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Normandy landings: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Normandy landings
The decision to launch the invasion on the 6th of June 1944 was made by General Dwight D. Eisenhower after a single hour of consultation with his meteorological team. On the 4th of June, the weather forecast had predicted high winds and heavy seas that would make launching landing craft impossible, and low cloud cover that would prevent aircraft from finding their targets. Eisenhower had tentatively selected the 5th of June for the assault, but the conditions were unsuitable. Group Captain James Stagg of the Royal Air Force met with Eisenhower on the evening of the 4th of June and predicted that the weather would improve enough for the invasion to proceed on the 6th of June. The next available dates with the required tidal conditions would be two weeks later, from the 18th to the 20th of June. Postponement of the invasion would have required recalling men and ships already in position to cross the English Channel and would have increased the chance that the invasion plans would be detected. A major storm battered the Normandy coast from the 19th to the 22nd of June, which would have made the beach landings impossible on the later date. The Allies had to gamble on a narrow window of weather that existed only for a few hours, knowing that a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks due to the requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day.
The Deception of Calais
While the world focused on the beaches of Normandy, the German high command was being systematically misled by a massive intelligence operation codenamed Operation Bodyguard. The Allies created a fictitious First United States Army Group under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, supposedly located in Kent and Sussex, to deceive the Germans into believing that the main attack would take place at Calais. Genuine radio messages from the 21st Army Group were first routed to Kent via landline and then broadcast, to give the Germans the impression that most of the Allied troops were stationed there. Patton was stationed in England until the 6th of July, thus continuing to deceive the Germans into believing a second attack would take place at Calais. On the night before the invasion, a small group of Special Air Service operators deployed dummy paratroopers over Le Havre and Isigny, leading the Germans to believe that an additional airborne landing had occurred. In Operation Taxable, No. 617 Squadron RAF dropped strips of metal foil that caused a radar return which was mistakenly interpreted by German radar operators as a naval convoy near Le Havre. The illusion was bolstered by a group of small vessels towing barrage balloons. A similar deception was undertaken near Boulogne-sur-Mer in the Pas de Calais area by No. 218 Squadron RAF in Operation Glimmer. As a result of these deceptions, many Wehrmacht commanders left their posts to attend war games in Rennes, and men in many units were given leave. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel returned to Germany for his wife's birthday and to petition Hitler for additional Panzer divisions, leaving the Normandy coast vulnerable to the actual assault.
Who made the decision to launch the Normandy landings on the 6th of June 1944?
General Dwight D. Eisenhower made the decision to launch the invasion on the 6th of June 1944 after a single hour of consultation with his meteorological team. Group Captain James Stagg of the Royal Air Force predicted that the weather would improve enough for the invasion to proceed on that date.
What was the purpose of Operation Bodyguard during the Normandy landings?
Operation Bodyguard was a massive intelligence operation designed to systematically mislead the German high command about the location of the main attack. The Allies created a fictitious First United States Army Group under Lieutenant General George S. Patton to deceive the Germans into believing the main attack would take place at Calais.
How many aircraft did the Luftwaffe have available compared to the Allies during the Normandy landings?
The Luftwaffe could muster only 815 aircraft over Normandy in comparison to the Allies' 9,543 aircraft. This disparity left Field Marshal Erwin Rommel unable to expect effective air support for the German defenses.
When were the five beachheads connected during the Normandy landings?
The five beachheads were not connected until the 12th of June 1944. By that time, the Allies held a front around 100 kilometers long and 10 to 15 kilometers deep.
What were the civilian casualties estimated to be on D-Day and D+1 in Normandy?
Civilian casualties on D-Day and D+1 are estimated at 3,000. The Germans had ordered French civilians other than those deemed essential to the war effort to leave potential combat zones in Normandy.
Alarmed by the raids on St Nazaire and Dieppe in 1942, Adolf Hitler had ordered the construction of fortifications all along the Atlantic coast, from Spain to Norway, to protect against an expected Allied invasion. He envisioned 15,000 emplacements manned by 300,000 troops, but shortages, particularly of concrete and manpower, meant that most of the strongpoints were never built. Rommel was assigned to oversee the construction of further fortifications along the expected invasion front, which stretched from the Netherlands to Cherbourg. He ordered wooden stakes, metal tripods, mines, and large anti-tank obstacles to be placed on the beaches to delay the approach of landing craft and impede the movement of tanks. Expecting the Allies to land at high tide so that the infantry would spend less time exposed on the beach, he ordered many of these obstacles to be placed at the high water mark. Tangles of barbed wire, booby traps, and the removal of ground cover made the approach hazardous for infantry. On Rommel's order, the number of mines along the coast was tripled. Rommel arranged for booby-trapped stakes known as Rommelspargel, or Rommel's asparagus, to be installed in meadows and fields to deter airborne landings. Despite these efforts, German preparations along the Atlantic Wall were only partially finished; shortly before D-Day Rommel reported that construction was only 18 per cent complete in some areas as resources were diverted elsewhere. The Luftwaffe could muster only 815 aircraft over Normandy in comparison to the Allies' 9,543, leaving Rommel unable to expect effective air support.
The Airborne Gamble
The success of the amphibious landings depended on the establishment of a secure lodgement from which to expand the beachhead to allow the build-up of a well-supplied force capable of breaking out. The US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were assigned to objectives west of Utah Beach, where they hoped to capture and control the few narrow causeways through terrain that had been intentionally flooded by the Germans. Navigation was difficult because of a bank of thick cloud, and as a result, only one of the five paratrooper drop zones was accurately marked with radar signals and Aldis lamps. Paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, numbering over 13,000 men, were delivered by Douglas C-47 Skytrains of the IX Troop Carrier Command. To avoid flying over the invasion fleet, the planes arrived from the west over the Cotentin Peninsula and exited over Utah Beach. The C-47s could not fly in a tight formation because of thick cloud cover, and many paratroopers were dropped far from their intended landing zones. Many planes came in so low that they were under fire from both flak and machine-gun fire. Some paratroopers were killed on impact when their parachutes did not have time to open, and others drowned in the flooded fields. Gathering together into fighting units was made difficult by a shortage of radios and by the bocage terrain, with its hedgerows, stone walls, and marshes. After 24 hours, only 2,500 men of the 101st and 2,000 of the 82nd Airborne were under the control of their divisions, approximately a third of the force dropped. This wide dispersal had the effect of confusing the Germans and fragmenting their response.
The Bloodiest Shore
Omaha Beach, the most heavily defended beach, was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division and 29th Infantry Division. They faced the 352nd Infantry Division rather than the expected single regiment. Strong currents forced many landing craft east of their intended position or caused them to be delayed. For fear of hitting the landing craft, US bombers delayed releasing their loads and as a result most of the beach obstacles at Omaha remained undamaged when the men came ashore. Many of the landing craft ran aground on sandbars, and the men had to wade 50 to 100 meters in water up to their necks while under fire to get to the beach. In spite of the rough seas, DD tanks of two companies of the 741st Tank Battalion were dropped 1,500 meters from shore; however, 27 of the 32 flooded and sank, with the loss of 33 crew. Some tanks, disabled on the beach, continued to provide covering fire until their ammunition ran out or they were swamped by the rising tide. Casualties were around 2,000, as the men were subjected to fire from the cliffs above. Problems clearing the beach of obstructions led to the beachmaster calling a halt to further landings of vehicles at 08:30. A group of destroyers arrived around this time to provide fire support so landings could resume. Exit from the beach was possible only via five heavily defended gullies, and by late morning barely 600 men had reached the higher ground. By noon, as the artillery fire took its toll and the Germans started to run out of ammunition, the Americans were able to clear some lanes on the beaches. They also started clearing the gullies of enemy defences so that vehicles could move off the beach. The tenuous beachhead was expanded over the following days, and the D-Day objectives for Omaha were accomplished by the 9th of June.
The Piper and the Rangers
Pointe du Hoc, a prominent headland situated between Utah and Omaha, was assigned to two hundred men of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder. Their task was to scale the cliffs with grappling hooks, ropes, and ladders to destroy the coastal gun battery located at the top. The cliffs were defended by the German 352nd Infantry Division and French collaborators firing from above. Allied destroyers provided fire support. After scaling the cliffs, the Rangers discovered that the guns had already been withdrawn. They located the weapons, unguarded but ready to use, in an orchard some 1,500 meters south of the point, and disabled them with explosives. The Rangers fended off numerous counter-attacks from the German 914th Grenadier Regiment. The men were isolated, and some were captured. By dawn on the 7th of June, Rudder had only 90 men able to fight. Relief did not arrive until the 8th of June, when members of the 743rd Tank Battalion and others arrived. By then, Rudder's men had run out of ammunition and were using captured German weapons. Several men were killed as a result, because the German weapons made a distinctive noise, and the men were mistaken for the enemy. On Sword Beach, Brigadier Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat and his 1st Special Service Brigade arrived in the second wave, piped ashore by Private Bill Millin, Lovat's personal piper. Members of No. 4 Commando moved through Ouistreham to attack from the rear a German gun battery on the shore. French forces under Commander Philippe Kieffer, the first French soldiers to arrive in Normandy, attacked and cleared the heavily fortified strongpoint at the casino at Riva Bella, with the aid of one of the DD tanks.
The Cost of Victory
The Normandy landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history, with nearly 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers participating. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on D-Day, with 875,000 men disembarking by the end of June. Allied casualties on the first day were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead and the Germans had 4,000 to 9,000 casualties. The Germans never achieved Hitler's stated aim of throwing the Allies back into the sea on D-Day or at any time thereafter. The Allied invasion plans had demanded a rapid build-up of troops and the establishment of a secure bridgehead, which was achieved with fewer casualties than expected. The plan had also called for the capture of Carentan, Saint-Lô, Caen, and Bayeux on the first day, with all the beaches linked with a front line 100 kilometers from the beaches; none of these latter objectives were achieved. At Utah the 4th Division made significant progress inland, making a rendezvous with the airborne troops, and the British and Canadians were between 10 and 15 kilometers inland. The five beachheads were not connected until the 12th of June, by which time the Allies held a front around 100 kilometers long and 10 to 15 kilometers deep. Caen, a major objective, was still in German hands at the end of D-Day and would not be completely captured until the 21st of July. The Germans had ordered French civilians other than those deemed essential to the war effort to leave potential combat zones in Normandy. Civilian casualties on D-Day and D+1 are estimated at 3,000. German forces retreated east across the Seine on the 30th of August 1944, marking the close of Operation Overlord.