The most tragic and famous battle on the western front

Normandy landing was a large-scale offensive launched by allied forces on the western front of Europe in World War II. The fighting took place at 6: 30 am on June 6, 1944. The code name of this operation is Operation Overlord. The battle ended on August 19 after crossing the Seine-Marne River. The Battle of Normandy is by far the largest maritime landing operation in the world, involving nearly 3 million soldiers crossing the English Channel to Normandy, France.

The Normandy landing campaign was the biggest landing campaign in the 20th century, and it was also one of the most influential landing campaigns in the history of war. The Allied Forces mobilized 36 divisions with a total strength of 2.88 million, including 6.5438+0.53 million army, equivalent to the entire US Army at the end of the 20th century. From June 6, 1944 to early July, millions of troops from the United States, Britain and Canada,170,000 vehicles and 600,000 tons of various materials, successfully crossed the English Channel. By July 24th, the two sides of the war had annihilated about 240,000 people, including 6,543,800 allied casualties and 6,543,800 German casualties and prisoners. By the end of August, the allied forces had destroyed or severely damaged 40 German divisions, 3 German marshals and 1 army commanders were dismissed or left their posts, 20 senior generals including army commanders, captains and teachers were killed and captured, more than 3,000 guns of various types were seized and destroyed, and more than 0,000 chariots 1 000 were destroyed. The Germans lost 3,500 planes, 65,438+300,000 tanks, 20,000 vehicles and 400,000 personnel. The successful landing in Normandy and the return of American and British troops to the European continent fundamentally changed the strategic situation of the Second World War.

Normandy landing operation

The battlefield of the Normandy landing campaign (19) Date:1June 6, 944-1August 25, 944.

Venue: Normandy, France

Operation code: Operation Overlord

Participants: USA, UK, Canada, Free France, Poland, Nazi Germany.

Forces of both sides:

Allied forces: 2.876 million (July 25th)

German army: 1, 380,000 (July 23)

American casualties: 29,000 people died, 1.0 1.600 people were injured or missing; Britain: 1 1, 000 people died and 54,000 people were injured or missing; Canada: 5000 people died, 13000 people were injured or missing; France: 12200 civilians were killed or missing Germany: 230 19 people were killed, 67060 people were injured, 1986 16 people were missing or captured.

The night before the Normandy landing, airborne operations and large-scale aerial bombing began. The amphibious landing war began on the morning of June 6. Before landing, the "D-Day" troops were mainly deployed in the coastal areas of southern England, especially Portsmouth. The battle of Normandy lasted more than two months. In the end, the Allies successfully established a beachhead position, and liberated Paris on August 25th, announcing the end of the Normandy campaign.

Germany is ready

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, there are only 59 divisions 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. There are 10 armored divisions and three heavy tank battalions in the western line, six of which are under Hitler's personal command. The German high command thinks that tanks are not suitable for use on the beach, so the armored divisions deployed near the beach are only 2 1 armored divisions in Caen, only 127 No.4 tanks and 40 type III self-propelled tank assault guns. The naval forces are 5 destroyers, 52 submarines, 16 ocean-going minesweepers, 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 March, 944, the German armored forces deployed in France had only one armored division, namely 2 1 armored division. 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 original 352nd Infantry Division in San Luo to Normandy. It was this newly transferred elite division that brought disaster to the American troops in Omaha beachhead. In order to resist the allied landing, Germany began to build permanent coastal fortifications as early as1941kloc-0/2. The Germans set up many anti-tank obstacles along the coastline.

1942 On July 20th, Hitler ordered the construction of a defense line consisting of 15000 strong support points from northern Norway to the coast of Spain, which is the so-called Atlantic barrier. Hitler required it to be completed before May 1943, but in fact it was not completed until May 1944, except in Calais, in 964. Only a few widely separated support points were built, 68% of which were in the east of the Seine-Marne River, and 18% was in the west of the Seine-Marne River. As for the coastal guns, the large-caliber guns deployed by the German army in the western coastal areas of France mainly include four 280mm and three 38 1 mm coastal guns at Gerye Point, three 305mm coastal guns at Weimena and three 406mm coastal guns at the west of Sankat. However, due to the excellent work of the allied intelligence agencies, the German high command believed that Norway would be the priority area captured by the allied forces. Instead, we invested a lot of manpower and material resources to build 350 batteries along the coast of Norway, which can be used to deploy 88 mm to 38 1 mm guns. In addition, another key construction project in Germany is the channel islands fortification project. By 1944 * *, a fortress with 38 guns ranging from 2 10 mm to 305 mm will be built. This project is strategically meaningless, just wasting a lot of valuable manpower and material resources. Therefore, the Atlantic barrier hyped by the German propaganda department is actually only in name only. On the contrary, Marshal Rommel attached great importance to the defense construction in coastal areas after he became the commander of the B Army. He personally led a special delegation from Denmark, the Netherlands and France to inspect the coastal defense situation, and specifically requested that the border defense be pushed into the sea. Starting from the high tide line, mines should be laid in the deep sea and obstacles should be set up in the shallow sea. These wooden stakes obliquely inserted in the sea are called "Rommel asparagus" by the allies, and the beach is jagged with concrete horns and tank traps. In the meantime, a large number of mines were buried and hidden bunkers were built at the commanding heights overlooking the beach. In the open space behind the beach, a large number of air defense landing piles were laid, and these explosives and obstacles were arranged. The project was huge, and it was not completed until the allied landing. Even so, it caused a lot of losses to the allied landing.

Edit this paragraph airborne

When landing in Normandy, the task of the allied airborne troops was to parachute at the shallow part of the beach 10 to 15 kilometers away from the coast, to prevent the reinforcements of the enemy reserve, attack the German coastal defense positions from the rear, and cooperate with the sea landing. Because 1 ~ 2 days ago, the allies only landed in 6 ~ 8 Normandy.

The infantry division will only put the armored division into battle after establishing a large landing site for the armored division. If the Germans break through the defense lines of the landing troops before the armored forces land, it will bring disaster to the landing. Therefore, the action of airborne troops is very important for the landing victory in the early stage of landing. The British 1 Airborne Division was the first unit to take part in combat operations (Operation Tonga). As early as 00: 00 midnight16, they were airdropped to the left of the landing area, and their goal was to seize the bridge near pegasus bridge and prevent the German armored forces from going to the coast for support. Paratroopers quickly occupied these bridges and successfully controlled them until the landing commando arrived later that day. The goal of this operation also includes capturing the bunker in Merville. Although the bunker was not destroyed, after the battle, all but six people were killed or injured in the bunker. In contrast, the 82nd and 10 1 airborne divisions of the US Army are not so lucky. Due to the inexperience of pilots, the complicated ground conditions and the interception of enemy gunfire, the troops were scattered everywhere. Unfortunately, some paratroopers landed in low-lying areas that were deliberately submerged in the sea or inland by the Germans. Many people drowned in knee-deep water because of heavy equipment. After 24 hours, 10 1 division only assembled about 3000 people. However, from the overall strategic point of view, the allies can be said to have a glimmer of hope behind the dark clouds. Paratroopers were dropped all over Normandy, throwing Germany into chaos. The paratroopers fought their own battles and dispersed the Germans, with remarkable results. Moreover, they made German commanders greatly overestimate the number of paratroopers, mobilized more unnecessary military forces, and largely dispersed the pressure on the beach landing site. Many people still fought alone behind enemy lines for many days after landing in Normandy. On the morning of the 6th, the 82nd Division occupied Saint-Mer Agris, which became the first liberated town in France. Although there are many problems in allied airborne, it still achieved great success, which shows that Eisenhower's view is correct. Allied airborne troops seized vital transportation hubs, bridges and beach passages at the beginning of landing, destroyed German artillery positions, undermined the stability of German defense, pinned down the German reserve, and put the Germans in a passive situation. Created conditions for the victory of landing.

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Invasion of Normandy

Sword Beach is adjacent to Ouistreham, the mouth of Orn River. It is the easternmost of the five beaches of Operation Overlord, and Caen, the shipping center in northern France, is located 9 miles south of the beach. After rushing to the beach, the British landing from the east of Baojian Beach quickly defeated the fire of the German light infantry and joined the paratroopers who parachuted inland in the afternoon. However, the British troops landing from the west of Baojian Beach were stubbornly resisted by the German tanks of 2 1 division, and could not join forces with the Canadian troops landing from Juneau Beach. The two sides fought fiercely until dusk, and the allies successfully repelled the German armored forces. Of the 29,000 British soldiers who landed that day, only 630 were killed or injured. Juno Beach, centering on Coursewulles-sur-mer, extends to both sides of Juno Beach, with a width of about 6 miles. German light infantry are deployed in villages behind sand dunes on the beach. This terrain advantage is a great threat to the allies who have to attack through sand dunes. The landing operation was extremely tragic from the beginning, and one third of the allied landing craft was destroyed by German mines and obstacles. Although attack force easily crossed the beach, it was ruthlessly hit by German fire in front of the sand dunes, making the casualty rate of the first wave of attacking troops as high as 50%. Near noon, Canadian troops occupied coastal towns, pushed inland, and joined forces with British troops from Golden Beach. There were * * * 2 1.400 officers and men who participated in the Juneau landing war, and the number of casualties was 1.200. Golden Beach Golden Beach is the center of the whole landing operation, and the landing time is one hour later than Utah and Omaha Beach. Due to the high tide and poor sea conditions, the allies could not completely remove mines and obstacles in the sea area, which also made the British army who wanted to grab the beach quickly into a hard battle. The Germans deployed heavy defenses in the coastal towns of La Riviere and Almer, and set up four heavy guns1.55mm inland 500 meters away from the coast, aiming directly at the coast. Under the heavy artillery bombardment of HMS Ajax, the British army finally destroyed these four heavy artillery guns and suppressed the German defensive firepower. As night fell, 25,000 allied troops landed successfully, forcing the defending Nazi troops to retreat six miles inland. There were only 400 British casualties. Omaha Beach Omaha Beach was the most intense beach in the Normandy landing campaign. Allied forces suffered huge losses in Omaha beach, only 2,500 people were killed, so they were also called "bloody Omaha". The classic war scene at the beginning of the movie Saving Private Ryan is taken from Omaha Beach. Omaha beach is 6.4 kilometers long, and the coastal cliffs are more than 30 meters high. The terrain is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The landing operations here are undertaken by the ninth army of the United States. Because of the wrong information, the Allies thought that the German defenders here had only one regiment, most of which were reserves, and there were no armored vehicles, so their combat effectiveness was very poor. In fact, Rommel transferred all the elite German 352nd Infantry Division to Normandy in March, and a main regiment of the 352nd Division was stationed in Omaha Beach. Unfortunately, it was not until after the landing troops set out that the allied intelligence agencies discovered the whereabouts of the 352nd Division. On the day of landing, the weather was extremely bad. Before landing, the allied forces lost the 10 landing craft and more than 300 officers and men due to the excessive wind and waves. Most of the officers and men on the landing craft are seasick and cold, and they are basically exhausted before they reach the battle site. After the landing operation began, it was also very difficult. Of the 32 amphibious tanks prepared in the west section of the beach, 27 sank just after entering the sea because of excessive wind and waves, and two of the five surviving tanks were quickly destroyed by German artillery fire. Due to the tidal influence and disorder, many American soldiers who landed could not tell the direction and assembly point, and a large number of soldiers crowded on the beach waiting for the attack of German artillery. For two hours, not a single American soldier rushed to the western beach, only occupying a 9-meter-wide area of the eastern beach. The landing operation was almost a complete failure. However, the US Navy brought a turning point to Omaha Beach. Because there was no contact with the beach landing troops for a long time, the naval commander realized that the situation in Omaha beach might be extremely severe, so the destroyer 17 pushed only 730 meters away from the beach, regardless of the danger of being struck by lightning, stranded and overturned by the 155mm coastal gun, and provided fire support for the landing American troops at close range. At this time, the American death squads also climbed Cape Hawke and found that the so-called 155mm coastal gun was actually disguised as a telephone pole. The navy, which had no worries, wantonly bombed the German strongholds, and the American army, which had been stuck on the beach before, also began to charge under the leadership of the first division of the elite troops. The second echelon of the landing troops landed early at noon. Under the guidance of the air force, the battleships and cruisers of the US Navy also began to shoot at the other side, and the German defense line basically collapsed. When it was dark, the American army officially landed successfully, and the Fifth Army landed and opened a command post. Major General Roger sent a telegram to Bradley immediately after landing: "Thank God for creating the US Navy." Utah Beach, located on the west side of Carentan Bay, is a beach about 3 miles wide and covered with low sand dunes. Although the actual landing site of the allied forces was one mile east than scheduled, fortunately, there were not many Germans deployed at the landing site. Within three hours after the attack, the allies crossed the beach and took control of the coastal roads; Before noon that day, the landing troops joined the airborne troops who parachuted behind enemy lines five hours ago; By midnight that day, the Allies not only successfully achieved the intended operational goal of landing, but also advanced 4 miles inland. Of all the landing operations, the Utah beach landing was the one with the least casualties, with only 197 casualties among 23,000 officers and men.

Edit this German's reaction.

On D-Day, only 2 1 Armored Division organized a counterattack, but the division commander was not in the command post, and the chief of staff had no right to mobilize the assembled troops, so he could only hold the German armored forces.

About 24 No.4 tanks were sent to attack the British troops east of Caen. Due to the hasty dispatch, inadequate preparation and no infantry support, it was easily repelled by the British army. On the afternoon of the same day, the teacher Fehtinger rushed back to the headquarters and assembled his subordinate troops to attack Luke Town between Juno Beach and Baojian Beach. At that time, there was a gap of several thousand meters between the two beaches, and the German counterattack hit the key of the Allies, which would bring great difficulties to the Allies. While 2 1 armored division marched, 500 allied transport planes flew overhead to transport follow-up troops and supplies for the British 6th Airborne Division. However, Fehtinger mistakenly thought that allied paratroopers just wanted to attack their own troops from front to back, panicked, gave up the counterattack and hurried back. Besides, the Germans had nothing to fight back on D-Day. June 6th, which was predicted by Rommel as a decisive twenty-four hours, was called the longest day in history by Eisenhower, so it passed peacefully. On June 7, Hitler handed over the command of five armored divisions in the western armored cluster to Rommel, who was determined to fight back with this elite force. But in the face of the grim situation, he had to set the first goal of counterattack as preventing the allied forces from connecting five landing beaches into a complete landing site, and then ensuring Caen and Cherbourg. Unfortunately, this armored unit came from 100 ~ 200 kilometers away, and could not be put into operation under the fierce air strikes of the allied forces. Even if sporadic troops arrived at the beach, they suffered heavy casualties under the bombing of allied warships and lost their former prestige. In this way, the Germans were unable to launch a decisive large-scale counterattack under the overwhelming firepower of the allied naval and air forces all day on June 7.

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Seven days after the Allied landing, * * * landed 326,000 soldiers and 6.5438+004 million tons of materials, and continued to transport more personnel, materials, equipment and supplies to the European continent. Allied forces successfully established beachhead positions, liberated Paris on August 25, and declared the end of the Normandy campaign.

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The Normandy landing campaign was the largest amphibious landing campaign in the history of the world and a strategic campaign, 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 the post-war situation in Europe. The main reasons for the success of allied landing are: first, the successful organization of strategic deception made the German high command misjudge, which not only ensured the suddenness of landing operations, but also ensured the smooth progress of the campaign, which had a great impact on the whole campaign. Through the effective feint of the navy and air force, the Allies successfully used a series of measures, such as double espionage, electronic jamming, and assembling disguised troops and ships in southeast England. Coupled with strict security measures, the German high command misjudged the landing place and time of the allied forces for a long time. Even after the allied forces landed in Normandy, it was still considered as a feint, resulting in most of the German troops and weapons on the western front being wasted in Calais and Normandy. Cemetery in Normandy

Second, master absolute air and sea power. This is an important reason for the successful landing. The allied forces put into battle13,700 aircraft and 9,000 warships, which were dozens of times that of German aircraft and warships. Before landing, the air force bombed the German air base, aviation industry and new weapon development base on a large scale, which seriously weakened Germany's war potential. The allied forces also relied on the absolute superiority of the navy and air force to ensure the safety of the landing troops during the voyage. Before and after landing, the Allied Air Force imposed a strict air blockade on the traffic lines in the theater, which made it impossible for a few German reinforcements to form a counterattack in time. At the critical moment when the landing troops raided the land, the navy and air force gave extremely strong fire support, especially Omaha beach, which was successful only by relying on the fire support of the navy and air force. Third, adequate material preparation and careful reconnaissance support. In order to ensure the success of the landing, the allied forces made preparations for nearly a year, with many troops and complete equipment. Before landing, the allies made sufficient preparations for combat materials and equipment. After landing, it also ensures uninterrupted late supply. In particular, creative artificial ports and submarine oil pipelines have played a great role in ensuring the smooth landing of troops and materials. In reconnaissance support, on the one hand, reconnaissance was organized in Calais as a strategic deception, on the other hand, a lot of hydrological, meteorological and geological reconnaissance was carried out in Normandy, which provided a lot of valuable data for choosing the specific landing time and landing place. Through aerial reconnaissance, the German troops deployed and defense facilities in Normandy were basically obtained, which played an important role in the implementation of the campaign. Fourth, realistic pre-war training. Because the landing operation is an extremely complicated combat style, the allied forces repeatedly simulated the organization and actions of the participating troops before landing, so that the troops could master the relevant combat skills as soon as possible and improve their combat effectiveness. After the war, combatants spoke highly of pre-war training, especially Thompson's training base. Fifth, the impact of bad weather. Weather is one of the key factors in landing operations. Due to the bad weather, the Allies not only postponed the landing time from June 5 to June 6, but also encountered great difficulties in airborne operations, maritime navigation and fire preparation. But it was also the bad weather that made the Germans lose the necessary vigilance and increased the suddenness of landing. Although the allied landing was a great success, many problems were exposed in the battle. For example, although we have the absolute advantage of sea and air, we landed in the secondary defense direction where the enemy's strength is weak, but the organization and command were weak and the attack power of the troops was not sharp enough, which made the speed of establishing the landing site too slow, with an average of only 1.8-2.7 kilometers per day, which affected the campaign process to some extent. Another example is that the reconnaissance work was not timely and thorough enough, especially the whereabouts of the elite 352nd Infantry Division of the German army were not found out quickly, which made the American troops landing on Omaha beach encounter stubborn resistance and caused great casualties. Another example is the improper use of air force, which has caused a serious waste of military weapons. Before landing on June 6, 2500 heavy bombers were dispatched and 654.38+00000 tons were dropped. This practice of bombing small and scattered coastal fortifications from high altitude is not satisfactory. In the bombing of Caen on July 7, 2500 tons of bombs were dropped on an area of about 3.5 square kilometers. The massive ruins and rubble caused by such fierce bombing even seriously hindered the advancement of our ground troops.

Reasons for Germany's failure

Strategically, due to many restrictions, the troops had to be dispersed.

Tactically, the command is not unified, the German campaign commander has no right to command the navy and air force, and it is impossible to organize effective coordinated anti-landing by the three armed forces. Even in the army, there is no unified anti-landing policy. There are serious differences between Lundstedt, commander-in-chief of the German Western Front, and Rommel, commander of the B Army Group. The former advocates that the main force should be deployed in the depth of the campaign to resolutely fight back against landing; The latter advocates relying on solid beach fortifications to destroy the enemy on the beach.

Air and sea power is too weak, and the strength is too different.

timetable

June 5-6-US Army's 83rd Airborne Division (Detroit Operation), 10 1 Airborne Division (Chicago Operation) and British Army's 6th Airborne Division (Tonga Operation) airborne.

Landing on the beach from June 6 to D (Operation Overlord or Operation Grand Monarch)

June 25-29-Operation Epsom attacked the west of Caen and was repulsed by the Germans.

July 7-Occupy Caen

Rommel was seriously injured when the Royal Canadian Air Force Spitfire fighter strafed his car.

July 6, 5438+08 to 20-Operation Goodwood begins.

August 3 -9, the "general action" to trap German armored forces began.

August 16-The "Dragon Cavalry" operation of the United States and France landing on the French Riviera begins.

On August 25th, the Allies occupied Paris.

affect

The victory of the Normandy landing announced the opening of the second battlefield of the Allied Forces in the European continent, which meant that Nazi Germany was caught in a double battle, relieved the pressure of the Soviet Union, effectively cooperated with the Soviet Union in conquering Berlin, and forced fascist Germany to surrender unconditionally in advance. As a result, the US military put its main force into the Pacific Ocean to fight against Japan, which accelerated the end of the Second World War.