D-Day E-Book

Marc DeSantis

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Visual History
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 340

Beschreibung

On June 6, 1944, the largest military operation in history got underway in northern France as more than 150,000 Allied troops began the invasion of German-occupied Western Europe. D-Day: The Story of the Greatest Military Operation in History provides bone-chilling detailed information on how Allied Forces got to D-Day through months of meticulous planning for Operation Overlord, the fierce fighting, and the Allied leaders of WWII who conceived, shaped, and executed the plan. Learn why Normandy was chosen for the amphibious attack, how the Allied leaders deceived Hitler's army, and the military operations that followed. Incredible in-the-field photos bring the fight to life. Gain insight into the types of planes, ships, and tanks that were used and learn where you can honor the military men who sacrificed their lives on that day.

Leseprobe

THE GREATEST MILITARY OPERATION IN HISTORY

D

-

DAY

THE GREATEST MILITARY OPERATION IN HISTORY

D

-

DAY

Contributors:

Marc Desantis, Mike Haskew, Gavin Mortimer

©2024 by Future Publishing Limited

Articles in this issue are translated or reproduced from

D-Day: The Story of the Greatest Military Operation in History

and are the copyright of

or licensed to Future Publishing Limited, a Future plc group company, UK 2022.

Used under license. All rights reserved. This version published by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc.,

903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

Photographs for the Photo Gallery are credited as follows: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (145-147; 150, bottom), US Navy

Photographs, National Archives (148), National Archives & Record Administration (149, 151, 153 top, 156, 157 top),

Army Signal Corps Collection,

National Archives (150, top), Library of Congress; Arche J. Lewis Collection (152), US Coast Guard Collection in the National Archives (153,

bottom, 160), Library of Congress, Frank E. McKee Collection (154, top left), Library of Congress; Philip Edward Bonner Collection (154, top right

and top middle), Courtesy of the U.S. Army Center of Military History (154, bottom; 155, bottom), National Archives (155, top), Public domain/

mediadrumworld.com (157, bottom and logo), Library of Congress; Dorothy Cutts Collection (158 top, both), Shutterstock.com,

Everett Collection (158 bottom,159 bottom), Blackstone Studios (159, top).

For more information about the Future plc group, go to

http://www.futureplc.com

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INTRODUCTION

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the largest land,

sea, and air operation in history got under way

in northern France, as more than 150,000 Allied

troops began the invasion of German-occupied

Western Europe. Failure was not an option.

Inside we tell the remarkable story of D-Day,

from the months of meticulous planning and

preparation that made it possible, to the invasion

itself and the fierce fighting that followed as the

Allies fought to liberate France. We celebrate

some of the heroes of Operation Overlord, speak

to D-Day veterans as they share their experiences,

and discover the Allied leaders who conceived,

shaped, and executed the ambitious plans. We

look at the role the French Resistance played in

the run-up to and during the invasions and how the

German response may have helped the Allies gain

a vital foothold, while also exploring the potentially

devastating consequences for the world if the

landings had failed.

D-DAY

The World Holds Its Breath

44

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the Allied

invasion of Europe began.

B-26 Marauder

48

This US Army Air Force war bird played a vital

role during Operation Overlord.

Hitting the Beaches

59

Allied troops faced fierce German resistance

on the Normandy beaches.

Anatomy of an LCVP

66

The Higgins boat was the small landing craft

that changed the war.

The Beachhead and Beyond

68

Consolidating their foothold in Normandy,

Allied forces pushed inland.

Hobart’s Funnies

72

These specialized tanks were vital in

overcoming all terrains in France.

D-Day, Bastogne, and Beyond

74

Interview with David Teacher MBE, one of

the first men to land at Juno Beach.

Heroes of Overlord

88

The success of the Allied operation owed

much to small but crucial acts of heroism.

The German Response

90

Poor leadership from the top fatally

hampered the German retaliation to D-Day.

The Allied

Invasion

THE ROAD

TO D-DAY

Discover the

meticulous planning

that made Operation

Overlord possible.

18

8

A D-Day Timeline

10

Why Was Normandy Chosen

for D-Day?

25

A perfect location was needed for the

largest amphibious invasion in history.

Rampart of the Reich

28

The Atlantic Wall was Hitler’s first line of

defense for “Fortress Europe.”

The D-Day Deception

32

Allied efforts to deceive the Germans were

vital to the success of the invasion.

Architects of Victory:

Leading Overlord

36

Meet the Allied leaders who conceived,

shaped, and executed Operation Overlord.

Assault on Fortress Europe

Discover the incredible events

of the Allied invasion of

Normandy.

Preparing for

D-Day

Beyond the

Beaches

CONTENTS

PERILOUS

AIRBORNE

INSERTION

The heroic airborne

divisions tasked with

seizing key objectives.

55

THE FRENCH

RESISTANCE & D-DAY

Discover the many contributions made by the French

Resistance before and during the Normandy assault.

84

SAS D-DAY

MISSIONS

The daring special forces

missions of Operation Overlord.

108

Villers-Bocage

99

Allied and German forces clash in a cramble

to grab strategic positions.

Breaking Out from Normandy

118

The Allies faced a monumental task as they

pushed on to Paris.

Friendly Fire off Normandy

124

WWII veteran Claude Sealey reveals a

deadly encounter with his own countrymen.

The Importance of D-Day

132

With the future of Europe hanging in the

balance, D-Day’s success was essential.

What If D-Day Had Failed?

136

The consequences of a failure on D-Day

would have been felt for decades to come.

Destination Normandy

140

Normandy is home to some of Europe’s

most important battlefields and

landmarks.

Photo Gallery

145

9

ASSAULT ON

FORTRESS

EUROPE

A D-DAY TIMELINE

After months of preparation, Allied forces assault Nazi defenses

on the coast of French Normandy, establishing a foothold in Western Europe.

10

OPERATION DYNAMO

JUNE 4, 1940

THE FRENCH PORT CITY OF DUNKIRK

Operation Dynamo, the 10-day effort to evacuate

soldiers of the French Army and the British

Expeditionary Force from the continent of Europe

at the port city of Dunkirk, concludes with the

rescue of nearly 340,000 troops from annihilation

or capture by victorious German forces following

their invasion of France and the Low Countries on

May 10. Dynamo involves scores of small civilian

watercraft as well as military vessels and succeeds

beyond expectations as planners expected to

evacuate only about 30,000. The Battle of France

ends in shattering defeat, and the Allies do not

return to Western Europe until D-Day in 1944.

1942

ROOSEVELT RECEIVES OPERATION

ROUNDUP PLAN

APRIL 1, 1942

WASHINGTON, DC

US Army Chief of Staff General George C.

Marshall presents President Roosevelt with a

blueprint for an invasion of Nazi-occupied Western

Europe tentatively scheduled for 1943. British

war planners have considered such an operation,

codenamed Roundup, since 1941. However, success

seems bleak until sufficient strength is amassed.

Roundup is postponed at British urging in favor

of peripheral efforts, including landings in North

Africa and invasions of Sicily and Italy. The plan is

eventually supplanted by Operation Overlord.

Above: British soldiers

fire their rifles at

low-flying German

aircraft while awaiting

evacuation from a

Dunkirk beach.

1940

11

ASSAULT ON FORTRESS EUROPE

Left: General Marshall and others stand behind

President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston

Churchill during talks in August 1941.

DISASTER AT DIEPPE

AUGUST 19, 1942

FRENCH PORT OF DIEPPE ON THE

ENGLISH CHANNEL

In response to pressure from Soviet Premier

Joseph Stalin to mount offensive operations and

soon open a second front in Europe, as well as

to test the strength of German forces occupying

defenses along the coast of France, the Allies

mount Operation Jubilee, a heavy raid involving

6,000 troops, primarily Canadian, along with

tanks and supporting air and naval forces. The

effort is doomed from the start, and fails with

more than 900 killed, 500 wounded, and 1,900

captured. However, Allied planners apply lessons

learned at Dieppe in the refinement of Operation

Overlord, the invasion of Normandy that takes

place in 1944.

OVERLORD ADVANCES AT QUADRANT

CONFERENCE

AUGUST 17–24, 1943

QUEBEC CITY, CANADA

During the first Quebec (Quadrant) Conference, the

Combined Chiefs of Staff present a tentative plan,

codenamed Operation Overlord, for the invasion of

Nazi-occupied France. President Franklin D. Roosevelt

and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agree in principle

to continue discussions and planning for the offensive

that will eventually result in the liberation of Western

Europe. A proposed date for the invasion of May 1, 1944,

is selected, but the massive logistical marshaling of men

and materiel in Britain must first be accomplished.

Below: Canadian Prime Minister William

Mackenzie King confers with President Roosevelt

and Prime Minister Churchill in Quebec.

Right: A German soldier stands

among the bodies of dead Canadian

troops on the beach at Dieppe.

Canadian prisoners captured during the

abortive Dieppe raid raise their hands

as directed by a German soldier.

GENERAL DWIGHT EISENHOWER IS APPOINTED TO

COMMAND OPERATION OVERLORD

December 6, 1943

Cairo, Egypt

1943

12

A D-DAY TIMELINE

EXERCISE TIGER

APRIL 28, 1944

SLAPTON SANDS, DEVON

A large-scale rehearsal for the D-Day landings

in Normandy, codenamed Exercise Tiger, ends

in tragedy due to a series of errors and an attack

by German torpedo boats off the English coast

near Slapton Sands. Incorrect radio frequencies

frustrate communications, while a British

destroyer previously detailed to escort eight US

Navy Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs) is mistakenly

ordered to Plymouth for repairs. Two LSTs are

torpedoed and sunk. Two others are heavily

damaged, and more than 700 US Army and Navy

personnel are killed. Many die due to improperly

worn lifejackets and the lethally cold water, which

causes hypothermia.

THE FINAL DECISION

JUNE 5, 1944

SOUTHWICK HOUSE NEAR

PORTSMOUTH

After foul weather has forced a 24-hour

postponement of Operation Overlord, General

Dwight Eisenhower, Allied supreme commander,

convenes the seventh and final meeting of his

most senior commanders at 4:15 a.m. to gauge

support for launching the invasion during a

window of somewhat favorable weather on June 6.

Eisenhower listens to concerns and then considers

the situation. Men are already aboard ships, and

the next favorable tides and other atmospheric

conditions are two weeks away. He announces,

“Okay, we’ll go!”

Top left: American soldiers

engage in a training

exercise at Slapton

Sands prior to D-Day.

1944

Left: This Sherman tank,

raised from waters off

Slapton Sands, stands as a

memorial to Exercise Tiger.

Allied Supreme Commander General

Dwight D. Eisenhower poses with

his subordinates charged with

directing Operation Overlord.

Southwick House near Portsmouth served as headquarters

for the Allied Expeditionary Force in 1944.

June 5

APRIL

D-DAY IS SCHEDULED FOR

JUNE 5, 1944

May 17, 1944

Southwick House

near Portsmouth

BAD WEATHER FORCES

EISENHOWER TO DELAY D-DAY

9:30 p.m., June 3, 1944

Southwick House

near Portsmouth

Image source: Creative Commons © Amber Kincaid

13

ASSAULT ON FORTRESS EUROPE

THE AIRBORNE ASSAULT GETS

UNDERWAY

JUNE 5, 1944

AIRFIELDS ACROSS BRITAIN

At approximately 11 p.m. on June 5, Allied aircraft begin

taking off from airfields across Britain. Approximately

20,000 paratroopers and glider troops of the British

6th and American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions

are to secure the flanks of the 50-mile (80-kilometer)

invasion front. The 6th Airborne must seize or destroy

bridges across the River Orne, the Orne Canal, and

other waterways while controlling high ground between

the Orne and the River Dives. The 101st is to seize key

causeways, or exits, from Utah Beach, facilitating the

advance of the US 4th Infantry Division. The 82nd is to

capture the village of Sainte-Mère-Église and secure key

bridges across the River Merderet.

EARLY AIRBORNE WARNINGS

JUNE 6, 1944

COASTLINE OF FRENCH NORMANDY

Just after midnight, multiple sightings of transport

planes, gliders, and Allied airborne troops on the

ground begin to circulate among various German

command posts. Sentries along the coast of Normandy

radio alerts that they have seen low-flying Allied planes

in the vicinity of the Cotentin Peninsula. Elite airborne

troops of the 13th Company, 6th Parachute Regiment,

serving as infantry, report enemy paratroopers near

their positions. An officer of the 5th Battalion, 125th

Mechanized Infantry Regiment spots British gliders

and parachutes east of the River Orne.

British troops of the 6th

Airborne Division blacken

their faces prior to

departure for Normandy.

ALLIED BOMBING BEGINS

JUNE 6, 1944

SKIES ABOVE NORMANDY

Over 100 bombers of Royal Air Force Bomber Command No. 1 Group and No. 100 Group

raid German antiaircraft positions near the important communications center of Caen

about eight miles (13 kilometers) behind the D-Day invasion beaches at about 12:30 a.m.

Meanwhile, the first of nearly 1,200 bombers of the US 8th Air Force begin taking off from

airfields in Britain to attack targets in Normandy to impede the Germans. Over 5,500

Allied bombers and fighters have been assigned to Operation Overlord, destroying enemy

infrastructure while maintaining air superiority above the beaches.

Allied bombers attack German

coastal defenses in Normandy

prior to the D-Day landings.

The French city of

Caen devastated by

a sustained Allied

bombing campaign

before and after D-Day.

BRITISH PARAS ASSAULT

PEGASUS BRIDGE

12:21 a.m., June 6, 1944

Orne Canal, Normandy

AMERICAN PARATROOPERS

OCCUPY SAINTE-MÈRE-

ÉGLISE

5 a.m., June 6, 1944

English Channel, off the

coast of Normandy

June 6

MERVILLE BATTERY SILENCED

4:45 a.m., June 6, 1944

Sword Beach, Normandy

14

A D-DAY TIMELINE

ARRIVAL OFF OMAHA BEACH

JUNE 6, 1944

ENGLISH CHANNEL OFF NORMANDY COAST

Hours after embarking aboard transport vessels, soldiers of the US 1st

and 29th Infantry Divisions arrive approximately 14 miles (23 kilometers)

off Omaha Beach at around 3 a.m. on D-Day. When the order is given,

the soldiers begin making their way down cargo nets into landing craft

that bob intermittently with the swells of the restless English Channel.

About the same time, troops of the US 4th Infantry Division arrive off

Utah Beach and begin making similar preparations for the run-in to the

landing beaches.

JUNE 6, 1944

American troops exit

their landing craft under

heavy German fire at

Omaha Beach.

LANDING AT UTAH BEACH

JUNE 6, 1944

UTAH BEACH, NORMANDY

Difficult currents push landing craft some distance from the intended landfall

locations of the US 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division, coming ashore at Utah

Beach about 6:30 a.m. Surprisingly little German resistance is encountered.

Regimental commander Colonel James Van Fleet and assistant division

commander Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. decide to “start the war from

here,” rather than redirecting successive waves of troops and equipment to the

original beach locations. The 8th Regiment begins offensive operations, eventually

spearheading a six-mile (10-kilometer) drive inland. Only 197 men are killed,

but some of the 4th Division’s D-Day objectives are not accomplished due to the

mistaken landing.

Below: American soldiers wade ashore

at Utah Beach against surprisingly

light German resistance on D-Day.

Right: German prisoners captured at

Utah Beach sit inside a barbed-wire

enclosure and await transport.

RELEASE THE PANZER RESERVES!

JUNE 6, 1944

FIELD MARSHAL RUNDSTEDT’S HEADQUARTERS, SAINT-

GERMAIN, FRANCE

Awake before 3 a.m., Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt,

commander of German forces in the west, is convinced that

reports of enemy airborne operations confirm an imminent

amphibious landing. He requests approval from the high

command for the release of armored reserves, but such orders

require Hitler’s personal approval. The Führer is asleep and not

to be disturbed. At 10 a.m., Hitler denies Rundstedt’s request.

Finally, Hitler acquiesces at 2:30 p.m., but it is too late to push

the invasion back into the sea.

Above: Field Marshals Gerd von Rundstedt and Erwin Rommel

(left) discuss Atlantic Wall defenses prior to D-Day.

ALLIED NAVAL

BOMBARDMENT BEGINS

5:30 a.m., June 6, 1944

English Channel, off the

coast of Normandy

MOVEMENT INLAND FROM OMAHA

BEACH TAKES SHAPE

9 a.m., June 6, 1944

Omaha Beach, Normandy

AMERICAN RANGERS BEGIN ASSAULT ON POINTE DU HOC

7:11 a.m., June 6, 1944

Cliffs of Pointe du Hoc

between Utah and Omaha beaches

15

ASSAULT ON FORTRESS EUROPE

RELIEF AT PEGASUS BRIDGE

JUNE 6, 1944

ORNE CANAL, NORMANDY

Following a precision insertion aboard gliders just

after midnight, the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire, and

Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Ox and Bucks) swiftly

seize the Benouville Bridge across the Orne Canal.

Reinforced by the 7th Parachute Battalion at 3 a.m., they

are finally relieved around 1 p.m. as Commandos arrive

from Sword Beach. The span is later renamed Pegasus

Bridge in their honor. Elsewhere, approximately 150 men

of the 9th Parachute Battalion have lost half their number

seizing the German battery at Merville, which threatened

Sword Beach.

ORDEAL AND DECISION AT

OMAHA BEACH

JUNE 6, 1944

COMMAND SHIP USS AUGUSTA OFF

OMAHA BEACH

Soldiers of the US 1st and 29th Infantry

Divisions encounter the fiercest German

resistance on D-Day at Omaha Beach.

Early reports indicate that the first wave

has foundered with heavy casualties and

many soldiers pinned down on the beach by

heavy enemy fire. For a time, General Omar

Bradley, commander of US ground troops,

considers a withdrawal from embattled

Omaha and redirection of subsequent waves

to other sectors. By midday, however, he is

relieved with assurances that small groups of

American soldiers have started moving up the

bluffs, silencing German bunkers and machine

gun nests at “Bloody Omaha,” and that they

have begun moving inland.

FRUSTRATED GERMAN

COUNTERATTACK

JUNE 6, 1944

NORMAN COUNTRYSIDE BETWEEN JUNO AND SWORD BEACHES

Late in the afternoon, elements of the 21st Panzer Division reach a 13km

(8mi) gap separating Juno and Sword Beaches during the only major German

counterattack on D-Day. That morning, 21st Panzer had been a short distance

from the bridges across the River Orne and Orne Canal, positioned to possibly

overrun British forces holding the spans. However, redirected to attack on

the other side of the Orne, the division took hours to reorganize. When the

attack is launched at about 4 p.m., 21st Panzer meets stiff opposition. Without

reinforcements to exploit the advance to the coast, the Germans are obliged to

withdraw. The Allied D-Day lodgment is secure.

Right: American soldiers face heavy German resistance

after landing on Omaha Beach.

Pegasus Bridge across the Orne Canal is shown three

days after its capture in a brilliant operation.

Below: Field Marshal Erwin

Rommel inspects the 21st

Panzer Division in May 1944.

21ST PANZER DIVISION IS ORDERED TO

END ITS COUNTERATTACK AND WITHDRAW

9 p.m., June 6, 1944

Village of Lion-sur-Mer

4TH DIVISION LINKS UP WITH ELEMENTS

OF 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION

12 p.m., June 6, 1944

Causeway exits from Utah Beach, Normandy

CANADIAN TROOPS FROM JUNO BEACH AND BRITISH

FORCES FROM GOLD BEACH LINK UP

2:15 p.m., June 6, 1944

Near village of Creully, Normandy

PREPARING FOR

D-DAY

Thoughts of a return to France started in 1940, but it would take

four years of fighting and planning before the Allies were ready.

THE ROAD

TO D-DAY

18

WHY WAS

NORMANDY

CHOSEN

FOR D-DAY?

25

For Hitler’s Fortress Europe to crumble, a perfect location had

to be chosen for the largest amphibious invasion in history.

16

Image source: National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged

Identifier (NAID) 195516. Public Domain

© Getty

Image source: IWM photograph collection TR 1347

Public Domain

PREPARING FOR D-DAY

Allied efforts to deceive the Germans were vital

to the success of the Normandy invasion.

THE D-DAY DECEPTION

32

Hitler sought to defend his empire with the

Atlantic Wall—the first line of defense for

“Fortress Europe.”

ARCHITECTS

OF VICTORY

36

Meet the Allied military leaders

who conceived, shaped, and

executed Operation Overlord.

© Getty

© Getty

Image source: U.S Federal Government Public Domain

Image source: U.S Federal

Government Public Domain

Image source: UK Government Public Domain

RAMPART OF THE

REICH

28

THE ROAD

TO D-DAY

Thoughts of a return to France started as soon as the last British soldiers were

evacuated in 1940, but it would take four years of fighting and planning before the

Allies were ready.

BY

DAVID SMITH

American forces land on D-Day.

18

PREPARING FOR D-DAY

O

n June 4, 1940, the evacuation from

Dunkirk was completed. The British

Expeditionary Force had lost more

than 66,000 men, but almost a quarter

of a million had been snatched from

the clutches of advancing German units. It did not mark

the end of Britain’s involvement on the Continent in

the early months of the war—there were still British

soldiers fighting alongside the remnants of the French

Army, and 60,000 more were sent back to France after

the evacuation from Dunkirk, forming a second British

Expeditionary Force.

It was a futile gesture, as General Sir Alan

Brooke found the French in a state of turmoil.

Almost as soon as his men arrived, he ordered a

stop to further reinforcements and headed back

to the coast for evacuation, against the wishes of

Winston Churchill. In Operation Aerial, 124,000

personnel were brought back to Britain. This

time, the removal was to be more long-term, as

the threat of a German invasion preoccupied

the British, but there was still room for more

optimistic thoughts. A return to the Continent

was inevitable if the war was to end in victory, and

planning started almost immediately.

Initial Planning

The losses sustained during the battle for France

had been substantial. For almost every man lost,

Britain had also lost a military vehicle of some

description, with an incredible 64,000 still left in

France. Almost 2,500 guns had been abandoned as

well, while six destroyers had been sunk and more

than 400 fighter planes downed by the enemy.

There was a realization that an invasion would

require a huge amount of preparation. Germany

would have to be weakened at the same time as

Allied strength was built up. There could be no

hope of an invasion before America entered the

war, but even then it would take time for that

nation’s massive war-making capability to get up

to speed.

In order for an invasion to succeed, sea lanes

would need to be secure, bases would need to be

set up, men and materiel amassed, and strategic

targets in Germany bombed.

19

“IN ORDER FOR AN INVASION TO SUCCEED, SEA LANES WOULD

NEED TO BE SECURE, BASES WOULD NEED TO BE SET UP, MEN AND

MATERIEL AMASSED, AND STRATEGIC TARGETS IN GERMANY BOMBED.”

THE ROAD TO D-DAY

Churchill set up Combined Operations

Headquarters (COHQ) after Dunkirk, initially

giving it responsibility for launching raids

on the coast of France and other enemy held

territories (the first such raid was carried out by

120 Commandos on June 23, 1940). Under the

command of Louis Mountbatten from October

1941, COHQ assumed the task of preparing for a

return to France.

The Low Point

By the summer of 1942, hopes of an invasion

seemed fanciful. The war was going badly,

with German and Japanese forces apparently

unstoppable. Russia seemed to be on the verge

of collapse and the Russian leader, Joseph Stalin,

was increasingly strident in his demands for the

opening of a second front to ease the pressure on

his beleaguered armies.

British and American planners still believed

April or May 1943 was the earliest possible date for

a full-scale invasion. The Arcadia strategy, agreed

in December 1941 (two weeks after American

Photo by Time Life Pictures/US Army Air Force/

The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

entry into the war following Pearl Harbor), called

for a sustained strategic bombing campaign,

small-scale offensives, and the setting up of bases

in preparation for an invasion of Europe, possibly

on more than one front.

The scale of such an invasion had been laid out

in Operation Roundup in early 1942. It was to be

a major undertaking involving a total of 48 Allied

divisions, but it was nowhere near ready. As a stop-

gap measure, and in something of a panic over the

situation on the Eastern Front, a smaller invasion

was proposed, to be staged by the British before

the end of 1942.

Operation Sledgehammer was to be an ad hoc

invasion, with the British basically throwing

anything they could spare across the Channel in

an attempt to divert German attention from the

crumbling Red Army. There was no chance of it

achieving much and little enthusiasm for it, but the

need to do something was becoming intolerable.

Although Sledgehammer was eventually deemed a

futile gesture, the need to act remained and would

lead to one of the most costly failures of the entire

war.

The Fallback Option

After the cancellation of Operation Sledgehammer,

a different operation was turned to. A small-scale

raid on the French port of Dieppe, codenamed

Rutter, had been suggested by COHQ in April

1942. It might, the thinking went, be enough to

satisfy Stalin and might just achieve something

worthwhile.

Retrospectively, much would be made of the

raid’s role in the future planning of D-Day, but

this was barely mentioned prior to the operation

taking place. Mostly, it had a political imperative.

It would show that the British took Stalin’s

concerns seriously, it would satisfy the craving

of the public to carry the fight to the Germans,

and it would also give employment to a neglected

part of the army at the Allies’ disposal. Canadian

troops had been based and training in Britain for

two and a half years but were yet to see action.

Operation Rutter would boost morale among the

Canadian troops, and among the populations of

both Canada and Britain.

No records survive of any high strategic goals

for the raid. There was a vague hope that it might

somehow trigger a major air confrontation with

the

Luftwaffe,

and it was anticipated the RAF

would come out on top of such a clash, which

might limit German air operations in the east.

Still, practice of amphibious operations was

badly needed. The British had not mounted

a major amphibious assault since Gallipoli

in 1917, while the Americans had to go back

to their Civil War for their last experience.

Both nations had doctrines in place, but it was

untested. Mountbatten wrote that “this operation

will be of great value as training for Operation

Sledgehammer or any other major operation as far

as the actual assault is concerned.” It would turn

out to be the only saving grace of the operation.

Disaster at Dieppe

Bad weather forced Rutter to be called off on July

4 (despite the patriotic overtones of the original

chosen date, the Americans had nothing to do

with the inception or planning of the raid) and

20

PREPARING FOR D-DAY

there were thoughts that it should not be revived.

Bernard Montgomery, responsible for the army

side of the operation, declared his desire that it

be shelved “for all time,” but it was resurrected

with a new codename, Jubilee, in August. There

were distinct security risks involved with this, as

the personnel involved had been briefed on their

destination prior to the aborted launch of Rutter

and had since been released on leave. Despite these

concerns, the raid went ahead on August 19, 1942.

The Canadians bore most of the burden,

providing 5,000 infantrymen for the assault. The

Royal Navy provided 3,500 personnel, with 1,200

Commandos and 60 US Rangers completing the

assaulting units. Four destroyers would shepherd

the force to its target.

Dieppe had been chosen partly because it was

considered essential to capture a port as part of

any large-scale invasion—the amount of men and

equipment needed to sustain a full-scale invasion

of France would be immense. Other potential

targets in Normandy, including Caen, Cherbourg,

and St. Malo, had been discounted for various

reasons.

There were some small successes involved

with the raid, most notably when Commandos

managed to knock out a German coastal gun

position. Other than this, the landing was a

disaster. Within 12 hours, more than 60 percent of

the assaulting force had been killed, wounded, or

captured.

German defenses had proved far more

formidable than anticipated, communications

between naval vessels and the shore were poor, and

concrete tank barriers prevented Canadian armor

from advancing into the town. All 27 of the tanks

that made it to the beach were lost. Out of the

5,000 Canadians who took part in the operation,

just over 2,000 returned to Britain. One destroyer

and 33 landing craft were also lost. Perhaps most

disappointing, the RAF did not achieve superiority

over the

Luftwaffe

and actually lost more planes

than the Germans. Despite this, morale among the

returning Canadian troops was high as they had

finally got involved in the war.

Lessons Learned

The raid also provided essential information on

the mounting of amphibious assaults. Lessons

were learned and distilled into a report soon after

the operation ended. The key findings would shape

planning for the eventual landings at Normandy.

Surprise, it had been learned, could not be relied

upon to give a decisive advantage. Continuous

air support was essential, as was overwhelming

fire support from naval vessels. Intensive training

for the assault force was recommended, so that it

could perform with “a coherence comparable to

that of any other first line fighting formations.”

The need for development of close-support

naval vessels and specialized tanks for clearing

beach defenses was also highlighted. As a result of

the raid, Force J was formed, a naval assault force

tasked with creating new doctrine. The result of

their work, the “Force J Fighting Instructions,”

would be employed on D-Day.

“Dieppe occupies a place of its own in the story

of the war,” Churchill would comment, “and the

grim casualty figures must not class it as a failure

. . . Tactically it was a mine of experience . . .

© Getty

© Getty

21

Everyone’s contribution would be important

on D-Day, but the engineers would play a

particularly critical role.

ENGINEERS

IN THE

FIRING LINE

As well as planning on what might be considered

the “macro scale” for D-Day, units had to plan on

the micro scale too. Nowhere was this more true

than for the engineers who would accompany the

assault troops onto the beaches of Normandy.

The landing would have three phases: the assault

phase, an initial dump phase (where ammunition

and other supplies would be left on the beach for

subsequent waves of troops), and a maintenance

dump phase. The first two phases would take place

on D-Day itself.

In the US 1st Army, allocated to Utah and Omaha

beaches, Engineer Special Brigades were charged

with supporting the assault infantry. One quarter

of the men that landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day

were engineers. In the first phase of the landing,

special assault gapping teams would aim to clear

gaps in the lines of obstacles protecting the beach.

A total of 16 such teams accompanied the first

wave of troops to the shore.

Engineer battalion beach groups were scheduled

to follow eight minutes later, with ammunition and

fuel to create dumps for the landing troops. They

were also to improvise roads for armored vehicles

and make sure exits off the beach were open.

The plan flew in the face of conventional

thinking, which insisted that engineers could

not work effectively under heavy fire, but it

was an unavoidable gamble. Despite the many

impediments to their work (including infantrymen

sheltering behind beach obstacles and refusing to

move), the American engineers cleared six routes

off the beaches at Omaha, but they would suffer a

casualty rate of a devastating

40 percent.

THE ROAD TO D-DAY

Supplies are unloaded from one of

the Mulberry harbors constructed

for the Normandy landings.

The price of failure: bodies

litter the beach at Dieppe.

American combat engineers

in England take a break while

preparing for the D-Day invasion.

© Getty

Strategically the raid seemed to make the Germans

more conscious of danger along the whole coast of

occupied France.”

It might have been cold comfort in the

aftermath of the disastrous raid, but Churchill was

not wrong. In fact, the Allies and the Germans

learned contradictory lessons from the failure.

While the Allies recognized that attacking a port

head-on was too risky, the Germans believed they

needed to boost their port defenses. Key elements

were falling into place for the Normandy landings,

but first, attention would be diverted to North

Africa.

Operation Torch

The Allies were clearly not ready to contemplate a

major invasion of France, and the May 1943 target

was now unrealistic. The raid on Dieppe had also

been little more than a token effort and a second

front was still required. North Africa was chosen

as an easier option, and Operation Torch finally

commenced in North Africa in November 1942.

Preparations for a major invasion of Europe

had not stopped, however. The precursor to the

now-moribund Roundup, the massing of men

and materiel in southern England, was still

underway under the codename Bolero. In one of

the seemingly endless streams of conferences,

this one held at Casablanca in January 1943,

several key points were agreed upon. First and

foremost, the war against the U-boats in the

Atlantic would be stepped up (it was essential

before really large-scale shipments for the

invasion could be risked). The scope of the

strategic bombing campaign would be increased,

and the buildup of forces in Britain would

continue as quickly as possible.

The eventual success in North Africa led to

the invasion of Sicily and then Italy, and with the

Americans also preoccupied with their Japanese

foe in the Pacific Theater, the date for a proposed

invasion of France slipped. At the Trident

Conference in Washington, DC, held in May 1943,

the date was pushed back to the following May.

The conference was also notable for the shift in

balance in the relationship between the Americans

The Allies were desperate to gain experience of amphibious landings, but those

experiences were not always positive.

THE REHEARSALS

As well as the raid on Dieppe, various other smaller-

scale operations (including a landing at Anzio in

January 1944) provided valuable experience in the

buildup to D-Day, and significant rehearsals for

amphibious landings were staged. They would prove

that even rehearsals could go badly wrong.

One such rehearsal took place in the Pacific,

where the Americans were preparing for an

amphibious assault on the Solomon Islands in

1942. The US Army’s amphibious warfare doctrine

had been laid down in a 1938 paper, but almost no

training had been undertaken. Suitable beaches

on Fiji were selected for practice landings and

extractions on July 28 and 30. Problems included

the fact that most of the landing craft used did

not have front ramps, so heavily laden Marines

had to clamber over the sides when approaching

the beaches and several men nearly drowned.

After a chaotic performance, the second day of

landings was canceled, but several officers were

not informed and landing craft set off again into

the teeth of a live naval artillery barrage. It was a

terrifying confirmation that amphibious landings

required painstaking precision and cooperation.

PREPARING FOR D-DAY

22

Loading of landing craft at Anzio, one of many

operations that provided invaluable, but often costly,

experience for the Normandy landings.

American troops land at Algiers as part of

Operation Torch, ramping up the pressure

on the Germans in North Africa.

Image source: National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged

Identifier (NAID) 195516. Public Domain

© Getty

and the British. With America now fully engaged

in the war and beginning to flex its industrial

muscle, it was becoming the senior partner.

As such, the Americans vented their frustration

over the delays in mounting the invasion of France

and another interim operation was proposed: the

medium-scale Roundhammer, which would utilize

a mere three divisions in its initial assault phase. It

was tentatively scheduled for May 1944.

D-Day Takes Shape

At the same time, lessons learned from Dieppe

were being acted upon. The need for close-support

naval vessels was solved by arming landing craft

with a variety of weaponry, including five-inch

rockets and 4.7-inch guns. Specialized armored

vehicles (known as “funnies”) were developed

to deal with beach defenses (the “flail tank” for

clearing mines is perhaps the most famous) and

some tanks were converted for amphibious use. An

emphasis was also placed on improving ship-to-

shore communications.

At the same time, intelligence was being

gathered on potential landing spots. After the

beaches of Normandy were selected, aerial

reconnaissance and even the purchase of tourist

postcards helped the Allies piece together a picture

of the defenses that would be awaiting them upon

their invasion.

The command structure for the operation was

also taking shape. Montgomery, with experience

of working alongside the Americans in Italy

(not with the greatest of harmony, it must be

said) was put in charge of the Army Group that

would handle the invasion. His first impression

of the plans that had been drawn up was not

favorable. Monty believed the scale of the initial

invasion was far too small. Now codenamed

Overlord, but based in part on the medium-size

Roundhammer proposal, Monty believed it was

seriously underpowered and immediately ramped

up the scale of the initial assault. Five divisions

would now storm the beaches, with three more

airborne divisions protecting the flanks of the

landing zones. D-Day was beginning to take a

recognizable shape.

Stalin was also still free with his opinion,

advocating a secondary, supporting invasion of

southern France at the same time as Overlord.

Codenamed Anvil, this operation did eventually

take place but, being mounted significantly later

than originally envisaged, it played no role in

supporting the Normandy landings.

The Best Laid Plans

Planning for Overlord (and Operation Neptune,

the initial phase of the invasion) continued,

dealing with one immense problem after another.

The decision, post-Dieppe, not to assault a major

port, led to the adoption of two prefabricated

“Mulberry” harbors, while the problem of fuel

supply was apparently solved with the provision of

the Pipeline Under the Ocean (PLUTO).

There was debate over which targets pre-

invasion air strikes should concentrate on (bridges

or rail yards) and how to ensure resupply for the

hundreds of thousands of troops that would be put

on shore if the initial assaults were successful.

With five beaches targeted, to be tackled by

the British (Gold and Sword beaches), Canadians

(Juno Beach), and Americans (Utah and Omaha

beaches), the plan gradually took shape. It was

the product of hard lessons and hard negotiating.

There had been delays and compromises along

the way and none of the elements would work

flawlessly, opening the field for endless debate in

the immediate aftermath and the decades that

followed.

It was, however, little short of a miraculous

undertaking, vast in ambition and unprecedented

in scale. Churchill would later claim of D-Day

(perhaps not entirely accurately but with his usual

flair with words) that, “Everything proceeded

according to plan. And what a plan!”

“THERE HAD BEEN DELAYS AND COMPROMISES ALONG

THE WAY AND NONE OF THE ELEMENTS WOULD WORK

FLAWLESSLY, OPENING THE FIELD FOR ENDLESS

DEBATE.”

23

THE ROAD TO D-DAY

British soldiers

evacuated from

Dunkirk arrive back

at Dover on May 31,

1940.

Image Source:IWM photograph

collection H 1623 Public Domain

24

The scale and the intensity of the

scenes on Omaha were like nothing

ever before seen in military history.

PREPARING FOR D-DAY

© Getty

BY

JACK GRIFFITHS

25

WHY WAS NORMANDY CHOSEN FOR D-DAY?

British Spitfires and Hurricanes were

bolstered by American Mustangs

and Lightnings as the Luftwaffe was

overwhelmed in the lead-up to D-Day

Image Source:United States Air Force

ID 021002-O-9999G-006 Public Domain

WHY WAS

NORMANDY

CHOSEN FOR

D-DAY?

W

estern Europe had been

under German occupation

for four years when the decision

was made to punch a hole in

the Atlantic Wall. World War II

was entering its final stages and the Allies believed

that the time was right to grasp a foothold in

France and begin the liberation of Western Europe

from the grip of National Socialism.

The plan for D-Day was to land a task force

on the French coast, where the Atlantic Wall—a

system of defenses featuring machine guns,

artillery, and fortifications that stretched from

Norway to Spain—was at its weakest. The British

high command was adamant that any invasion

would not be a repeat of the failed 1942 attack on

Dieppe, a miscalculation that had resulted in 3,000

Allied soldiers being cut down by German bullets

in just eight hours.

The idea for D-Day, officially codenamed

Operation Neptune, was initially conceived at the

First Quebec Conference

that took place in Canada

in August 1943. Here,

British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill met

with US President Franklin

Delano Roosevelt, to agree

on the future strategy of

the war. The deliberation

over what to do included

For Hitler’s Fortress Europe to crumble,

a perfect location had to be chosen for the largest

amphibious invasion in history.

a potential attack through the Mediterranean or

the Balkans to target Fascist Italy, undoubtedly

the Axis’ junior member. They eventually settled

on an attack on France’s western seaboard, which

would initiate Operation Overlord, the invasion

of Western Europe. If successful, it could deliver a

crippling blow and turn the tide of the war against

Nazi Germany.

In the Atlantic, the Allies had finally gained

the upper hand against the Kriegsmarine’s

U-boat wolf packs, allowing troops and supplies

to be safely and freely shipped between the US

and Britain. As a result, there was a realistic

chance of an invasion of Western Europe to

open up a second front against Hitler’s armies.

Soviet leader Stalin in particular was a huge

advocate of the idea as an attack from the west

would relieve the strain on the Soviet Union’s