In the early hours of June 6, 1944, German sentries stationed in Normandy suddenly discovered that a large fleet had broken into the long coastline, the German army was unprepared, and the Allied fleet had already quietly arrived, and then one of the largest amphibious landing operations in the history of World War II was officially launched. The early Allied landings reached 176,000 men, and after the rapid capture of five beaches near Normandy, more than 2 million Allied troops followed quickly poured into the European theater, casting a decisive weight on the final victory in World War II. What kind of wonderful process did the Normandy landing campaign, code-named "Operation Overlord", go through?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="107" > choice of Allied landing sites</h1>
By the time world war II was approaching in 1944, the German army had been firmly dragged by the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, and after the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk, the situation on the Eastern Front had undergone a huge change, and the German Legion, which had been flaunting and arrogant, had to retreat to the battlefield after many defeats.
German Legion of World War II
The Siberian warrior Slavs also began to show their wild side, launching a counterattack against the entrenched German army. At a time when the Eastern Front was in full swing, the US-British coalition forces on the Western Front were not to be outdone, and wanted to cross the English Channel and launch an unprecedented landing operation, attacking the German positions from the west, and completely shattering the hegemonic plan of the war maniac Hitler from both sides.
Soviet soldiers in World War II
As early as 1941, when the German army invaded the Soviet Union, Stalin proposed to Britain a plan to open a second battlefield, but at this time Britain had just experienced air combat, the war had not yet recovered, and it was unable to launch a counteroffensive against the German army.
But soon Britain found an ally, the United States, and the United States also benefited from Germany's younger brother Japan. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese army launched the Pearl Harbor air raid, which completely angered the United States, and the United States subsequently declared war on Japan. Although Germany did not want to be an enemy of the United States at this time, the younger brother had difficulties, the eldest brother always had to stand up, and after only four days, Hitler declared war on the United States.
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
With the strong assistance of the United States, the British also have the confidence, and the conditions for sea landing operations are already in place. At Stalin's urging, Churchill started his own little ninety-nine, hoping to delay the time and let Germany and the Soviet Union fight each other and gain his own profits, and at the same time he wanted to use the United States to help him regain his power in North Africa and southern Europe.
Stalin was very dissatisfied with the left-right swaying attitude of the British, and the United States was not happy with Britain's approach, the United States did not want its own army to fight for Britain, nor did it want the Soviet Union to conquer the European continent alone, and the United States wanted to increase its prestige through war and let itself have a higher international voice after the war.
World War II Churchill
Under the common pressure of the United States and the Soviet Union, Britain, a decaying empire that never sets the sun, can only reluctantly agree. In Churchill's words, how could this little English donkey, sandwiched in the middle, be able to rival the huge Russian bear and the North American bison?
At the Washington Conference in May 1943, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain finally reached an agreement to prepare for the landing operation in May 1944, officially opening the second battlefield. The time has been set, so where to choose the location. In order to carry out beach-grabbing landing operations, this place must meet several conditions, first of all, the landing site must not be too far away, so that the Allied air force can provide cover; secondly, the landing site must be vast so that the Allies can use mechanized troops to fight, and finally, and extremely important, the landing beachhead must have a good port so that the Allies can continue to provide material assistance to the combat troops.
Allied landing force
To meet these conditions at the same time was very demanding, and the Allies initially chose three locations, namely Calais, Normandy and the Constantine Peninsula. The Kontantin Peninsula was excluded first, because the terrain of the peninsula was too narrow for the Allied mechanized forces to deploy at all, and the choice of one of the three was now one of the two, but this choice was equally difficult.
Judging from the conditions of the two landing points, the landing from Calais was the most suitable, because this place was closest to the British mainland, but the Germans who could think of the Allies could also think of the German army, in order to prevent the Western Front, stationed a large number of elite troops in the Calais area, which could be said to be the most heavily defended place of the German army.
The port of Calais, France
The battlefield often needs to do the opposite, since the Calais area is well defended, then Normandy on the south bank has become the best choice for the Allies, and compared to the Calais region, Normandy also has a natural advantage, the terrain is more open, conducive to large troops to fight, and it is relatively close to the largest port in northern France, Cherbourg, once the Allies occupy Cherbourg, the materials can be continuously imported into the European region, follow-up supplies are no longer a problem, after many considerations, the Allies finally decided to land in the direction of Normandy.
French port of Normandy
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="204" > confusing operations before landing</h1>
For the Allies, choosing the landing site was a strategic consideration, but for the Germans, predicting the Landing Site of the Allies was a gamble of luck, but unfortunately, God did not throw the dice on their side. Of course, God was uncertain, and the Germans' misjudgments were more due to allied miscalculations.
In order to interfere with Germany's decision, the Allies carried out the largest military fraud in history, this operation was code-named "The Bodyguard Project". The Allies deliberately created a fictitious army for this plan, that is, the Us First Army Group Army. The Allies simulated the standard model of army group through radio communications and appointed the american general George Patton, who had always been good at attacking, as the commander of this force, and he was also the best candidate for command of the landing in the minds of the Germans.
General Patton of the United States
At the same time, in order to deceive the German aircraft reconnaissance, the Allies carefully built a large number of fake tanks in the Kent area on the other side of the port of Calais, and also made fake aircraft models and landing craft from wood and canvas, and the Allies also sent a large number of logistical soldiers to the Kent area to further confuse the German army in this way.
The Allies were ready, and at this point everything was ready, and only the East Wind was owed. How to pass on allied disinformation to the Germans became a top priority for the Allies, and Puyol, a double agent at MI5, solved the problem well. Puyol, a Spaniard, had a rough time, and after the start of World War II, he joined michio, britain's intelligence agency, out of anger.
Double Agent Puyol
Puyol takes the side of the sword, preparing to obtain intelligence for the Allies through the identity of a double agent. Pujol initially succeeded in fooling the German trust through all kinds of nonsense information, and volunteered to go undercover in Britain, where the German intelligence agencies randomly allocated him a sum of money to carry out covert operations, and in the eyes of the Germans, Pujol was his loyal and reliable intelligence worker, but then they would pay the price.
German Nazi officer
When the Allies learned of the existence of their double-sided spy, they immediately signaled him to send false information to Germany, and in the early days of the Normandy landing, Puyol provided more than 500 pieces of intelligence to the Germans, of which 60 were adopted by the Germans, which made the German command believe that the Allies would eventually land in the Calais area, laying the groundwork for the later victory in Normandy.
During World War II, Pujols received the Iron Cross himself from Hitler and the Order of the British Empire by King George VI. He was the only person to receive the highest allied and Axis medals during World War II, and his reputation reached its peak. Later, in order to avoid revenge from the Nazis, Pujol forged the illusion of his death and lived in seclusion in Venezuela, where he did not reappear until 1984, when the German Nazi organization had long since disappeared.
Order of the British Empire
A series of Allied frauds eventually succeeded in misleading the Germans, who placed their main forces in the Calais region, while Normandy in the south deployed only a small number of troops. Hitler was already aware of the Allied intentions before the Allied landings, and he sent more than 10 additional troops to defend the Western Front, but at the suggestion of Field Marshal Rommel of the Western Front at the time, these troops were dispersed to the Atlantic Line barrier, and only a few mobile units were in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front, Lundsted, and such an approach would prove to be the most wrong strategic decision of the German army.
Nazi general Rommel
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="205" > The Battle of Normandy was officially launched</h1>
The Allied deception operations were effective, and the German deployment was proceeding in the direction envisioned by the Allies, but it was also a difficult task for the vanguard to cross the narrow English Channel to fight on the European continent, and in order to prevent the Allied landings, the Germans also built a 2700-kilometer-long Atlantic defensive barrier.
This barrier was built under the personal command of Rommel, and the defensive line spread from the northern norwegian coast to the border between France and Spain, in the Atlantic defensive positions, the Germans placed bunkers and artillery positions at various defensive points, and in order to stop the Allied advance, the Germans laid various obstacles in the forward positions, including anti-tank horses welded with barbed wire, anti-tank trenches specifically aimed at land overlords, and various blades and mines that could cut through landing submarines.
Atlantic Barrier
Rommel also predicted that the Allies would inevitably use a large number of paratroopers as auxiliary combat, so they installed rails and stakes in some of the jungles near the beach, and also made some low-lying areas into artificial swamps to drown the paratroopers who landed.
In the face of the German defensive posture, the Allies also made frequent surprise moves, creating a variety of incredible landfall weapons. The Allies equipped sherman tanks with propellers and inflatable tents, converted them into amphibious landing tanks, and built minesweeping tanks dedicated to mine clearance, engineering tanks to pave roads, armored ramps to cross the seawall, and bridge tanks to cross larger obstacles.
Tanks during World War II
In order to conquer the German barriers, the inventors of the Allied forces are also brain-opening, such an offensive and defensive war makes me think of the late Spring and Autumn Period, the ranger Mozi in order to persuade the King of Chu, and the new type of weapon confrontation with the Public Defeat Class, the sand table simulation war between the two sides finally ended with Mozi's nine battles and nine victories, what is the outcome of this famous offensive and defensive war during World War II, please look down.
War sandbox model
The Allies initially designated the time of the Allied landing in May 1944, and the need for more landing ships due to the need for more landing ships due to the Allied decision to change the landing site from calais to Normandy was urgently needed, but the operation was once again hampered after the landing force was ready.
Normandy landing scene
On June 4, 1944, the landing force received orders to prepare for the beach landing, but at this time the accident also occurred, at the time of the Allied landing, the weather changed suddenly, heavy rain poured down, the English Channel was also choppy, the entire sea was shrouded in water mist, visibility became extremely low, and the prepared troops had no choice but to temporarily stop the attack.
By the next morning, the Allied command held an emergency meeting, at which the naval forces hoped to launch an attack as soon as possible, and the air commander believed that the low visibility of the sea was not conducive to the reinforcements of the air force, and asked for a delay in the attack time.
The Allied landings in Normandy were based on naval landings, supplemented by a battle plan for paratrooper units. The main task of the paratroopers was to block the German reinforcements, while cooperating with the landing forces to seize the beachhead, expanding the landing battlefield vertically, encircling and consolidating the positions.
Because the Allied sea landing forces were stopped by heavy rains, the paratroopers arrived at the battlefield before the landing forces. In the early hours of June 6, 1944, more than 13,000 Allied paratroopers, mainly two U.S. airborne divisions and one British airborne division, entered the German rear in 925 fighter jets.
Allied landing operations
The British Airborne Division went better, they were airdropped to the left of the landing site, and the Newly Landed British soldiers soon seized the bridge near Pegassos and used it as a base to block the attacking German soldiers. The U.S. Airborne Corps lost their way due to the fog, and they were forced to scatter everywhere, because the troops were scattered, the soldiers had to fight on their own, but these landing American paratroopers also seriously damaged the German rail lines of communication, pinning down the German follow-up troops.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="230" > the process of grabbing the beach after landing</h1>
An hour after the paratroopers landed, the Allied landing forces also quietly arrived under the cover of night, and off the coast of Normandy, the Allied fleet took the lead in attacking the German defensive positions, and then the Allied fighters began to bombard the German forward positions in batches, and under the cover of the air force, the Allied landing forces began to advance towards the beach.
Allied forces advancing towards the beach
The Allies chose to land at five beach sites in Normandy, with the U.S. army targeting Utah Beach and Omaha Beach, the most rugged terrain, and the British and Canadian forces attacking Juneau, Sword, and Golden Beach in the center of the landing. The U.S. Fourth Infantry Division took the lead in landing in the Utah Beach area, the German deployment here was not much, the U.S. army took less than three hours to successfully occupy the beachhead position, and control the road along the line, after consolidating the position, the U.S. army immediately joined the landing paratroopers, Utah Beach was the easiest allied landing operation, casualties losses of only 197 combat soldiers.
Allied landing route
However, its proximity to Omaha Beach paid a terrible price for the Americans, and the Omaha beachhead was a cliff that was extremely conducive to German defense, and it was the US First Infantry Division responsible for capturing the position here. As soon as the American soldiers landed on the beachhead, they were violently attacked by the Germans, and the Allied amphibious tanks responsible for artillery cover were also caught in the mud after landing.
The Germans were condescending and launched strafing at the American soldiers, and the landing force was immediately suppressed on the coast, and the situation was very critical. Seeing this scene, the Allied commander ordered 17 destroyers to support the landing soldiers, under the cover of artillery fire, the American soldiers began to climb the cliff and successfully occupied the beachhead, the American soldiers desperately launched an attack on the Germans, and finally successfully consolidated the position.
Allied landing tanks
The U.S. military paid a great price in order to seize the Omaha position, and the number of soldiers killed alone reached more than 2,500, and the Omaha beachhead was also known as "Blood Omaha". Taylor, the U.S. military colonel in charge of commanding the beachhead landing operation, once said, "There are only two kinds of people on this beachhead, one is dead and the other is waiting to die."
After the successful landing of American soldiers on the position, the British 50th Infantry Division also landed on the central Golden Beach an hour later. Here the British also encountered strong German firepower, but the terrain of Golden Beach was wide, the Allied amphibious tanks were pulled to the position, and under the attack of the new Allied weapons, several German fire points were eliminated, and the infantry also successfully seized the beachhead under the cover of artillery fire.
Soldiers are sacrificed on the battlefield
Subsequently, the Canadian Third Infantry Division and the British Third Infantry Division also landed at Juneau and Sword Beach, except for the British army on the west side of Sword Beach, which was blocked by German tanks, the rest of the landing forces were only slightly resisted, and the British troops at Sword Beach also successfully captured the position with the support of the Canadian troops who came later. In just one day, the Allied forces seized the five predetermined beaches, and on June 6, what Eisenhower called the longest day in history, the Germans lost their best chance to stop the Allies.
Allied soldiers seizing positions
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="206" > The final end of the war</h1>
On the day of the Allied landings, Rommel, commander-in-chief of the German B Army, which was responsible for the defense of the northwest coast, left the position because in order to celebrate the birthday of his wife Lucy, the commander-in-chief of the German Seventh Army, Dorman, who was also participating in the army exercise more than 100 kilometers away, only the commander-in-chief of the Western Front, Commander Lundsted, was sitting safely in the command post.
At this time, the Nazi leader Hitler was also enjoying his lunch break, until the afternoon Hitler learned the news of the Allied attack, but at this time Hitler still believed that the main direction of the Allied attack was Calais, the Norman attack was only a feint, until the evening learned that the Allies had occupied the beachhead, Hitler believed that the Allies really launched a landing operation in Normandy.
Nazi Party leader Hitler
Subsequently, Hitler immediately sent a telegram to Rommel to command the armored forces on the Western Front and expel the Allied forces that had landed, but after the Allies seized the position, the follow-up reinforcements had arrived one after another, and because the Allies had a huge advantage in the air force, they soon gained air superiority on the battlefield, and the German armored forces were bombarded by the Allied air force, and it was difficult to form an organized formation, unable to launch a major counteroffensive, and could only retreat backwards.
The Allies occupied the positions
After the landing on the beach, the Allied troops marched into the heart of Europe in two lands, with the American troops as the main attack and launching an attack on Cherbourg, while the British army acted as a supplement, launching an attack on Caen, pretending to capture Paris, in order to attract the main enemy force and buy time for the main attack troops.
As the American troops approached step by step, the Germans also launched a counterattack, and after the American troops entered Cherbourg, the two sides launched a street battle, and the American troops fought for houses and guests, and it took a week to successfully capture the important town. Before the Germans retreated, the important port equipment of Cherbourg was ordered to be blown up, and it took the Allies three weeks to repair the port, and after the Allies occupied Cherbourg, the follow-up supplies were continuously transported, providing great assistance for further counteroffensives in the future.
The city was blown to smithereens
Immediately after the capture of Cherbourg, the American forces marched south to join the British soldiers who had captured Caen, where they encountered a fierce counterattack from the German SS, and the advance was very difficult, and the Allies, with the support of the Air Force, successfully occupied the Caen area on 10 July. After that, the Allies formed a landing field with a depth of 15-35 kilometers along the line of Gangcheng and Soleil, providing a starting position for the Allies to carry out large-scale armored operations, and the Normandy landing battle was over.
The Normandy landings were the largest beach landings during World War II, and to achieve this strategic goal, the Allies assembled 2.88 million troops, of which 36 divisions of army combat units, including 23 infantry divisions, 10 armored divisions and three airborne divisions, totaling 1.53 million troops.
The Normandy landing operation was over
The early Allied landing force numbered 176,000 men and mobilized more than 4,000 landing ships, 13 battleships, 47 cruisers and 134 destroyers. After the war, the death toll reached more than 40,000 on both sides of the United States and Britain, and the number of deaths on the German side reached more than 23,000. This battle enabled the Allies to successfully open a second battlefield on the west coast of the European continent, greatly alleviating the pressure on the Soviet army on the eastern front, and also providing an opportunity for the Allied forces to attack Berlin later, and the American historian Newland once commented that no battle in World War II was comparable to the Normandy landings.