Introduction to Normandy

In A.D. 1944, the allied landing on Normandy beach made it famous. Normandy landing was the largest amphibious landing campaign in the history of the world, and it was a strategic battle, which laid the foundation for opening up the second battlefield in Europe and played an important role in accelerating the collapse of fascist Germany and improving the post-war situation in Europe.

The Normandy landing was the most crucial battle in World War II, which was of decisive significance for opening up the second battlefield in Western Europe.

1944 1 year1October 2 1 day, Eisenhower held the first meeting of the Allied Supreme Command in London, and formally determined the Normandy landing operation plan named "Overlord".

The allied forces involved in the landing were 39 divisions with about 2.88 million people. There are more than 0/5700 planes/KLOC-and more than 6000 ships, including landing ships, warships and merchant ships. At that time, the Germans deployed in the western front were 58 divisions, more than 500 planes, 100 submarines and more than 500 light ships. However, the German high command was deceived by the allied action codenamed "Resolute Plan", thinking that the allied forces would land along the coast of the Calais Strait, so the main force 15 Army was deployed along the coast of the Calais Strait, while the Seventh Army had only six infantry divisions stationed in Normandy and nearby areas, with less than 90,000 troops.

The only problem Eisenhower needed to solve was the choice of D-Day. According to the advice of meteorologists, the number of days that basically met the requirements of landing operations of the three armed forces in early June was only 5, 6 and 7 days. He initially chose June 5 as the landing day. However, the wind and waves were quite strong in early June, and the weather continued to be cruel on the 3 rd and 4 th. Eisenhower decided to postpone the attack for 24 hours, that is, on June 6. On the evening of June 4, Colonel Steiger, the meteorological director, reported that the weather might suddenly improve briefly from the night of June 5, and it would soon get worse by the night of June 6. Shall we take action on June 6, or continue to postpone it?

Eisenhower also difficult to decide at the moment. Walter bedell smith, chief of staff, said: "This is a gamble, but it may be the best gamble"; Montgomery, commander of the ground forces, said firmly, "Do as I say!" Finally, Eisenhower finally made up his mind and made the most important decision in his life. Operation Overlord will be implemented on the 6th as planned. Eisenhower later wrote in his memoirs that after the landing operation was ordered, he drafted two telegrams at the same time, one to congratulate the successful landing and the other to make an announcement to the press who was once forced to retreat. In the second telegram, Eisenhower took all the responsibility for the failure on himself. Fortunately, however, he finally won the gamble.

1in the early morning of June 6, 944, the weather was unexpectedly good, but the Germans did not expect that the allies would choose to land here and now. Rommel, who was in charge of the western defense, even left the front line to celebrate his wife's birthday. On the evening of the 6th, 35,000 troops of the 5th Army of the United States successfully landed on Omaha Beach, and then the allies of Utah, Juneau, Baojian and Huangjin also successfully consolidated the beachhead position with the support of the navy and air force, and developed in depth.

By June 1944, 12, Montgomery's 2 1 army group had established a continuous landing site in the area 80km ahead and13km to19km, with 500,000 allied troops and 330,000 vehicles. On June 25th, American troops captured the port fortress Cherbourg.1On July 8th, 8, British troops captured the port city and American troops occupied San-Los Angeles. In this way, within a month, the Allies established a solid front extending from Caen to St. Los in the western European continent, and all the Allied landing troops had landed in Normandy. The Normandy landing was the most crucial battle in the Second World War, which was of decisive significance for opening up the second battlefield in Western Europe. Stalin praised, "According to its careful planning, grand scale and ingenious implementation, there is no such precedent in the history of war."

On the eve of the Normandy landing, the Allied High Command Meeting 1 944 June1Sunday, the British ports were full. They are 3,000 warships, carrying 2,000 small landing craft, 1500 tanks, 5,000 armored vehicles, 1000 jeeps and bulldozers, and the first batch of 250,000 officers and men who landed. People are concentrated, but cumulonimbus clouds are gradually concentrated over the strait and approaching with strong low pressure. Churchill looked up at the sky and said gloomily, "I really resigned this time. The weather is bad, and a storm is coming. On the warship moored in the port, the trip turned upside down, and a large number of people got seasick before leaving.

The Allied Command was originally scheduled to be D-Day on the 5th, and the Allies would start fighting with the Germans on the west coast of France. The joint fire of the Allied landing forces and the German defenders marked the opening of the second battlefield, but D-Day had to be postponed. According to the original plan, on April 4, the allied fleet has sailed out of the harbor. In the strait, the white waves were monstrous, the waves were rough, and the wind roared on the sea, so the fleet was recalled halfway by seaplane. D-Day was delayed by one day. On the 5th, according to the forecast of the meteorological department, the storm will temporarily stop on the morning of the 6th. Eisenhower said flatly, "All right, let's hit the road."

The fleet sailed into the rough channel for the second time. The long-awaited "second battlefield" is on the other side of the vast sea and sky, and the mist is low. Normandy is a region of northern France, including several provinces. The landing site of the allied forces is only a short coastline of the Seine Bay into the canyon. Before the landing troops arrived, at 00:00-03:00 a.m. on June 6, 925 13000 paratroopers parachuted behind the German positions. They belong to two American airborne divisions and one British airborne division. Their task is to contain the Germans, prevent them from strengthening the beachhead position, and seize important places to build a bridgehead. They started Operation Overlord. But the protagonist of Operation Overlord is the landing troops, not the paratroopers. When allied paratroopers exchanged fire with the Germans behind enemy lines, the landing troops were still floating in the strait. Because of the bad weather, the German patrol boats didn't go out to sea, so the Nazis didn't notice that the largest transport fleet in history was coming towards them.

After dawn on the 6th, 2,500 Allied bombers began bombing the 80km-long beach guarded by the Germans, and the attack on the "Atlantic Fortress" began. Under the cover of heavy artillery fire from naval guns, the allies landed on the Normandy coast. Because of the heavy wind and waves, the initial landing operation was very chaotic. Many amphibious tanks specially designed and manufactured for this landing operation were destroyed immediately after entering the water. After the allied forces landed, the German West Command still insisted that it was impossible to have a decent large-scale attack in such bad weather. Allied bombing, parachuting and landing are still just feints, and the real attack site will be Calais.

Where is Rommel? Just like the Battle of El Alamein, when D-Day came, he was not in the army, but at home. But his efforts under the "Atlantic fortress" paid off. After such fierce bombing and shelling, 80% of the fortifications have been preserved, which can effectively attack the allied beachhead troops. This is a disaster for the beachhead troops. The worst thing is Omaha beach. According to the prior information, the garrison here is a battalion, but when the American troops arrived at the beach, they found that they were facing a well-equipped German division, and the American troops suffered heavy casualties on this beach. The words left by American general Taylor on this beach were later widely circulated: "There are only two kinds of people on this beach: those who are dead and those who are waiting to die. Or follow me out of this hell! " The 2nd British Legion that landed was officially named "British Liberation Army", while the British people prefer to call it "Revenge Army". If they land in Calais, they will almost follow the route of Dunkirk's retreat. Since they landed in Normandy, they should also show the revival of English national spirit.

The 80-kilometer-long coast is not all beaches, and the area where Canadian troops landed is steep cliffs. The landing ship could not dock because of the heavy wind and waves. The Germans climbed the cliff first and fired from the top. The Canadian army can only passively deal with the Germans in the rocks. Later, this place higher than other beaches was called the "trap" of Normandy. On the evening of 6th, Eisenhower and Montgomery met, but the situation was not satisfactory, and none of the goals set for D-Day were realized. However, during the entire D-Day period, the total number of allied troops killed was less than 2,500. On the 7th, the artificial concrete port poured separately in Britain was transported to Normandy beach. It consists of concrete caisson and floating wharf, also known as "mulberry artificial port". It is moored in the deep water area along the coast, where small transport ships and landing craft can directly berth, and war materials can be directly transported to the shore through an 8-kilometer-long road composed of pontoons. A June storm unprecedented in half a century swept through. Dozens of ships were thrown on the beach and dozens were buried at the bottom of the sea. The artificial wharf failed to withstand the test of the storm, disintegrated in the waves, and millions of dollars worth of weapons fell into the water. Caused huge losses.