The beaches were a tangled mess of bodies, beach obstacles, destroyed vehicles and enemy fire, of which the Germans had months to perfect their pre-sighted artillery. Many soldiers were cut down as they stepped off the boat ramp, but they had to advance because the boat coxswains were ordered to drop their men off as quickly as possible, then return to the ship for another 30 men. Due to the high casualties and zero progress made, the invasion was nearly called off, and all landing ceased at 8:30. The Germans had them pinned down behind a shelf of sand called the "seawall," guarded with mines and barbed wire, and could have literally blown them off the beach and back into the sea. However, because of the confusion and the belief that this was a diversion from the "real" invasion was at Calais to the north, few reinforcements were sent. As a result, 4 hours after landing the exhausted Americans began punching through the seawall barriers. US Rangers also scaled the 100 foot cliffs surrounding the beaches to take out guns and by noon the enemy fire began to slow down as the Americans struggled up the beach and fought back. This was even more difficult than the commanders had planned. Many soldiers were so gripped by fear from their trauma that they would not share any of their ammunition or move from the seawall. By evening they held their position but did not even come close to any of their mission objectives because of their 2400 casualties. The German 352nd division only had 1200 casualties but had no reinforcements.
UTAH
Originally Utah beach was not intended for an invasion,
but at the last minute General Eisenhower felt a beachhead at
Utah would secure the port city of Cherbourg. The landing at
Utah was much easier compared to Omaha because the landing
craft landed 2000 yards from the original destination, and the
beach they found was vastly less hostile. This let them bypass
most of the German 91st, 243rd and 709th divisions and land
their DD tanks with miraculously few casualties. 7 landing craft were sunk off of Utah beach, and one LCT dropped its ramp right on top of a mine, sending metal and men flying. By noon they
actually reached the 101st Airborne troopers near Pouppeville
and had advanced 4 miles by the end of the day. Only having
300 casualties, they landed 20,000 men plus 1700 vehicles and
even avoided a German counter-attack because the Airborne
confused them as to where the main assault took place.
GOLD
At 7:30 am the British landed at Gold beach under heavy
German fire, but they landed with relative ease. The invasion here
was relatively orderly and everything went as planned. Most
German defenses were quickly overrun because they could not
stop the incoming British, who used specially modified tanks,
called "Hobart’s Funnies." These were specially armored
vehicles named for their inventor, British General Percy Hobart,
and had many different forms. The Duplex Drive tank (DD tank)
had a collapsible flotation device and was the only Funny
used by the Americans. The others, used wisely by the British
were the "Crocodile" (a flamethrower tank), the "Crab" (a
minesweeper with flailing chains), the "Flying Dustbin" (a
mortar tank) and the "Bobbin" (a tank that laid down artificial
road). During the invasion here, some French citizens fled the
combat zone while others went about their usual daily routine,
and some even enthusiastically greeted the British with
champagne.
JUNO
The Canadians landed at 8:00 am, taking heavy fire, and
the first wave was just as bloody as the Omaha landing: company
B had just 25 survivors and one officer to lead them. The difference
here was that many of the DD tanks made progress over the
seawall, which was the highest of any beach in Normandy.
Hobart’s Funnies also did well and they advanced into the coastal
villages, farther than any team on D-Day. The Canadian
determination was due in part to the motive of redemption for
their earlier failure at Dieppe years ago. They advanced far, but
not quite as far as they were supposed to because the initial
invasion lost its momentum. They had 1200 casualties but put
21,400 men ashore. It was here that the Allies began to learn that much of the "German resistance" of the Atlantikwall were not
actually Germans--they were Czechs, Poles, Russians, and many
other victims of German domination. Many of these Ost
battalions would shoot their German commander and then
surrender the first chance they got. This demonstrated that Hitler was becoming reliant on unwilling foreign soldiers to fill the gaps left by dead regulars, much like
Napoleon just before his defeat.
SWORD
The DD tanks were supposed to precede the British
landing, but strong currents slowed them down until they
landed at 7:30 am. They were met with a moderate amount
of enemy fire and got up over the seawall quickly with the
help of Hobart’s Funnies. 30 minutes later the fighting had
moved inland, where the Germans retreated and fought
viciously with snipers, machine gun nests and mortars. The
British still could not meet up with the Canadians and later in
the afternoon the Germans ordered the only counter-attack that
day. They sent the 22nd regiment of the 21st Panzer division
but the British had good anti-tank weapons and held them back.
The British put 29,000 men on the beach and had only 630
casualties. By the end of D-Day the Allies were far from
achieving all they wanted, but effectively secured enough of a
foothold to allow further reinforcements in. Overall D-Day was
a success, but at a high price for the Allies--some 10,000 dead, wounded or missing,
mostly Americans.
STALEMATE IN NORMANDY
Once of they secured the beachheads, the Allies began
pouring in hundreds of thousands of reinforcements, tons of
supplies and many vehicles. However, the Allies missed another
golden opportunity to wipe out the Germans by procrastinating
on the beach and creating slow traffic jams. In the meantime, the
Germans began advancing their Panzer divisions into Normandy to meet the invasion. The Germans also missed a
golden opportunity to keep the Allies at bay because of Hitler,
who was convinced the "real" invasion was at Calais, so he
kept several Panzer divisions tied up uselessly. They also should
have retreated behind the Seine river and set up a strong
defense, thereby making it much more difficult for the Allies.
The Germans did have one advantage, however--the hedgerows.
The Normandy hedgerows, called bocage were the ultimate defensive terrain. One of the great Allied blunders of the war was the failure to recognize the threat of the bocage before the invasion. They were over 10 feet tall and impossible to see or get through on foot, and the Germans hid behind them in wait for unsuspecting Allies to come along, then gun them down. This was part of Field Marshal von Rundstedt’s plan to draw the Allies in, then smother them with reinforcements. The hedgerows were like a maze, criss-crossing the French countryside and created a natural wall of defense that the Germans would fire mortars over with pinpoint accuracy. Fortunately, large teeth were later welded on to Allied tanks to cut through the hedges with a fair amount of ease.
The other problem faced by the Allies was the fierce German resistance, coupled with the foul weather of the Normandy coastal region. Perhaps more hurtful was General Montgomery’s hesitance to advance on his objective, the city of Caen. He waited to build up his forces then tried to take the city in "Operation Epsom," which failed during the last week in June. The British mentality was that they, unlike the Americans, had almost no reserves to replace their dead, so they had to be much more cautious. Both the Americans and British wanted the war over quickly so they threw as many weapons as they could against the Germans instead of effectively advancing at the cost of more lives. As a result, the war was prolonged another year.
THE EASTERN REICH FALLS
After D-Day, Hitler was adamant about reinforcing the
Ukraine, leaving Army Group Center (under von Busch)
with only 500,000 men to defend a 650 mile front. The Soviets,
meanwhile, had 1.2 million men, 4000 tanks and 6000 planes in
the Baltics and Belarus and were gaining ground each day.
The newest assault on the Germans would be called "Operation
Bagration," in honor of the Russian General who repelled
Napoleon in 1812, and would commence on June 22, 3 years
after "Barbarossa." In these 3 years the Soviets had learned
from the mistakes of fighting a wide-front war, and now focused
on hitting the Germans at key points, using concentrated
artillery fire, even 300 guns per mile. The Soviets also began
using deception tactics, creating huge advances once
"Bagration" began. The Germans were forced to retreat in the north on
24 June and 3 days later Vitebsk was taken along with 30,000
German POWs. In the south, Mogliev was taken on 28 June
and the next day Bobruysk fell. Minsk was captured on 3 July, causing the bulk of the German 4th and 9th Armies to give
up. This allowed the Soviets to take the Lithuanian capital of
Vilnius on 13 July and cut off Army Group North, who were
forced back to the original German/Soviet border of the Bug
river and gave up 25,000 men at Brody. 2 weeks later Lvov
was captured and by now the Soviets had retaken most of
their original territory and began absorbing Poland.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
Cherbourg was captured by the Allies on 28 June,
the same day that Field Marshal Dollman, head of the 7th
Army died of mysterious causes. Sensing imminent defeat,
von Rundstedt begged Hitler to surrender to the Allies and
was consequently dismissed from service and replaced
him with Günther von Kluge. On 17 July Rommel’s car was
strafed by RAF fire and was badly injured. There was one good
thing on 18 July and 19 for the Germans: the failure of
Montgomery’s plan to break out called "Operation
Goodwood." Montgomery tried to cover up the failure by
saying he never intended to break out and even though the
Allies captured a couple thousand prisoners and secured
Caen, they suffered nearly 6000 casualties and lost more
than a third of their tanks. Meanwhile, the Germans tried to
find Mussolini, who was moved about constantly to fool the
Nazis. On 17 August they learned his location from a German
guard and attempted to capture him, but they were too late.
Mussolini even tried to cut his wrists open, but the Germans
eventually found him and carried him away to Hitler, who
ordered him to revive his Fascist regime. They set up a new
state and executed the old members who voted against
Mussolini.
The German "success" was short-lived because the following day on 20 July, Hitler was nearly assassinated by his own men. The German high command had become fed up with Hitler’s meddling in military affairs over the last few years and cited his incompetence as the main reason the Germans were losing the war. In fact, since the beginning there were several anti-Hitler conspiracies surrounding Nazi Germany, many in the form of Germans double-agents and spies and even high ranking German officers tried to kill Hitler the previous year. They wasted time with their indecision about how to carry out the coup and ran into trouble with the ever-suspicious Hitler, who continuously arrested suspected conspirators. The plan to control Berlin after Hitler's assassination, "Operation Valkyrie," was coordinated by some of Hitler’s closest personnel, including Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, Field Marshal von Kluge and Field Marshal Rommel. On 20 July von Stauffenberg met with Hitler’s office in Rastenberg, Germany and placed a bomb-filled briefcase on his desk. He set the timer and left the room, which was blown apart moments later. Instead of meeting in his concrete bunker, which would have concentrated the blast force, the meeting was held in a building which dispersed the explosion. Also, only part of the bomb was set (in haste), and was put near the leg of a sturdy desk, which absorbed much of the blast.
As a result, Hitler suffered only minor injuries and immediately knew he had been betrayed. The conspirators, assuming Hitler was dead, flew to Berlin to assume command but were stopped by SS troops who got the message from Hitler that there was foul play. Hitler’s vengeance ran wild and within 24 hours he had 160 officers suspected of guilt put to death. Some of his men he allowed to humanely commit suicide a month later, including Kluge and Rommel. Rommel was not directly involved, but Boormann included him as a conspirator. In reality, Rommel wanted Hitler to be legally removed from power without bloodshed and be tried before a civil court. From there, Germany's new government could make peace with Western Allies and then concentrate on defending the east from the Soviets. However, at the time the Germans did not know that the Allies would only accept an unconditional surrender. Regardless, Rommel chose suicide over he and his family being disgraced before a court; a fittingly honorable end to one of the most respected military leaders of all time. Hitler never again trusted his military and had to rely on his personal military force, the SS, to get the job done. By coincidence, Mussolini visited Hitler shortly after his brush with death and realized his only ally was hated even more than he was.
BREAKOUT
The Allies had become frustrated with the stalemate
in Normandy and the Americans were tired of Montgomery’s
ineffectiveness. Eisenhower turned to one of his best men,
General Omar Bradley, to devise a plan to heavily bomb
German positions then move in immediately with infantry. This
became known as "Operation Cobra," the Allied breakout of
Normandy, which had to be carried out quickly or the Germans
would just regroup and dig in again. The saturation bombing
began on 24 July but problems with the accuracy of the excessively powerful bombs got "Cobra" off to a bad start. The plan only
got worse the next day as thousands of bombers dropped
thousands of tons of bombs, yet many fell on their own soldiers,
killing 111 and wounding 490 Americans. Eisenhower was appalled at this
logistical disaster and vowed never again to use heavy bombing
in conjunction with infantry. Finally 3 infantry divisions moved
forward to capture Marigny and St. Gilles, then the armor could
roll in courtesy of General Patton.
On 28 July he took Coutances while the next day the Allied bombers destroyed hundreds of German vehicles as they began retreating in a crazed escape. Again the Allies made their conditions worse by trying to chase after them, creating a huge traffic jam. On the positive side, thousands of German prisoners were taken each day and the German war machine was finally collapsing on itself. After the general success of "Cobra," the Allies sought to cut off the northwestern tip of France, called Brittany, then encircle the existing pocket of German resistance: the 5th and 7th Panzer Armies. The Allis immediately began streaming across France to the south and the 4th and 6th Armored divisions ran to Brittany. They were to capture the port city of Brest, but this was a controversial decision because there was no strategic value westward. Still, the Allies bombed cities and advanced into fierce German resistance, who were ordered to fight to the last man. The Allies pounded them relentlessly until the Germans finally surrendered on 17 August. Although the campaign made it to Brittany and liberated the French living there, it failed to captured the original objectives: the ports.
Simultaneously the Allies pounded the 5th Panzer Army near Falaise as Patton’s 3rd Army sped along the south to encircle the German bulge, known as the "Falaise Pocket." General Bradley then ordered one of the biggest blunders in the war by telling the 3rd Army to delay the encirclement of the Germans. Instead the Allies began hammering the German army from all sides. Hitler thought the breakout would be a good time to counter-attack in "Operation Lüttich" using the 1st and 2nd Panzer SS divisions and 2nd and 116th divisions. The operation was a failure because of intercepted German Enigma messages and the Americans already had their anti-tank defenses set up. Hitler then dismissed von Kluge, believing him to be a traitor, and replaced him with Field Marshal Walther Model, who quickly informed Hitler that retreat was necessary to avoid certain defeat. The Germans had no choice since the only available escape route was only a few miles wide and closing. Over the next 2 days the Germans ran for their lives, trying to avoid the hurricane of Allied fury which killed 10,000 men, hundreds of tanks and took 50,000 prisoners. The Allies, victorious in Normandy, turned to the east.
THE INVASION OF SOUTHERN FRANCE
Planned a year earlier, the invasion of southern
France would establish a beachhead near the Italian border
and secure the present Italian invasion. "Operation Anvil"
would rely on successes in Italy and was strongly urged by
Stalin to draw the Germans' attention to the west, which it did.
The Mediterranean defenses were far less powerful than in
Normandy, but were still deadly. They included hundreds of
guns and pillboxes under the command of General Johannes
Blaskowitz, whose 2 full armies had 200 tanks that were hastily
moved into position about a day before the invasion. On the
night of 14 August, Allied paratroopers and commandos raided
the shore as warships pounded the coast to draw attention away
from the invasion. The troops landed at 8 am 15 August, facing
almost zero resistance from a shell-shocked German army. They
quickly moved inland and were greeted by exuberant French
villagers. Most of the invasion forces accomplished their
missions at a minimal casualty rate.
Realizing he would need the endangered forces in southern France to defend Germany’s borders soon, Hitler authorized a rare retreat. Over the next week the Allies began taking cities and villages one by one, including the difficult Toulon on 4 September. With the help of Moroccan tribesmen, the Germans surrendered and gave up 17,000 POWs while the Free French armies had 2700 casualties. The Allies then pursued the German 19th Army and 11th Panzer division, leaving a trail of destruction, but the Germans still managed to escape eastward. US General John Dahlquist was blamed for failing to encircle the fleeing Germans, many of whom made it to eastern France. On 11 September General Patton moved in from the north to meet with French General Jean de Lattre to the south, strengthening Allied forces and ensuring French liberation. The 7th Army advanced 500 miles in 1 month and captured key ports on the Mediterranean, causing many to cite this as a victory. US Chief of Staff George Marshall called it “one of the most successful things we did,” but Churchill did not agree, citing that the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in southern France could have been used more effectively elsewhere.
PARIS
As they marched across France, the Allies and the Charles
de Gaulle-led French resisters drove towards Paris. Hitler’s reaction
to the incoming swarm of soldiers was to destroy Paris completely
so the Allies could not use it, and told General Dietrich von Choltitz, who had experience with scorched earth tactics, to level the city. This would not be an
easy task with a rebellious police force and 25,000 armed resisters, led by the Communists,
who on 19 August killed 50 German soldiers and wounded 100.
Talks of a truce interested Choltitz because he knew Paris could not be held in the long term,
considering most of the Allies in western Europe were heading east. They had planned to bypass the city, but he would never receive enough reinforcements to hold out in its inevitable seige. Choltitz was also disgusted that Hitler was more interested in destroying the French capital than defending it. Much of the city was rigged with explosives to blow up when the Allies came near. However, Choltitz did not want his name associated with the unnecessary destruction of the French capital and intentionally delayed acting on orders from Hitler to sacrifice Paris. After weighing the issues, he sent Swedish consule Raoul Nordling to ask the Allies to change their plans, and move on the capital immediately. If they arrived before the German reinforcements, Choltitz would show only a token resistance to save his reputation, his military pride, and the jewel of Europe.
The Allies reluctantly shifted towards Paris, although French General Jacques Leclerc was already on his way with the French 2nd armored division. The US 4th infantry division followed soon after, and a brief but bloody battle ensued. Too determined to let that stop him, Leclerc met with the French resistance leaders then signed an armistice with Choltitz at 3pm on 25 August. Soon after he met with Charles de Gaulle, whose presence signified the end of war in Paris and soon in France. This struck a huge blow to the Communists in Paris, who had hoped to seize power after their insurrection. Taking the city cost 628 Allied soldiers, 2300 French rebels, 2600 French citizens, 7200 German soldiers but netted 10,000 German POWs. The battle for France itself cost the Germans far more: 250,000 killed, 250,000 wounded and thousands of tanks destroyed. They also lost France as a resource, which contributed more food to Germany than any other occupied territory. France supplied 20% of the horses during the war, and most of the army moved on foot and most supplies came by horse-drawn carriage.
As for the French, the ones who had collaborated with the Germans were immediately dealt with as traitors. Most were not killed, but many were beaten and humiliated in public and ostracized for the rest of their lives. In the first month after liberation, France was aflame with the desire to punish anyone who sided with the Germans on any level. Hasty trials were set up and people were dragged out of their homes to face up to their crimes, even if there was little evidence against them. Often if they refused to admit their guilt they were tortured, and many innocent French people were imprisoned or executed based on the sketchy testimony of a witness. However, after 6 weeks or so, the "mob rule" mentality quieted down and legitimate trials were set up with a judge and jury. These followed legal procedures and fortunately very few criminals escaped and very few innocents were punished. Perhaps the most hated were the women who literally slept with the enemy; they were stripped to their undergarments and seated in front of a large crowd that jeered them. They were then shaved bald with swastikas painted on their faces so everyone would know for months what they had done. Some were even paraded in the streets with a sign saying "I whored with the Krauts."
THE BALKANS CHANGE SIDES
On 20 August the war in the south continued
around Romania, but the Axis-sided Romanian army was
weak and by now they had lost all faith in Germany. With
the ensuing high Romanian casualties, King Michael arrested
his dictator, Ion Antonescu, on 23 August and subsequently
began peace talks with the Allies. Hitler offered 6000
reinforcement troops, but he would have needed to give 600,000.
King Michael was insulted and declared war on Germany on
26 August and signed an armistice with the Soviets, all but
handing over Romania over to Stalin. The other Axis power,
Bulgaria, was now cut off from any outside help and tried to
sneak out of the war since technically they had never actually
declared war on the USSR. Stalin crushed out that idea by
declaring war on Bulgaria on 5 September and vowed to occupy
the country with troops and a Communist government. Stalin
kept his promise, even though Bulgaria declared war on
8 September, and he let the British handle Greece so he could
shift his attention to Hungary.
FINLAND SEEKS PEACE ONCE MORE
On 10 June Stalin sent 2 heavily armed divisions to
destroy the Finns’ stubborn persistence. The Finns put up a
strong fight, but with overwhelming numbers and munitions the
Soviets made their way up Finland. As the western front opened
up in France, the Soviets began slowing their offensive in
Scandinavia to concentrate on knocking out Germany. In late
August, Soviet-Finnish talks began again and the Soviets
demanded that either Finland break off their relations with
Germany and remove the German presence there, or Soviet troops
would take over Finland. Finland had no choice but to agree, so
in early September 1944 the Continuation War came to an end.
The Soviets reduced the reparations to $450 million, but made
Finland shrink their military to 41,500 men and let the Red Army
use their ports, ships and airports until the war was over. They
also took Petsamo and the Norwegian territory of Kirkenes, but
the new Finnish President Mannerheim could do nothing to
protest, since they had lost 60,000 men during the last summer
and could not afford to lose any more.
© 1999
