Topic overview

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Topic overview

• The planning phase and build-up
• D Day,the securing of the beachhead and
• the break-out from Normandy

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The furthest extent of Hitlers empire in 1942
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Section 1 The planning phase

• Preparations for a second front against Nazi
  Germany date back to 1942.
• The Allies knew they would have to capture a port
  to ensure the success of the invasion of France.
• A dress-rehearsal took place in 1942 when a
  British-Canadian raid on the port of Dieppe was
  carried out.
• The aim was to capture and hold a French port for
  a short period to test German defences.
• The raid was a total disaster of the 6,086 men
  who made it ashore, 4,384 were killed.

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The raid on Dieppe (19.8.42)
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Lessons learned

• The Dieppe raid had a major influence on the
  planning for D Day.
• The Americans would not commit to an invasion
  until they had ensured the following
• Overwhelming force was assembled
• Air superiority over the invasion zone
• The Americans resisted strong political pressure
  from the USSR to launch a second front in 1943.
• The American troop build-up in Britain continued
  rapidly in 1943-44, as did the intensity of air
  raids on Germany.

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Roosevelt knew the risks of the invasion. He
resisted Stalins pressure for an early launch of
the second front. This delay was the cause of
much bitter feeling between the Russians and
Americans.
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American locomotives sent to England being
unloaded from a Liberty Ship.
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Air raids in preparation for D Day

• The British and Americans began bombing targets
  in occupied France in preparation for D Day.
• The French railway system came under continuous
  attack.
• Raids were concentrated in the Calais region to
  mislead the Germans in to believing that was the
  intending invasion area.
• The Normandy region was bombed, but less heavily.

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Operation Fortitude

• The Allies began a massive deception of operation
  to conceal the intended landing zone.
• A massive build-up of fake armies and equipment
  was concentrated in Kent to fool the Germans in
  to thinking Calais was the intended target.
• Canvas and rubber tanks were assembled to confuse
  any German aerial reconnaissance aircraft. (In
  fact there were no German spy planes over England
  in 1944)

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Fortitude an inflatable rubber tank
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Fortitude canvas aircraft
What do such operations reveal about Allied
planning for D day ?
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Fortitude- fake radio signals

Enormous amounts of fake wireless messages were
transmitted relating to possible invasion plans
in the Calais region in the hope the Germans
would believe them.
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Agent Garbo
The British Secret Service (SIS) managed to
infiltrate a double agent in to the German
intelligence apparatus. Agent Garbo (Juan Pujol
Garcia) passed false intelligence to the Germans
leading them to believe the invasion would come
in the Pas de Calais region of France. Normandy
was the best kept secret of the war.
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Hitler expected the invasion here in the Pas de
Calais
Normandy
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The French resistance (Maquis) assisted the
preparations for D Day by disrupting French
railways and causing other acts of sabotage to
the telegraph and telephone system. Such acts
brought terrible retribution on the local
populations.
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June 1944

• The timing was now favourable for an invasion
• The U boats had been defeated
• The German air force was largely grounded for
  lack of fuel.

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Hitlers Festung Europa (fortress Europe)
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The Atlantic Wall

• Despite all Allied efforts, the Germans obviously
  expected an Allied invasion somewhere in France.
• Hitler appointed two of his ablest Generals, Gerd
  Von Rundstedt and Erwin Rommel to take charge of
  strengthening the French coast line from attack.

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Von Rundstedt with Hitler and at his trial at
Nurenberg.
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From Norway to the South of France the Germans
built up a defensive line against the expected
invasion. Tens of thousands of Russian POWs were
put to work to construct elaborate defences. The
line was by no means complete or evenly spread by
the time of D Day.
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Despite gaps in the line, the defences were
formidable in some places.
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Futuristic looking German blockhouse on the
island of Jersey.
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The remains of a German blockhouse today.
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Rommel inspects anti-tank defences on a French
beach.
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General Eisenhower
Admiral Ramsay
General Montgomery
Leigh-Mallory
Operation Overlord planning meeting.
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Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight
Eisenhower gives a pep talk to American
paratroopers the evening before D Day.
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Southampton docks
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Landing Craft
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Churchill visits Southampton
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The capture of Cherbourg was a key objective. It
was not captured until the end of June and was
badly damaged. The Allies could not risk
launching the invasion without a useable
port. They constructed an artificial harbour
which could be towed across the channel.
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Sections of a Mulberry Harbour today in Normandy.
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Towed to France in sections the Mulberry Harbours
allowed the Allies to unload supplies until
Cherbourg was captured.
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Section 2 D day and the breakout from Normandy
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The troops spent up to four hours in the landing
craft and most were violently seasick.
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American troops on Omaha Beach, scene of the
heaviest fighting and over 5,000 US deaths on D
Day.
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British troops approaching Sword Beach
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British troops landing at Sword Beach
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Secured beachhead area D Day 1

156,000 men ashore on day 1
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German POWs arriving at Southampton
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French civilians ponder their liberation from
Nazi occupation as they survey the ruins of their
homes.
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Caen was a D-Day objective, but took more than
two months to capture, by which time the town lay
in ruins.
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The capture of the town of Carentan, linking Utah
and Omaha beaches, was crucial to the survival of
the Allied beachhead
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The Mayor of Southampton honours the millionth
American soldier to embark for France. D Day 1
month.
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French civilians place flowers at a US cemetery
in Normandy.
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