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Operation Overlord Historians indicate that the nature of Operation Overlord lies in the continuous negotiations of two political forces. Since 1942 Joseph Stalin was constantly pressing US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to establish second front in the west. However, as history analysts claim it was impossible objective under existing circumstances.
US army forces were under development, while the landing crafts and other facilities necessary to deliver military personnel across the English Channel had not yet been built. However, Britain started preparations of theoretical plans regarding a return to the continental mainland soon after the retreat from Dunkirk, France, in 1940. Simultaneously, American high command, after Hitler declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, began developing their timetable and strategy. As historical evidence reveals, being inhibited to the less degree by technical difficulties than Britain, the US emphasized from the very beginning the need for an early invasion, desirably in 1943, or even in 1942 (Leone, 17). The battle plan, code-named Operation Overlord, is considered by historians to be the most ambitious assault ever to start the liberation of occupied Europe from Nazi Germany.
Following the conference in Tehran, structural plans regarding issue of the second front, coordinated by Lieutenant General Frederick Morgan, who had been appointed COSSAC, were presented at the Anglo-American Casablanca conference in January 1943. Morgans staff developed initial plan for Operation Overlord as a landing invasion in Normandy on the basis of three divisions and two brigades air-dropped. Simultaneously, 11 additional divisions were to be landed during the first two weeks through artificial harbors towed across the Channel (Keegan). On the other hand, German high command anticipated that the Anglo-American allies would eventually conduct Channel invasion, however campaign in the East demanded the commitment of all available German forces. By November 1943 Adolph Hitler accepted Fuhrer Directive 51 where the military reinforcement of France was announced.
The Operation was scheduled in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day. Thousands of American, British, Canadian, and French soldiers supported by paratroops, bombers, and warships debarked on 50 -mile stretch of French beach called Normandy. Being considered as the opening of the second frond, the invasion of Normandy became the beginning of the end of the war. Practically it allowed the Allied forces to get their soldiers back on the European mainland and threatened German positions.
From the historical point of view, Operation Overlord was the major turning point of World War II and moreover, one of the significant strategic military operations ever executed. As the fact of the second front opening became the matter of victory or defeat in the World War II, US General Dwight D. Eisenhower established the objective of forming the largest invasion fleet in the history, in order for a marine landing on the northern coast of France to be effective (Kemp, 105). From the very beginning, the landing was not considered to be a solitary military action, but the starting point for the massive attack, which constituted the move eastward through France and into Nazi Germany. In May, while millions of troops and equipment were relocated into the staging area of southern Britain, the Allies created a decoy, in the form of false radio transmissions, rows of inflated rubber tanks and landing craft located away from the true staging area in order to keep the German intelligence confused about the operations ultimate size and target. However, the initially prescribed in May, the invasion of northern France was postponed until June 6, 1944.
Allies strategic command chose the Normandy beaches for the several important reasons: they were located within the range of air cover, and were less heavily defended than the obvious objective of the Pas de Calais. The beaches chosen for the landings extended from the estuary of the Orne to the southeastern edge of the Cotentin peninsula. The invasion of northern France from England was not launched in May, as its planners had initially prescribed, but on June 6, the famous D-Day of World War II. As the day of the invasion approached, the weather in the English Channel was forecasted to be stormy with heavy winds, a five-foot swell at sea, and lowering skies, which in the end compelled Eisenhower to postpone the assault from the fifth to the sixth of June (Willmott, 71). Conditions still remained poor, however when meteorologists predicted that the winds would abate and the cloud cover rise enough on the scheduled day, Eisenhower gave the command. Enormous fighting force, which contained 1, 200 fighting ships, 10, 000 planes, 4, 126 landing craft, 804 transport ships, and hundreds of amphibious and other special purpose tanks, was assembled to accomplish the mission.
According to some historical evidence, during the Operation Overlord, 156, 000 troops, of which 73, 000 were American, were landed in Normandy, both airborne and seaborne (Pietrusza, 61 - 62). The assault had been scheduled for low tide to expose numerous underwater obstacles. The first landing of US craft was at 6: 31 am. During the first invasion hours, more than 1, 000 aircrafts dropped paratroopers in order to secure the flanks and beach exits of the assault area (Pietrusza, 65). In the eastern zone of French coastline, British and Canadians landed on Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches, while the Americans - on two beaches in the west-Utah and Omaha. In order to withstand against an Allied invasion of Europe, Nazi high command applied extensive safety measures in the form of million mines, miles of barbed wire and poured tons of concrete to create a defensive barrier along the western coast.
Those preventing measures were known as infamous Atlantic Wall. However, despite their extensiveness, the practical application of those measures partially failed, because of contradictory information obtained from German intelligence regarding the exact place of troops landing. Dropping paratroopers behind German forces was essential for support of the soldiers on the beach, and successful strategy execution in the air was crucial for the overall success of the operation. However, practically allied bombers, which were unable to see through heavy clouds, missed their beach targets, and thus three airborne divisions of US and British forces dropped inland. Many soldiers were machine-gunned before landing, while others landed thirty-five miles from their targets. Historians characterized the air assault execution as a fiasco, though caused by stormy weather (Leone, 39).
On the other hand, British glider troops seized key bridges east of Caen and US airborne troops occupied their first key town, Saint Mere Eglise. Utah beach was added to the initial invasion objectives almost as an afterthought when high command realized the need for a major port. The challenging obstacles which American forces encountered in this sector were not the beach defenses, but the flooded and rough terrain that blocked the way north. Simultaneously, at Omaha beach, US soldiers found mere death and misery. From the very beginning, Omaha, important linking point, was considered to the most restricted and heavily defended beach.
With extremely difficult terrain and unusual for Normandy crescent curves and assortment of cliffs, bluffs, and draws, this strategic point made advancement for troops very unlikely and almost impossible. Omahas German strong points were arranged to control all the approaches, while pillboxes were situated in the draws, which gave an opportunity to destroy advancing Allied forces without being hit by bombarding warships (Pietrusza, 84). Gold beach was the primary objective of a British division. And to that moment, the German high command, in the controversial absence of Rommel, began to conduct adequate measures (Leone, 27).
Initially Hitler was reluctant towards release of the armored divisions for a counterattack. However, after midday elements of the 21 st Panzer Division drove into the gap between the British 3 rd and Canadian 3 rd divisions at Sword Beach and Juno Beach and almost reached the sea. If they succeeded in this strategic move, the landings might have failed. Therefore, initial opposition in this sector was fierce, but the British invasion forces were advancing with relatively light casualties and finally managed to reach their objectives in the established area.
Simultaneously, in Juno Beach Canadian forces made the deepest penetration of any land forces on June 6 th, again with moderate casualties. As it was expected throughout Sword beach, British troops encountered fierce opposition inland from two Panzer divisions. Historical evidence indicated that Allied losses had been high; in particular at Omaha beach they constituted 2, 500 men. From the critical point of view, the German major handicap was due their need to protect 3, 000 miles of western European coastline, from the Netherlands and the coast of France to the Italian Mountain frontier.
Although victorious against the first wave of Allied forces at Omaha, the Germans failed to stand against constantly renewing troops. Moreover, having separated their forces in order to hold the coastline positions and simultaneously chase decoy paratroopers, German strategic command failed to drive the invading forces back. On the other hand, Allied command effectively utilized into practice four years of planning, reaching the primary objectives both strategically and de facto. From historical point of view, Operation Overlord proved to the pivotal point in the war, and fortunately it was the Allies who pushed into France and subsequently into the heart of Nazi Germany. Bibliography Kemp, Anthony. D-Day and the Invasion of Normandy.
New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. , Publishers, 1994. Pietrusza, David. The Invasion of Normandy. Lucent Books: San Diego, 1996.
Willmott, H. P. June 1944. Dorset, U. K. : Blandford Press, 1984 Leone, Bruno. World War II: Opposing Viewpoints.
San Diego: Green haven Press, Inc. , 1997 Keegan, John. The Invasion Conceived, 1941 - 43. Essay published at web
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