However, ever the masters of deception warfare, the British were able to mislead the Germans as to where precisely the invasion would take place. It was almost impossible to hide the massing of troops across England from the Germans. Most importantly, a significant amount of preparation and intelligence work went into the landings. This would ultimately decide the final location of the D-day landings and result in the Allies constructing massive, hastily-built temporary ports in the wake of the landings.Īllied troops landing in Sicily, via The Atlanticīy the summer of 1944, the Allies were well experienced with naval landings across North Africa, Italy, and the Pacific, which could all be applied to Operation Overlord. One of the more important lessons was that attacks on heavily-defended port cities were unfeasible at best. Over half of the landing force was either killed, wounded, or captured, and virtually none of the objectives had been claimed.Īlthough the landing ended in failure, a great amount of operational information had been gained, essentially providing a “what not to do” playbook for all future landings. Despite outnumbering the German defenders by a great deal, the Allies’ inexperience in landing operations became evident, and the entire operation resulted in a costly defeat. One of the major stepping stones in the tactical evolution was known as the Dieppe Raid, an attempt by Commonwealth forces, namely Canadians, in August of 1942 to temporarily seize the port city of Dieppe in northern France. As far back as 1942, the Allies had been working with naval landings in Africa and elsewhere. Please check your inbox to activate your subscription Thank you!Įven though the actual operation had only been planned in the closing months of 1943, a major amphibious invasion of Europe had been in the works for some time. It was at this point that Operation Overlord was conceived: with one of the most massive mobilizations and concentrations of manpower to be sent in an amphibious landing. Finally, in late 1943, the British and Americans agreed that the Western Allies would open a second major front in France to split and encircle Germany’s forces. Despite the war being waged in North Africa and later Italy, the Soviets insisted that this was not enough and that another front was required. Desperate for any help they could get, the Soviets constantly demanded that the Western allies, at first consisting only of the British Empire and its few remaining allies, but later including America, open another front. German soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front, via Russia Beyondĭuring this time, the war raged in the east as millions of Russian and German soldiers clashed across a massive front. However, attempts by Germany to break the resolve of the British would continue through to the Battle of Britain, where Royal Air Force pilots engaged with the members of the Luftwaffe in the skies over England. With this, the war in Western Europe had ended on land. Through a rapid invasion known as the Battle of France, the Germans completely ejected the Allies from the continent, subjugating France under a collaborationist government and forcing the remnants of the French and British militaries to flee to England. Both had turned down offers of peace from Hitler, who wished to focus his attention on his main enemy, the Soviet Union, and believed that the western Allies had no stomach for war. War had come to Western Europe in the Summer of 1940 when, after the invasion of Poland, the German forces turned their sights on France and Britain. Operation Overlord: Preparation For the D-Day Landings French tanks during the Battle of France, via Britannicaīy the summer of 1944, World War II had been raging across the globe for five years.
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