Sunday, December 8, 2019

The D-Day invasion

D-Day codenamed Operation Overlord happened on June 6, 1944, and was an allied invasion of Normandy to liberate most of Western Europe from Nazi control. In the invasion. 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region.

The invasion of Normandy was one of histories largest amphibious military assaults in addition to a massive effort to mislead the German troops. In preparation, General Dwight Eisenhower was tasked with organizing this monumentous invasion against Germany. The Germans had no idea where the allies were going to invade so Hitler asked Erwin Hommel to build 2400 miles of fortifications such as concrete bunkers, land mines, and water obstacles. Because the allies had the element of surprise on their side, they decided to deceive the Germans and plotted a massive deception, otherwise known as Operation Fortitude. They wanted to persuade the Germans into thinking that the allies were focused on Pas-de-Calais and other beaches and used phantom troops led by General Patton to deceive the Germans and set up fake radio transmissions along with fake equipment such as fake tanks and planes.

The result was a defeat for the Germans and an important victory for the allies. There were paratroopers and glider troops that got past the front lines and established exit routes and bridges for the front lines when they breakthrough. Although the British and Canadians faced little opposition on their beaches codenamed Juno, Gold, and Sword, the Americans faced heavy opposition, losing around 2000 soldiers. In the end, however, the allies broke through but with an estimate of 4000 dead and thousands wounded or missing.

The reason why the Germans lost was because they were in confusion and because their general was on leave. Hitler initially thought the attack on the seine was a fake attack and did nothing to aid the troops there. However, that was not the case so Hitler sent in troops that were farther away to aid the troops at the battle. But because the allies had superior air support, they managed to delay and hamper the german troops' progress to the front line.

In the following weeks, the allies fought and managed to make it across Normandy and into the countryside, facing even more german troops. However, by the end of June, the allies broke through, landing around 850 thousand men and 150 thousand vehicles ready to march across France. This battle was a significant psychological blow to the Germans and turned the tide of the war in favor of the allies. Hitler could not take soldiers away from France to fight the eastern front and eventually submitted, killing himself on April 30, ending the war.

sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day

2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed the detail in which you explained the The D-Day Invasion. I thought it was interesting how even though the Germans set up 2400 miles of defense, the allied forces were able to catch the Germans off guard. I thought it was interesting how you mentioned that D-Day was a major turning point for the allies. I did some research on the effects of D-Day and found that some historians claim that the allied victory at Normandy beach. They say this because if the allied forces had lost, Hitler would most likely have continued to rule over Europe. The success at D-Day meant that Hitler had to fight to fronts, the Western against the US and Britain and the eastern against the Soviets.

    https://www.history.com/news/d-day-important-world-war-ii-victory

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  2. This article was a great overview of D-Day as well as its effects! Other things worth taking a look at include other perspectives concerning D-Day, particularly pertaining to that of the French. One interesting thing to note is that while D-Day is widely considered one of the U.S.'s greatest military achievements in history, the story isn't quite that simple. It's often thought of a last great stand and display of U.S. power in which we were finally able to overthrow the Nazi regime. However, the French often view D-Day with controversy. Their liberation brought destruction over their people with countless civilian deaths. In addition, U.S. occupation created widespread prostitution because it was one of the only ways that women could survive. Brothels were widespread and Paris became known as "the Silver Foxhole" because it was a place where you could "hook up" with a French woman. Thus, tensions began to rise as French men began to see more and more soldiers going off with their women. Ultimately, the invasion of D-Day seems to be more complex than meets the eye.


    https://news.virginia.edu/content/historians-full-story-d-day-more-complex-myth

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