Urgent! The Writing Background of Death in Normandy

The most desolate coast of mit.baidu.com/f?. kz = 1960 17960

1in the early morning of June 6, 944, 2,390 transport planes and 846 gliders from the United States and Britain took off from 20 airports in Britain, carrying three paratroopers and airborne divisions to fly south, ready to land in an important area behind the Normandy coast of France. This is the beginning of the famous "Normandy landing".

At dawn, the Royal Air Force's 1 136 aircraft dropped 5853 tons of bombs on the pre-selected German coast 10 gun base. After dawn, the US Eighth Air Force dispatched 1.083 bombers, and dropped 1.763 tons of bombs on German coastal fortifications half an hour before the troops landed. Then, all kinds of allied planes were dispatched at the same time to bomb coastal targets and inland artillery positions. At 5: 50, the sun has risen, and allied naval warships began to bomb enemy positions along the coast. Normandy beach became a sea of fire and the ground shook.

Attack force was transported by transport ship to the sea surface 7 to 1 1 mile offshore, and then arrived at the beachhead scheduled to attack on time by landing craft. Followed by a large landing craft carrying heavy weapons and equipment.

Normandy beach, the landing site chosen by the allied forces, is located in northwest France. From east to west, there are five beaches-Tan Jian, Juneau, Jin Tan, Omaha and Utah, with a total length of about 50 miles. The first batch of attack force in the landing plan was five divisions, each occupying a beachhead position.

At 6: 30, American troops began to land on Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. The Fourth Division of the Seventh Army of the United States landed on the coast of Utah beach without much effort, only met with intermittent shelling. Within three hours, they destroyed the enemy guarding the area, and the follow-up troops and equipment were also transported to the shore. But in Omaha beach, the situation of the first division of the US Seventh Army is not good. Big waves, morning fog, smoke and crosswind exhausted the troops and were attacked by enemy gunfire when landing. At that time, the beach was full of dead and wounded soldiers. The next batch of attacking troops also suffered the same misfortune. At this critical moment, two US assault battalions climbed the cliff on the coast with rope ladders and seized and destroyed an enemy battery. But the enemy continued to shoot fiercely and stopped the American troops on the beach. Hubner, commander of the 1st Infantry Division of the US Army, made a decisive decision and asked the destroyers at sea to bomb German artillery groups and bunkers at close range at the risk of killing their own people. The destroyer's cannon really exerted great power, and soon, the Germans in the fortifications surrendered. After a hard and bloody battle, the first division of the US Army finally occupied the beachhead position less than two miles deep.

The 50th Division of the Second Army Corps landed in Jintan at 7: 20. They met some difficulties at first, but gradually destroyed the German resistance. By dusk, they had entered the inland for five miles.

On Juneau Beach, the third division of Canadian army made the fastest progress after destroying the Germans on the beach, and arrived at the port city-Baye highway that night.

The third division of the British army also encountered fierce resistance in Jiantan. At dusk, they met with the 6th Airborne Division.

That night, the Allies had established a firm foothold on the European continent. The number of casualties was less than expected. Nearly 10 division, tanks, artillery and other weapons all landed, and the follow-up troops also poured in, constantly expanding the advantages of the allies over the German defenders. Allied forces landed successfully in Normandy.

Hitler boasted about why his 2500-mile-long "Atlantic barrier" fortifications were vulnerable. It turns out that every June, the English Channel is always rough, and the waves are terrible, making it difficult for ships to sail. Most German generals on the Western Front thought that the Allies would not attack in such bad weather as June. At about 2 am on the 6th, the German General Command stationed in Paris received a report that an American-British airborne division had landed, which seemed to be a "large-scale operation". But Lundstedt, the commander in chief, thought it was a diversion by the Allies and didn't care. Then, the German naval forces on the western front reported to the headquarters: according to the coastal radar report, a large number of black spots appeared on the screen, and a huge fleet was heading for the Normandy coast. The German Chief of Staff on the Western Front replied, "What? This weather? Your technicians must be mistaken! Maybe a flock of seagulls? " Later, when he finally saw that the situation was not good and asked Hitler to send two armored divisions to deal with the allied airborne divisions, Hitler banned the use of his strategic reserve. Hitler still insisted that this was just a feint, and the allies would definitely land in Calais.

Hitler was cheated by suspicious soldiers at Allied headquarters. Before Normandy landing, the allied forces assembled a fleet in disguise and sent a large number of telegrams, which caused the illusion that the allied forces were headquartered in Kent, England. American general Patton, who is famous for his bravery, was allowed to walk on Kent street, and German intelligence personnel were judging him as the commander-in-chief of the allied forces. On the eve of the attack, British planes dropped a lot of tin foil, which made the German coastal radar show that there seemed to be an allied fleet sailing eastward to Calais.

In order to keep it strictly confidential, the whole southern England cut off all traffic with the rest of Britain and became a big barracks, where the allies were piled up with mountains of military equipment and materials for overlord action. In order to prevent leaks, the British government also suspended all diplomatic relations between Britain and foreign countries, canceled normal shipping along the coast, and used all ships for the transportation of overlord action, so that General Eisenhower of the United States would not hinder the mobilization and assembly of troops. The British government has set up a cordon in this area, and no one is allowed to cross it without permission. Every tent, barracks, parking lot and every unit are carefully marked on the action map. The scheduled actions of each unit have been accurately arranged. The army that landed in Normandy was huge, with more than 2.87 million allied troops, more than 6,000 warships and more than 0.3 million planes. The Germans know nothing about the preparations for such a large-scale military operation.

The preparations for the Normandy landing were huge and complicated. Many armored vehicles have been improved, including road rollers for cleaning beaches, armored vehicles equipped with mine-sweeping vehicles to clean roads in mined areas, armored temporary bridges crossing ditches, and even two artificial ports have been built for landing troops to unload equipment and materials. For the terrain reconnaissance of the target, the coastline from the Netherlands to Spain was photographed by plane as early as a year ago, especially in April and June of 1944, and * * * dispatched 4,500 aircraft reconnaissance flights. In addition, there are thousands of messages provided by French underground resistance organizations. In this way, German fortifications, bridges, airports, swamps, warehouses, highways, railway stations, etc. Everything along the European coast was made clear by the allies. On the battle plan carried by the heads of the landing forces, even the trees were marked out.

By June of 12, several beaches of the allied forces in Normandy had been connected in a line, and the follow-up troops continued to flow and the military supplies continued to increase, all of which ensured the success of the Normandy landing. 19 In August, the allies occupied Mount on the west bank of the Seine. On this day, the people of Paris held an armed uprising and liberated their capital. On August 25th, Eisenhower's 2nd French Armored Division entered the city center from the south and west gates of Paris. In the afternoon, French general leclerc was ordered to accept the German surrender.

The liberation of Paris marked the end of the Normandy campaign. More than 400,000 Germans were killed, injured and captured. Once again, Germany was forced to fight on two fronts, caught in the iron tongs of the Soviet Union and the United States and Britain, and the day of its demise was not far away.

Author: Ma Lanting 2007-5-315:11Reply to this statement.

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2 Strategic decision-making

As early as September 194 1, Stalin asked Churchill to open a second front in Europe and carry out a strategic attack on Germany, but at that time, the United States had not entered the war, and Britain was simply unable to organize such a large-scale strategic landing operation. For the Soviet Union's proposal, Britain only responded by sending small troops to attack and harass the European continent.

1In June, 942, the Soviet Union, the United States and the Soviet Union issued a joint communique, which reached full understanding and understanding on opening up the second front in Europe, but Britain had reservations about the obligations in the memorandum.

1In July, 942, the Anglo-American London Conference decided 1942 to land in North Africa in the autumn, and postponed the opening of the second battlefield in Europe to the first half of 1943. However, at this time, the situation in the Soviet-German battlefield was very serious, and the Germans had advanced to Stalingrad. The Soviet Union strongly urged Britain and the United States to launch landing operations in Europe in order to contain the Germans and reduce the pressure on the Soviet Union. Britain had to send an emergency assault force consisting of 60 18 people to land in Dieppe, and the result was disastrous, with 58 10 casualties, with the casualty rate as high as 96.5%.

1943 65438+ 10, the Anglo-American Casablanca meeting passed the decision to land in Sicily in the first half of the year. Delayed landing on the European continent until August 1943. At this meeting, Britain took advantage of Dieppe's failure and insisted on delaying landing on the European continent, on the grounds that it was necessary to handle the complexity and danger of large-scale amphibious landing carefully. In fact, Britain wants to take advantage of the struggle between the Soviet Union and Germany to reap profits, and it also wants to use the power of the United States to restore the traditional forces of the British Empire in North Africa and Southern Europe before the war. Of course, it was opposed by the United States. As a compromise, Britain agreed to set up the staff of the Anglo-American special plan to make the European landing plan. Captain general Morgan of the British army served as chief of staff. Immediately after Morgan took office, he established "Cosac", which is the English abbreviation of the Supreme Staff of the Allied European Expeditionary Force. The main members are Deputy Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Ray Barker of the United States Army, as well as representatives of the army, navy and air force and all services and arms related to landing. mountbatten vice admiral, commander of the British Joint Operations Command, who is responsible for commanding the sneak attack and harassment on the European continent, is also an ex officio member.

1943 In May, the Anglo-American Washington Conference decided that 1944 would land on the European continent in May and open up a second front. "Cossack" immediately began to make a landing plan, first determine the landing location. According to the experience and lessons of previous landing operations, the landing site should meet the following three conditions: first, the distance between two flights should be as short as possible within the radius of the fighter plane taking off from the British airport, and third, there should be a big port nearby. Then, on the coastline of 480km from Frisingen, the Netherlands to Cherbourg, France, according to this condition, three regions are more suitable: Constantine Peninsula, Calais and Normandy. Further comparison, the narrow terrain of Constantine Peninsula made it difficult to launch a large army, which was rejected for the first time. Calais and Normandy have their own advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of Calais is that it is only 33 kilometers away from Britain and close to Germany. The disadvantage is that the German army has the strongest defense here, the defenders are all elite troops, the fortifications are complete and solid, there is no big port nearby, and there is also a lack of inland communication lines, which is not conducive to further development after landing. Although Normandy is far away from Britain, it has the advantages of weak German defense and open terrain, and can launch 30 divisions at the same time, and it is only 80 kilometers away from Cherbourg, the largest port in northern France. After weighing several times, Cossack chose Normandy, and made a specific plan from June 26th, 1943, with "Overlord" as the battle plan code and "Neptune" as the relevant naval action code. Initially, it is planned to land with three divisions at three beaches with a width of 32 kilometers between Kalandan and Caen, namely Omaha, Kin and Beachhead, and to airborne two brigades at the same time. The second echelon consisting of eight divisions will occupy Cherbourg in two weeks. The biggest problem in the whole plan is the port problem, that is, how to solve the logistics supply problem of the troops before the occupation of Cherbourg. It was stormy in Normandy in May and June, and it seemed to be an insurmountable difficulty that logistics supply could not be guaranteed by landing on the beach. Helpless, Major General john hughes Harriet, the representative of the Cossack Navy, remembered mountbatten's joke at a meeting: Since there is no natural port, let's build an artificial port. Therefore, it is suggested to manufacture parts and assemble artificial ports to solve the problem. There was no other way, and his idea was approved. /kloc-in July of 0/5, Morgan submitted the outline of the "Overlord" plan to the British and American Joint Chiefs of Staff.

1943 In August, the Anglo-American Quebec Conference approved the "Overlord" plan.

1943165438+10, the American-British-Soviet Tehran meeting decided to launch Operation Overlord in May 1944.

1943 65438+In February, US Army General Eisenhower was appointed as the supreme commander of the European Allied Expeditionary Force and arrived in London on 1944 65438+ 10. Eisenhower saw Morgan's plan and thought that the frontal assault surface was too narrow and there was not enough assault force in the initial attack. He proposed an amendment to expand the frontal landing to 80 kilometers, increase the first echelon from 3 divisions to 5 divisions, increase the landing beaches from 3 to 5 (Utah and Sword beaches are added), and increase the airborne troops from 2 brigades to 3 divisions. This idea was supported by the commanders of the three armed forces of the Supreme Command.

1In February, 944, the British and American Joint Chiefs of Staff approved the outline of "Overlord" plan and the revised operational plan, but the demand for landing ships also increased. In order to ensure that there are enough landing ships, the British and American Joint Chiefs of Staff decided to postpone the landing date to the beginning of June and the scheduled landing in southern France to August.

As the landing date (code D-Day) was postponed to early June, the Allied High Command began to determine the specific date and time. This is a complicated coordination problem. Various services and arms put forward different requirements according to their own needs, and the army requires landing at high tide to reduce the time that troops are exposed to the beach. The navy requires landing at low tide in order to minimize the damage of obstacles to landing craft; The air force needs moonlight to facilitate airborne troops to identify ground targets. Finally, after careful consideration, it scientifically worked out a plan that conforms to all services and land between high tide and low tide. Because the tides of the five beaches are different, five different landing times (code H) are specified, and D day is arranged on the day of the full moon. The airborne time is 1 point in the morning, which meets the above conditions. In June 1944, there were only two consecutive landing days.

The purpose of the campaign is to cross the English Channel, seize a strategic landing point in northern France, and create conditions for opening up the second battlefield in Europe and finally defeating Germany. The campaign attempted to land in Normandy and seize the landing site. On the first day of landing 12, the landing site expanded to 100km wide and 100km deep. It is planned to parachute two American paratroopers on the right wing of the landing site, cut off the German reinforcements to Cherbourg, and seize the "Utah" beachhead position with the cooperation of the landing forces, and parachute/kloc-0 British paratroopers on the left wing to seize the Kang En Canal crossing point. Then the first batch of eight reinforced battalions landed on five beaches and established landing sites. After consolidating and expanding the landing site, the follow-up troops landed, the right wing first captured Cherbourg, and the left wing passed the Kangen River to St. Luo. In the second stage, the port city, Baye, Izni and Karantan were captured. In the third stage, we captured Brittany, advanced into the Seine, and went straight to Paris.

Illustration:

1944 65438+1October 2 1 day, Eisenhower (middle) held the first meeting of the Supreme Command of the Expeditionary Force in Norfolk Hotel, at which the plan for landing operations was clarified, making this meeting the most important military meeting of the Allied forces in World War II. The third one on the right is General Montgomery.

As for the Allied Forces, the post of Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces was originally intended to be held by an experienced British general, but Churchill knew that the number of American troops would greatly exceed that of the British army after landing, so he offered to be held by an American general. President Roosevelt originally intended to let Marshall, the army chief of staff, hold this position. Later, considering that Washington needed Marshall's coordination more, Marshall recommended Eisenhower, then commander of the Allied Mediterranean Theater, as the post.

Other members of the High Command include: Deputy Commander British Air Force Marshal Ted, Chief of Staff American Lieutenant General Smith, Deputy Chief of Staff British Lieutenant General Morgan, Army Commander British Army Admiral Montgomery, Navy Commander British Admiral Ramsey and Air Force Commander British Air Force Admiral Mallory.

The Army has four army groups: the 2nd British Army, under the command of British Lieutenant General Dempsey, has five armies/0/3 divisions, and landed on the left "Golden" and "Jianshe" beaches. Canada's 1 Army, under the command of British Lieutenant General Duncan Grimm, has three divisions of 1 Army, and landed at Juneau Beach. The above two group armies attacked Caen as the left wing. The U.S. 1 Army, under the command of Lieutenant General bradley of the U.S. Army, has five armies 14 divisions, landed in Omaha and Utah Beach, and the right wing attacked San Lo and Karantan. This is the main direction. Three army groups formed the 2 1 army group, with the British general Montgomery as the commander. This is the first echelon landing troops. The 3rd Army of the United States is under the command of Lieutenant General Barton of the United States Army, and it has four armies and nine divisions under the direct command of the Supreme Command. As the second echelon, it will fight from the road opened by the US 1 Army, rush out of Cotantan Peninsula, cross Brittany Peninsula, outflank the Germans who fought fiercely with the British in Caen, completely crush the German resistance and occupy France and Belgium.

The navy consists of two special mixed fleets: the western special mixed fleet, which is mainly composed of US navy warships, ***3 battleships, 10 cruisers, 30 destroyers, 280 other warships and 1700 landing ships. The commander is Major General Kirk of the United States, assembled in Belfast, and provided with air cover by the Ninth Air Force of the United States Tactical Air Force. It has three formations: U formation is responsible for transporting the 4th Infantry Division of the US Army to Utah Beach, O formation is responsible for transporting the US Army 1 Infantry Division to Omaha Beach, and B formation is responsible for transporting the 29th Infantry Division of the US Army to Omaha Beach.

The Eastern Task Force is mainly composed of British warships, * * * * 3 battleships, 13 cruisers, 30 destroyers, 302 other warships and 2,426 landing ships. It is commanded by British Major General Vian and assembled in Greenock, with air cover provided by the 2nd Air Force of British Tactical Air Force. It has four formations: G formation is responsible for transporting the 50th British Infantry Division to Golden Beach, J formation is responsible for transporting the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division to Juneau Beach, S formation is responsible for transporting the 3rd British Infantry Division to Baojian Beach, and L formation is responsible for transporting the 7th British Armored Division to Golden Beach.

The navy also consists of seven battleships, two shallow-water gunboats, 24 cruisers and 74 destroyers, which provide naval gun fire support for five beaches.

In addition to the 2nd Air Force of the United States and the 9th Air Force of the United Kingdom, Eisenhower also threatened to resign, and obtained the command of the 8th Air Force of the United States Strategic Air Force in the United Kingdom under the command of British Air Force Admiral Harris, and the command of the 8th Air Force of the United States Strategic Air Force in the United Kingdom, which was under the command of Major General doolittle of the United States Air Force and belonged to the Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Britain and the United States, so the air force of the Supreme Command had four air forces.

The airborne troops are the 82nd, 10 1 airborne division of the United States and the 6th airborne division of the United Kingdom. This is the largest airborne force assembled by the allied forces in Europe.

In order to carry out this large-scale campaign, the allies assembled as many as 2.88 million troops. The Army has 36 divisions, including 23 infantry divisions, 10 armored divisions and 3 paratroopers divisions, with a population of about15300. The navy has put about 5,300 warships into battle, including 13 battleships, 47 cruisers and 134 destroyers, about 1200 landing ships and more than 5,000 transport ships. Air Force combat aircraft 13700, including 5800 bombers, 4900 fighters and 3000 transport gliders.

6 German side

In order to resist the allied landing, Germany began to build permanent coastal fortifications as early as19412, the so-called "Atlantic barrier". However, due to various reasons, by May 1944, 68% of the area east of the Seine River was completed, and only 18% of the area west of the Seine River was completed, basically only in Calais.

1in may, 944, the Germans had 179 divisions and 5 brigades in the Soviet battlefield on the eastern front, accounting for about 65% of the total strength of the Germans. In France, Belgium and Holland on the Western Front, only 58 divisions are under the command of Marshal Lundstedt, commander-in-chief of the Western Front, including 33 coastal defense divisions, 15 infantry divisions, 8 armored divisions and 2 paratroopers. Even with the two armored divisions of the strategic reserve under Hitler's personal command, there are only 60 divisions with about 760,000 people. The 58 divisions of the Western Command were organized into two group armies and four group armies. Marshal Rommel's army group B was stationed in northern France, and 39 divisions were the main force of the German army in the western front. It has jurisdiction over 15 Army, with General Salmut as its commander and Calais as its resident. It has jurisdiction over 23 divisions including 14 Coastal Defence Division, 4 Infantry Divisions and 5 Armored Divisions. The 7th Army, under the command of General dormann, is based in Brittany Peninsula and has * * * 14 divisions, including 8 coastal defense divisions, 5 infantry divisions and 1 armored divisions. Group G, under the command of General Blaskovic, was stationed in the west of the Loire River, with a 19 division. Under the jurisdiction of 1 Army, the commander is Lieutenant General Chevalier, based in Belgium, and under the jurisdiction of *** 10 Division; 19 Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Sandstein, is stationed in the south of France and has 9 divisions.

The naval forces are 5 destroyers, 49 submarines, 6 ocean-going minesweepers, 1 16 patrol boats, 309 minesweepers, 34 torpedo boats and 42 gunboats, totaling 56 1 small and medium-sized warships, which is very weak.

The Air Force is the 3rd Air Force, with about 450 combat aircraft, including 160 fighter. Compared with the number of allied combat aircraft, it is in an absolute disadvantage of 1 30.

In Normandy, the defenders belonged to 6 divisions and 3 regiments of the 7 th Army, among which 3 coastal defense divisions had weak combat effectiveness; 2 infantry divisions, 1 armored division, with slightly stronger fighting capacity; The three regiments are two independent infantry regiments and 1 paratroopers, with a total strength of about 90,000. The fortifications are also relatively weak, and only some independent support points of reinforced concrete are built. Most of the fortifications are field fortifications, and only a few of them set up air defense obstacles in depth. 1in April, 944, Hitler judged that Normandy would be the landing place of the allied forces and asked for more troops. According to this instruction, Rommel transferred the 352nd Infantry Division originally stationed in Sanluo to Normandy, and it was this newly transferred elite division that brought disaster to the American troops at the beachhead in Omaha.

German troops are not only weak, but also there have been differences among senior generals on the policy of resisting landing. Marshal Lundstedt, commander-in-chief of the western front, advocated deploying the main force in depth and adopting counterattack tactics to resist landing; Marshal Rommel, commander of the B Army Group, advocated that the main force should be deployed on the beachhead and rely on beach fortifications to eliminate the enemy on the beachhead. The two men were at loggerheads and refused to give way to each other. In the end, they had to compromise. Some troops are deployed on the beach, while others are deployed in depth. This kind of deployment of troops, no matter the beachhead or the depth, can't form a superior force, can't stop the allied forces from landing on the beachhead, and can't organize a counterattack. Set the stage for future failure. What's more, because the two men also had differences on the use of armored forces, in a rage, Hitler changed the two elite armored divisions of the western mobile forces originally under Rommel's command to the high command. This decision actually deprived the western generals of the command of the armored forces, making Rommel lose the counterattack force that most frightened the Allies.