Talking to his troops
"Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle hardened. He will fight savagely."
-General Dwight Eisenhower: June 6th, 1944
Addressing his troops on D-Day.
-General Dwight Eisenhower: June 6th, 1944
Addressing his troops on D-Day.
When
The weather conditions had to be perfect for D-Day. The Allies had originally decided on June 5th, 1944 but had to postpone D-Day because of weather problems. There was a small opening of clear weather the next day (June 6th, 1944). Dwight Eisenhower had to decide weather to wait at least a month or go for it that day. He decided to go for it.
how
The final variation of D-Day was very similar to Montgomery's plan. They would divided into five beaches; code-named Juno, Sword, Utah, Omaha, and Gold each beach assigned to either Britain or the America. Britain took Sword and Gold, America took Utah and Omaha, and Canada took Juno.
18 divisions would be divided on to the beaches and have support by airborne divisions and 10 divisions after D-Day. they also kept their decision the same to launch a diversion attack on Pays de Calais.
In the first three days of Operation Overload the Allies would move 100,000 men and 13,000 vehicles. with the assistance of 6,000 ships to carry it all.
The first part of D-Day was a naval and aerial bombing. The fleet of bombers had about 7,000 people. Seventy-Five percent were British and the rest were the other Allies, Admiral Ramsay was in-charge of this part of D-Day. The Allies Air-force had about 9,000 planes. This was huge compared to the Germans who had anywhere from 175-240 planes.
A big problem with the bombing is that the French Civilizations would not know about it, and an estimated 80,000 people would die. The Allies solved this problem, with the help of the Special Leaflet Squadron, by dropping pamphlets onto them warning them. The bombing was was mostly successful but did not completely destroy the German force. Paratroopers would land would land on French soil after the bombardment. They had many goals while landing. The first was to flank the beaches before the landings and dismantle artillery. The second was to take glider landing positions so that the rest of reinforcements and supplies could come. The first phase of D-Day did not go so well thought paratroopers got dropped at the wrong places so many men were either left on there own or were being commanded the wrong officers because they landed in the wrong place with a different division. This issue did not majorly effect D-Day.
D-Day beach landings were to happen at 6:30 am on the western side and 7:30 am on the eastern side. Before the men could land paths had to be cleared for them to land. The United States 1st and 29th divisions went to Omaha. The United States 4th division
18 divisions would be divided on to the beaches and have support by airborne divisions and 10 divisions after D-Day. they also kept their decision the same to launch a diversion attack on Pays de Calais.
In the first three days of Operation Overload the Allies would move 100,000 men and 13,000 vehicles. with the assistance of 6,000 ships to carry it all.
The first part of D-Day was a naval and aerial bombing. The fleet of bombers had about 7,000 people. Seventy-Five percent were British and the rest were the other Allies, Admiral Ramsay was in-charge of this part of D-Day. The Allies Air-force had about 9,000 planes. This was huge compared to the Germans who had anywhere from 175-240 planes.
A big problem with the bombing is that the French Civilizations would not know about it, and an estimated 80,000 people would die. The Allies solved this problem, with the help of the Special Leaflet Squadron, by dropping pamphlets onto them warning them. The bombing was was mostly successful but did not completely destroy the German force. Paratroopers would land would land on French soil after the bombardment. They had many goals while landing. The first was to flank the beaches before the landings and dismantle artillery. The second was to take glider landing positions so that the rest of reinforcements and supplies could come. The first phase of D-Day did not go so well thought paratroopers got dropped at the wrong places so many men were either left on there own or were being commanded the wrong officers because they landed in the wrong place with a different division. This issue did not majorly effect D-Day.
D-Day beach landings were to happen at 6:30 am on the western side and 7:30 am on the eastern side. Before the men could land paths had to be cleared for them to land. The United States 1st and 29th divisions went to Omaha. The United States 4th division
was assigned to Utah. The British 3rd division took Sword and the British 50th division went to Gold. The Canadian 3rd Infantry Division was ordered to take Juno. Also, three US Ranger groups were supposed to attack Pointe Du Hoc (A cliff on the shore of Normandy between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach with six 155mm cannons able to hit Utah and Omaha beaches.)
The Germans had 50 divisions at Normandy ten of which were armored most of their commanders were had taken the weekends leave. Including Erwin Rommel who was gone to celebrated his wife's birthday ( June 6th)and see his son Manfred who had been drafted off into the Germans Army. Once the commander was alerted of the invasion he pleaded to Hitler for reinforcements, but Hitler said no he thought this was just a distraction and did not think this was the allies real invasion point.
The beach landings at Normandy were very successful. Many of the Allies ships were detonated by mines or impaled by obstacles. The Americans at Omaha had a very hard time, they were going up against the war seasoned German 352nd Division, but the soldiers did prevail. The British and Canadian forces had a much easier time they faced the Germans 716th Division which was made up of Polish and Russian conscripts that quickly surrendered. The US ranger though had to climb a steep cliff under heavy machine gun fire. Even though it was a difficult climb they were successful at Pointe du Hoc.
D-Days objectives were all completed except for the British objective at Caen.
The Germans had 50 divisions at Normandy ten of which were armored most of their commanders were had taken the weekends leave. Including Erwin Rommel who was gone to celebrated his wife's birthday ( June 6th)and see his son Manfred who had been drafted off into the Germans Army. Once the commander was alerted of the invasion he pleaded to Hitler for reinforcements, but Hitler said no he thought this was just a distraction and did not think this was the allies real invasion point.
The beach landings at Normandy were very successful. Many of the Allies ships were detonated by mines or impaled by obstacles. The Americans at Omaha had a very hard time, they were going up against the war seasoned German 352nd Division, but the soldiers did prevail. The British and Canadian forces had a much easier time they faced the Germans 716th Division which was made up of Polish and Russian conscripts that quickly surrendered. The US ranger though had to climb a steep cliff under heavy machine gun fire. Even though it was a difficult climb they were successful at Pointe du Hoc.
D-Days objectives were all completed except for the British objective at Caen.