Why did the Allies choose to land in Normandy?

When choosing the landing site, the following three conditions should be met: first, it should be within the radius of the fighter plane taking off from the British airport; Second, the ferry distance should be as short as possible; Third, there should be a big port nearby. On the 480-kilometer coastline from Frisingen, the Netherlands to Cherbourg, France, there are three areas that meet the above conditions: Constantine Peninsula, Calais and Normandy.

Comparing these three places again, Constantine Peninsula was rejected first because of its narrow terrain and difficulty in deploying large troops. 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 from Britain, it has the following advantages:

Germany has a weak defense.

The terrain is open and 30 divisions can be launched at the same time.

It is only 80 kilometers away from Cherbourg, the largest port in northern France. After weighing and comparing, "Cossack" chose Normandy.

The Normandy landing campaign took place at 6: 30 on June 6, 1944/KLOC-0, which was a large-scale offensive launched by the allied forces on the western front of Europe in World War II. The code name of this operation is Operation Overlord. The allied forces planned to start the campaign on June 6th, 1944 19, and ended it after crossing the Seine-Marne River on August 9th, 194419. Although it has been 65 years since this battle, the Battle of Normandy is still the largest maritime landing operation in the world, with nearly 3 million soldiers crossing the English Channel to Normandy, France.

The allied forces fighting in Normandy were mainly composed of Canada, Britain and the United States. But after landing on the beach, basically only France and Poland took part in the battle, among which soldiers came from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands and Norway. It started the night before the Normandy landing, airborne operations and large-scale aerial bombing. 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.

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, cooperated with the Soviet Union to effectively conquer Berlin, and forced fascist Germany to surrender unconditionally in advance. As a result, the US military devoted its main force to the Pacific Ocean and fought against Japan with all its strength, which accelerated the end of the Second World War.

The allied victory reason:

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 as follows:

First, the successful organization of strategic deception made the German high command misjudge, which not only ensured the suddenness of the landing operation, but also ensured the smooth progress of the campaign, which had a great impact on the whole campaign.

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.

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.

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, 1944, 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 defeat:

Strategically, due to many restrictions, the troops had to be dispersed. 1944 In June, Germany deployed 179 Division and 5 brigades in the Soviet Union, 13 Division in Norway and Sweden in Northern Europe, 2/kloc-0 Division in Italy, 25 Division in Yugoslavia, 12 Division in Greece and 4 Division in Hungary. And the Atlantic coast of France, Belgium, the Netherlands ***60 divisions, accounting for about 18% of its total strength. Among these 60 divisions, 23 divisions are deployed in Calais, and only 6 divisions and 3 regiments in Normandy where the Allied forces landed, accounting for about 2% of its total strength. Although the Germans mobilized 2 1 division reinforcements from all over the country after the allied landing, most of these reinforcements were unorganized and could not organize a strong counterattack because of the air blockade of the allied air force. During the same period, the Allied forces landed in Normandy for 43 days, and there were about 654.38+6500 people in 39 divisions of 9 armies. (Among the 39 divisions, there are 20 divisions in the United States, 654.38+04 divisions in Britain, 3 divisions in Canada, and 654.38+0 divisions in Free France and Poland. There are 24 infantry divisions, 1 1 armored divisions and 4 airborne divisions), with about 660,000 tons of materials, about 4,000 tanks and about 200,000 motor vehicles. 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. This difference led to the fact that the four German armored divisions in France were not deployed in the depth of the battle or in the coastal areas, which seriously weakened the already weak defense forces of the German army. In addition, the command of the armored division of the German strategic reserve is in the German high command. Due to the electronic interference and air strikes of the allied forces, the orders could not be successfully uploaded and issued, and the best counterattack opportunity was missed.

Air and sea power is too weak, and the strength is too different. As an important force to resist landing, the German navy and air force are too weak. Its air force has to fight on the vast Soviet-German battlefield and deal with the allied strategic bombing of Germany. Normandy had very little air force at its disposal. The Germans tried their best to deploy planes from all over the world, but there were only 400, which was 30 times different from the Allied Forces 13000! How is it possible to win? In the week after June 6, the German Air Force dispatched 1683 sorties, which can be said to be all dispatched, but only 67% of the 2,500 sorties dispatched by the Allied forces in a direct air fire preparation, and only 6% of the total sorties dispatched by the Allied forces in a week. It doesn't have much effect at all, only some harassing air strikes can be carried out, which just shows that the German Air Force is still fighting.

On the naval side, the development of the German navy is inherently unbalanced, focusing only on the development of submarines and ignoring large surface ships. After several years of war consumption, by June 1944, there were few large surface ships left in the German navy, and only submarines and small ships could resist landing. After June 6th, the Germans dispatched 4 1 submarines successively, but under the interception of the powerful anti-submarine forces of the allied forces, 6 submarines were lost, and only 13 submarines entered the English Channel, achieving the record of sinking 1 tank landing ship, 1 frigate and 1 destroyer. German small ships have also been dispatched many times, losing 2 destroyers, 1 minesweeper, 9 torpedo boats and 1 patrol boat. The cost of 5 torpedo boats and 2 minesweepers being injured sank 1 destroyer, 5 tank landing ships, 3 personnel landing boats and 5 transport ships. Although the German navy and air force have done their best, their strength is too different and their role is minimal.