's had rated General Patton as the BEST Allied general that they had. So the Allies sent General Patton to the area directly across from Pas De Calais, to make it appear as if the attack on western Europe would come from that location.
It was all part of the diversion. The allies decided to mimic as if an army was coming to attack western France (part of the reason why they put General Patton their.) Britain decided to make the attack look real. They filled the field of kent with fake inflatable tanks and fake track marks leading behind them. They made dummy air crafts made out of leftover wood and canvas that the British had used. Harbors along the Kent coast were filled with dummy landing crafts to make it look like that's the spot the allies were going to attack from. There were even troops stationed there, but they were used as back up units, mostly reservists who likely wouldn't see action. Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower was to lead the attack in Europe. British General Bernard Montgomery would be in Command of the initial assault troops.
The plan for D-Day was ready, it was going to be held on June 5th, 1944 and was called Operation Overlord. Added to the plan, two months earlier General Eisenhower operated a bombing to disrupt German links near the cost of Pas De Calais, it was the last step for Operation Body Guard. It would affect the response from the tanks, as well as made it further appear to the Germans as if an attack would be coming to Pas De Calais. As the date approached the number of soldiers in England reached over two million. It was supported by over three thousand tanks and over twelve thousand air crafts. The Germans were well aware that an invasion is going to happen. The Germans were fooled, believing it was going to happen in Pas De Calais.On June 4th everything was set. Operation Overlord, later called D-Day was about to commence. On June 5th everything was going there way until the weather turned against the Allies. It got so bad they had to turn around. The visibility was bad for the air crafts to fly in, so they planned to wait until dawn the next day.
Early in the morning, the leadership of the Allied military met again. The weather was still bad but yet they took the opportunity, but they felt it was slightly better. The Allied commanders decided to attack. The air commanders weren't happy about it though. They thought the visibility would be too poor to provide good air support. On June the 6th 1944 at 1:15 in the morning the invasion of Europe commenced. British air troops which were pulling a bunch of gliders released them over bridges over northern France. Fifty miles from the west or fifty kilometers, Paratroopers came down near the village of Saint-Mere-Eglise. it was a great fight, but around three hours later the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, was in the allies hands. The Germans saw a massive army appear of the fog. Germany had no warning, the German troops only had a little bit of time to get ready. The allies also tricked the Normandy's coast radars to think the main attack was from the west coming into east Pas De Calais.One of the biggest battles of world war two was underway.
Approximately an hour later, the United States Of America captured German sentries along the Normandy coast. The allied warships now started pounding Normandy's coast defenses for the first wave of troops. The air troops came in and bombed wave after wave overhead. Now the first wave of assault troops came in but as they came closer the Germans machine guns and artillery opened fire on them. At six thirty in the morning, the first wave of troops made it onto the beach. Near the far western end, The United States attacked what they called Utah beach, within two hours it was linked up with Paratroopers who had just cleared Sainte-Mere-Eglise. East from Utah beach, Omaha was also a nickname for another beach which was a very hard beach to conquer.
As the United States of America 1st division came ashore of Omaha beach they were getting demolished by machine guns and mortars, it also didn't help that the Germans had built a SeaWall witch lead to the Germans having high ground over the allied troops. The water level on Omaha Beach was really high that day so tanks got flooded by water as they attempted to drive on to the beach. Eventually, the front line of Ohamha Beach was cleared, the only thing stopping the Allied troops was a giant Sea Wall. Finally, one troop managed to scale the sea wall. He threw down ropes to get all the other troops up. The ramp vehicles were to steep for someone to climb up it and it needed something stable to be latched onto. Only the vehicles could go up it. Britain's 50th Infantry Divison was now attacking Gold beach east, from Ohamha beach. The British used their "Funnies" to help gain ground on the beach.
After a while, the Allied troops were finally moving on land West from Ohamah beach. The Canadian army was now attacking gold beach only a few miles away. The Britain "funnies" really helped the Canadian army get ground on the Germans.Sword beach was being attacked by the British 3rd Infantry Divison. The Brittish had an easier time taking over this beach. Around mid-day, the allies had conquered all of the beachheads. Even though the Germans had spent months preparing for this battle, they were taken by surprise. The Germans didn't expect the allies to attack for several reasons, one of which was the really bad weather. Rommel, the Germans whole North West commander, took the opportunity of bad weather to visit Friends and family in Germany because he never thought that they would attack until the weather cleared up.
Another General Friedrich Dollmann was taking part in a war game, 100 miles away for the Invasion of Europe. Only one General was in the German Head Quarters, Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt. The only thing stopping Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt from sending more reinforcements was Hitler. He needed Hitler's permission to move the Panzer tanks into battle. Hitler was asleep and his butlers would not wake him to alert him of the attack, because he had told them not to wake him. It was close to mid-day before Hitler found out about the attack, but was seriously convinced about the Pas De Calais attack. Hitler thought the attacks on Normandy, was a fake attack to draw the Germans away from Pas De Calais.
Eventually, Hitler finally took it seriously when the invasion was really clear, Then Hitler released his Panzers. The only thing that was bad about this for Germany as they were too far away to provide support quickly. At nightfall over one hundred thousand Allied troops landed in Normandy. The second day was hard for the Allies, the backup panzers arrived. The camouflage tanks were really hard to see in the country. The Allied air force played a big part in this push into more of Europe. The air support helped take out a lot of the tanks. The French resistance was also helping from behind the German lines which also played a big part. They took out convoys and destroyed bridges that the Germans was using. The Germans got mad over how they were losing so they took out all their anger with killing the French civilians. After nearly four days of fighting, most of the troops linked up with each other.
The General of the British, Montgomery placed a big assault with attacking Caen, but they ran into trouble on the way. The German tanks were outclassing the Allied tanks by almost everything. The Allied tanks ran on Petro Fuel which explodes into flames. The allies mainly relied on air power and artillery. It wasn't enough, they had to retreat, it was a win for the Germans. The United States of America advanced to Cherbourg, another prime spot for the allies. The weather took a turn in about ten days in. Most of the artificial docs were destroyed in Omaha making it difficult for the Allied troops to send in more equipment. Once they got to Cherbourg there was house to house fighting. It took the Allies a week to claim the city, but the fleeing Germans destroyed the harbor on the way out. It needed repairs, which took a month to be fully ready and to be used again.
During this time Mongomery tried again to attack Caen. The bad weather made all the fields wet and muddy and low clouds meant bad air support for the allies and the Germans. It was worse when the new Panzer tanks came into the core of the city. After another 4 days of fierce fighting, the British had to retreat a bit. Once the clouds cleared, five hundred allied bombers came in to support. They also put pressure on Caen. The British troops made they're way into the suburbs, close to Caen. After two days the attack was called off by the general yet again. About three weeks later they went to attack Cean again for the fourth time. They had a plan this time, the Allies wanted to capture the German remaining strongholds so they can push south, deeper into France.
Finally, after four attempts and two days of fighting, the city was taken by the Allies. Now they were pushing into France more, but the Germans were waiting with a large amount of Panzers there to surprise them. It worked, the advance stopped. In the west, the United States Of America was having a walk in the park compared to the British. The German soldiers were drawn to the attack in Caen, so only a few were scattered around the board. The break out was set for the Allies. The Allies pushed further into France and eliminated the Nazis from it. The attack on Normandy was a huge gamble, but it succeeded. The Allies then moved on from France pushing into Germany and other German-occupied countries.
On April 30th1945, Hitler killed himself in his bunker located in Berlin Germany. This was the end of Germany. The only country remaining was Japan. Japan surrendered on August 15th, 1945 but soon signed with the allies on November the 2nd, 1945. It was the official end of World War Two. Scientist estimate that over eighty million people died in World War Two. Without the careful planning and preparation for the attacks on Normandy, the Allied troops may not have been successful. The outcome of the war may have been different and today's world as we know it would be very different. Because of the sacrifice of all allied soldiers, we can live in a world with freedom. We will never forget.
