Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Weather inquiry - What was the process of the Normandy landing operation?

What was the process of the Normandy landing operation?

1On June 6th, 944, the Allies began to land on five beaches in Normandy. Baojian Beach is adjacent to Huste Ham Port at the mouth of Aon River. It is the easternmost of the five beaches in the Battle of the Grand Monarch, and Cannes, 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 Juno 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.

The landing area of Juno beach, which extends to both sides with the port of Kousayyexumei as the center, is about 6 miles wide, and the German light infantry is deployed in the village behind the beach dunes. 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 1400 officers and men who participated in the Juno landing war, and the number of casualties was 1200.

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 Rivera and Amer, and set up four heavy guns 500 meters inland from the coast, aiming directly at the coast. Under the heavy artillery bombardment of the Royal Navy "Ajax", the British army finally destroyed these four heavy artillery guns and suppressed the German defensive firepower. As night fell, 25,000 Allied soldiers landed successfully, forcing the defending Nazi troops to retreat 6 miles inland. There were only 400 British casualties.

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". Omaha beach is 6.4 kilometers long, and the coast is mostly cliffs more than 30 meters high. The terrain is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The landing operations here are undertaken by the 9 th Army of the US Army. 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 ignored the danger of being struck by lightning, stranded and overturned by the 155 mm coastal gun, and pushed to a place only 730 meters away from the beach to provide 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 155 mm coastal gun was actually disguised as a telephone pole. The navy, which had no worries, poured shells at the German strongholds unscrupulously, and the American army, which had been stuck on the beach before, began to charge under the leadership of the elite 1 division. 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 US military officially landed successfully, and the 5 th 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 is located on the west side of Karentan Bay. This is a beach about 3 miles wide, 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. After the attack, within only three hours, 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, Utah beach landing was the battle with the least casualties, with only 197 casualties among 23,000 officers and men.