D-DAY JUNE 6, 1944 Introduction This research

This research paper discusses the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, the overall strategy for the operation of the invaders and defenders, operational planning and preparations and the fighting on that fateful day. Allied strategy was brilliantly conceived. German defensive strategy was muddled. Allied operational plans and preparations for the invasion were basically sound, except for the failure to plan for exploitation of the lodgement on the French coast, overreliance on pre-invasion bombardment of landing areas and other technical errors. German plans and preparations suffered from a divided command and certain fundamental weaknesses in their force structure.

The armed forces of both sides gave a good account of themselves on D-Day, but the tide of battle turned in favor of the Allies principally because of the tactical surprise they achieved, their superiority in the air and at sea, their massive logistical support, the initiative of tactical commanders and the sluggishness of the response of the Germans, particularly their failure to make more effective use of their armored forces.

Allied Strategy. As early as the fall of 1941, American and British military planners gave priority to defeating Germany first, a decision which was endorsed by President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Arcadia Conference in Washington, D.C., held less than a month after the Japanese attack on Pear

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ish and one Canadian--and of the airborne force from one or two to three (Weinberg 678). Eisenhower had to resolve an intra-American debate over whether the paratroopers should be dropped further inland on the eastern flank as American Chief of Staff George Marshall proposed or should be used to capture the key bridges, canals and causeways behind the beaches. Ike decided to drop the airborne force closer to the beaches, which, considering the casualties and difficulties they later endured, was wise. He also resisted the qualms and protests of Air Vice Marshall Trafford Leigh-Mallory against large-scale air drops in the American sector, based on the latter's casualty estimates, which proved to be largely unjustified. D-Day was a logistical nightmare, which was overcome by careful planning, a surplus of materiel pouring out of American factories and effective Anglo-American cooperation. Eisenhower must get much of the credit for instilling a spirit of teamwork. He was a superb coalition consensus builder. Despite serious frictions, Hastings says that "it remains . . . remarkable how effectively Allied co-operation worked at every level" (49). As D-Day, originally scheduled for May 1, but delayed a month because of shortages of

Category: History - D