The Normandy Landing Campaign was a large-scale landing campaign carried out by the United States and British forces on the Normandy Peninsula in northwestern France at the end of World War II. The landing began on June 6, 1944, and the landing ground was established on July 24. On 25 July it began to move to a land offensive, and on 25 August it occupied Paris and along the Seine.
The victory of the Normandy landing campaign was of decisive significance for the US-British coalition forces to open up a second battlefield in Western Europe.
In January 1943, the United States and Britain decided to carry out a landing campaign in northern France and open up a second battlefield. At that time, the Soviets had won a decisive victory at the Battle of Stalingrad and had begun to turn to a counteroffensive, the Japanese army had suffered a defeat in the Pacific theater, and the German army of Rommel had also suffered a serious blow in North Africa. Therefore, the entire world war situation was extremely favorable for the US-British coalition forces to open a second battlefield on the Western Front. However, the US-British coalition forces never took active action in the organization of the campaign with the exception of the plan to form a joint staff for the campaign.
At the beginning of 1944, the German army began to retreat on the Eastern Front, and the spearhead of the Soviet counteroffensive was already directed at Berlin. At this time, the United States and Britain designated Eisenhower as the supreme commander of the campaign to specifically organize the landing campaign. Thus, the actual organizational preparation time for the landing campaign was about 6 months.
The strength of the US-British coalition forces in the war is: Army Group 21, which has jurisdiction over three armies: US 1st, British 2nd and Canadian 1st Army. In addition, the US Third Army was combined with the US First Army to form the Twelfth Army Group after landing. A total of 39 divisions, 10 armored brigades, 10 commandos (marines). The navy is composed of two direct escort fleets in the east and west, with a total of more than 5,000 large and small ships. There are also more than 2,000 merchant ships. The Air Force has the US Eighth and Ninth Armies and the British Second Army, with a total of 12,837 aircraft of various types.
The German forces involved in the battle were: 43 divisions of Army Group B. In addition, 17 divisions of Army Group G were distributed in the southern and southwestern regions of France. There are more than 300 ships of various types and more than 60 auxiliary vessels on the western front of the Navy. The Third Army of the Air Force, about 500 aircraft.
The mission of the US-British coalition landing operation was to make a surprise landing on a 96-kilometer frontal line from the mouth of the Ona River to the Quinaville on the Contantine Peninsula. After the breakthrough, a unified landing ground was first established in the areas of Sandcastle, Kern, Bayu, and Quinaville. After that, it developed in depth, taking the seaports of Cherbourg and the Brittany Peninsula, and establishing an airfield network on the east side of Kern, so as to create favorable conditions for the development of large-scale land offensive campaigns.
The Germans suffered an unprecedented defeat on the Eastern Front, pinning a glimmer of hope on the Western Front. The German High Command believed that the landing of American and British troops on the Western Front might force the German army to collapse, but it could also be an excellent opportunity to turn the German army's defeat into victory. If the landing force can be annihilated in one fell swoop, then not only will it be difficult for the US and British forces to launch another landing campaign for a long time to come, but it will also make it possible for the German army to transfer 50 divisions from the Western Front to the Eastern Front to resist the Soviet attack. Accordingly, the German army attempted to quickly concentrate all possible forces and weapons in the main direction of the enemy's possible landing under the condition that the enemy had absolute air and sea supremacy, so that as soon as the enemy troops landed, they would immediately launch a decisive counterattack and annihilate the enemy on the waterfront and beachhead in one fell swoop.
The entire landing campaign went through three stages: assault landing (landing), consolidation and expansion of the landing ground, and in-depth operations.
Stage 1: Assault landing
On June 1, 1944, the first echelon of the Allied landing force completed preparations for embarkation. At dawn on the 3rd, the assault transport groups set sail from the ports and rendezvoused in the waters south of the Isle of Wight, formed an assault fleet, and stood by to march to the landing area. On the morning of the 4th, due to the deteriorating weather, the Supreme Commander of the Battle announced that the date of the assault landing had been postponed by 24 hours from the original date of the 5th, and that the fleet that had already gone to sea was recalled.
On the morning of the 5th, the weather was still not improving, but in order to avoid the loss of tactical suddenness and the impact on the morale of the troops due to repeated delays, it was finally decided that the landing force would make a surprise landing on 6 June under unfavorable weather conditions. The assault fleets again concentrated in the waters south of the Isle of Wight and at 12 noon began to move towards the intended target area. The minesweeper fleet sailed ahead of the assault fleet, opening 10 fairways. Throughout the crossing, the surface fleet was uninterruptedly covered by groups of fighters.
On the morning of 6 July, three regiments of the 82nd Division and the 101st Division of the US Airborne Forces began to land on both sides of the Carentan-Cherbourg road in the area of Saint-Man Iglis, and in the areas of Saint-Martin-Téderavier, Saint-Marie-Dumont, and Saint-Gaume Dumont. The advance assault detachment of the 6th British Assault Division landed in six gliders near Pinovil.
On the night of the 5th and 6th, the assault flotillas were deployed in the transfer sea area 20-21 kilometers from the landing beach in the Seine Bay, and the transfer began on the morning of the 6th.
When the assault transport fleet was deployed and transferred, 1,136 British Air Force bombers began to bomb 10 German artillery positions in the landing area in turn. The bomber aviation units of the Eighth and Ninth Armies of the US Air Force concentrated more than 1,500 bombers in batches to make final preparations for aviation fire on the German coastal artillery positions and coastal defense facilities.
Before the landing force landed, the ships at sea prepared the area for naval artillery fire.
At 6:30 a.m. on the 6th, the first echelon of the 4th Infantry Division of the US Seventh Army made a surprise landing on the 2-kilometer-wide frontal surface of the "Judan" beach. The German defenses in this section were weak, the landing was smooth, and the landing ground of the regiment was initially established. On the same day, all three regiments of the division had landed and made contact with the 101st Airborne Division, consolidating the landing site with a frontage of 4 kilometers and a depth of 9 kilometers. At 6:34 a.m., the U.S. Fifth Army made a surprise landing on "Omaha" beach. After landing, they encountered stubborn resistance from the larger forces of the German 352nd Infantry Division, resulting in heavy casualties, and were blocked on the beach without making progress for several hours. The reserves of each division then went to land ahead of schedule, engaged in fierce battles with the Germans, and finally seized a foothold 1.6 kilometers deep on the same day, and turned to the defense on the line of Vieville and Chatchenville, and the first echelon of the British army also established a division landing ground on the 6th.
After six days of fierce fighting, the coalition forces initially established a beachhead formation with a depth of about 10 to 15 kilometers on a frontage of 80 kilometers
At the same time, 326,000 soldiers, 54,000 vehicles and 104,000 tons of supplies were transported to land.
On 6 June, the Allied forces landed on the coast of Normandy, which was completely unexpected by the Germans and caused great confusion in German command and operations. The Germans failed to give the order to the Panzer Reserve to advance to the landing site in time, and the advance of the reserve was blocked by the Allied air force, which lost the opportunity to organize a strong counterattack. By 12 June, when the Germans in Normandy decided that they were no longer able to retake the occupied beach positions and restore their original position, they turned to the defensive in full, restricting the expansion of the landing grounds by the coalition forces in order to wait for more reserves to counterattack.
From 6 to 12 June, the Germans brought in 7 divisions, plus the original 5 divisions at the landing site, for a total of 12 divisions, 8 divisions less than the Allied forces had estimated in advance.
The main reason why the German army was unable to transfer its main forces to the Normandy area to carry out anti-landing operations during this considerable period of time was that it failed to truly determine the operational intentions of the allied forces and the main direction of the allied landing operations.
Phase 2: Consolidation and expansion of the landing ground
The intention of the coalition forces was to cut off the Constantine Peninsula and prevent the Germans from reinforcing Cherbourg, and then concentrate the main forces to seize Cherbourg and hold on to Carangtang to repel a possible German counterattack, and to seize Gangcheng and further expand the landing grounds.
On 12 June, the U.S. Seventh Army launched an offensive westward from the area of St. Maniglis, and on the 17th it moved out to the shores of the Strait of Trët. The army then moved to the south with part of its forces and the rest of its forces to the north, and by the 22nd had moved out to the defensive outskirts of the port area and the city of Cherbourg. On the 23rd, the German airfield and its immediate commanding heights were occupied 8 km east of Cherbourg. On the 27th, the U.S. captured Cherbourg, and at the end of June, the remnants of the German army were cleared of the Contantine Peninsula.
On 26 June, the British and Canadian forces launched an offensive against the Germans in the Laurel area in order to make a detour to Oka. and quickly captured two bridgeheads on the Laure and Oden. The Germans were forced to throw into battle four panzer divisions that were preparing for a counter-assault, stopping the British and Canadian offensives.
After that, the US First Army continued to expand the landing ground, advanced 10-15 kilometers to the south, and occupied the transportation hub of San Lo. At this time, the British Second Army mainly concentrated its forces on attacking Okajo. On 8 July, the British attacked Okajo with three infantry divisions and three armoured brigades, supported by aviation, and by the 9th, occupied the northwestern part of the city. On 18 July, the British and Canadians launched a new offensive east of Okajo with four infantry divisions and three armored divisions. After three days of fierce fighting, it advanced 10 kilometers to the south and completely occupied Okajo.
From June 6 to July 24, the Allied forces completed the establishment of the Normandy landing field, occupied the landing field with a frontage width of 100 kilometers and a depth of 30 to 40 kilometers, basically ensuring the need to gather troops and materials for the subsequent land offensive, and had the conditions for a large-scale attack on northwestern Germany.
The third stage: in-depth operations
By the end of July, the coalition forces had concentrated a total of 39 divisions of four armies at the Normandy landing site. The coalition planned that the British and Canadian forces would pin down the Germans southwest of Oka, while the American forces would carry out a major assault south in the area west of Saint-Ro and develop an offensive towards Avrangham and Lerne to occupy the Brittany Peninsula. After that, the army marched eastward, passing through Le Mans and Alençon, driving the German army to the Seine River and occupying northwestern Germany.
The Seventh Army of the US First Army broke through German defenses on an 8-kilometer-long stretch and advanced 60 kilometers to the south. On July 31, he went out to the Sirleng River area.
On August 1, the U.S. Third Army engaged in combat in this area. At this time, the coalition forces were organized into two army groups, namely: the 1st and 3rd US armies were organized into the 12th Army Group, and the British 1st Army and the 1st Plus Army were organized into the 21st Army Group.
When the US Third Army advanced southward, the German army had been reinforced by the infantry divisions transferred from the Calais direction, drew out four armored divisions, and launched a counter-assault on Eplanzis from Ville and Mozhdan on August 6, in an attempt to cut off the supply line of the US Third Army, but was resisted by the US troops, forcing the Germans to abandon the counter-assault. The 15th Army of the US Third Army developed an offensive according to a changed plan, capturing the city of Laval on 6 August and Le Mans on the 9th, thus threatening the left flank and rear of the German Seventh Army. At the same time, the Eighth Army also captured the entire Brittany Peninsula except for the ports of Saint-Malo, Brest, etc. The British 2nd Army and the 1st Canadian Army occupied Pingsong Hill on 6 August and threatened the German right flank. At this time, the Allied forces still decided to encircle the German army in the area west of the city of Farez. The U.S. Fifteenth Army launched an offensive from Le Mans and occupied Argentun on the 13th, while the Second Army advanced in the direction of Farez, making slow progress and failing to join the U.S. Fifteenth Army at the same time. Most of the German troops in the encirclement jumped out of the encirclement of the coalition forces and retreated in the direction of the Seine. By August 19, the coalition forces had completed the encirclement of Farez, annihilating more than 60,000 German troops in the encirclement. After the annihilation of the German army of Farez, the allied armies pursued in the direction of the Seine.
Occupy Paris on 25 August. After a month of fighting (July 25-August 25), the Allied forces basically occupied the entire northwestern part of Germany.
The entire landing campaign was carried out by the US-British coalition forces under the condition of absolute air and sea supremacy. The U.S.-British coalition committed about 1.5 million troops on the ground. Four to five hours before the landing force assault landed, the US-British allied forces used three airborne divisions to parachute deep in Normandy, setting a precedent for large-scale airborne landing. The American and British troops suffered 122,000 casualties in this battle, and the German troops suffered 114,000 casualties and prisoners.
The Normandy landing campaign played a major role in launching a large-scale offensive by the US-British forces in Western Europe, accelerating the collapse of Nazi Germany, and determining the post-war situation in Europe.
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