The Normandy Landings
The largest and most ambitious military expedition in history was the invasion of Normandy in northern France by British, American and Canadian forces that took place in the summer of 1944. Even nature played a role.
lt took more than a year for military planners to orchestrate every movement of troops, artillery, ships and aircraft and to t everything in place for the move that was to open up a cond front in Europe. This would liberate France and open the way for the final assault on Germany itlf.
Everything was controlled; right down to the placement of military decoys across the English Channel to fool the Germans into thinking the attack would come from Britain's clost point to France at Pas de Calais3 rather than in Normandy as planned.
Everything was controlled, that is, except the weather.
D-Day, the code name given to the day of invasion, was originally scheduled for 5 June 1
944. This date had been arrived at by considering two factors -moonlight and tide. The hour of the invasion would need to be near sunri, when the aborne troops would have a rising tide. This would enable them to land clo to the obstacles that had been placed to hinder their landing withoutsuv那个好
coming ashore on top of them. The paratroopers needed a full moon for visibility. The days with the proper tide-moonlight formula clost to the target date were 5, 6 and 7 June. (1) The fifth was chon for D-Day to allow a safety margin in ca the attack needed to be postponed
In addition to moonlight and favorable tides, calm as were needed for the crossing. (2) But an unusually stormy transition from spring toward summer that year held out little hope that there would be a suitable break in the weather It also meant the possibility that Operation Overlord, as the invasion was called, might have to be postponed until later in the year or even the following year. Z With the arrival of 5 June, the weather was so bad that General Einhower4, supreme commander of the invasion forces, was forced to postpone the invasion by one day. When he met with his staff to review their options, they were faced with the grim reality that 6 June did not look much better than the 社区母亲节活动
original D-D
ay. The meteorological report gave a thin ray of hope that a lull in the storm would allow enough time to. launch the invasion. Consultations went on late into the night on whether to press ahead. Opinions were divided. Finally, Einhower made his decision. "I am quite positive we must give the order," he said. "I don't like it, but there it is. I don't e how we can do anything el." Within hours, an armada of 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vesls began to leave English ports.
8. Meanwhile, critical errors by the Ger-man side allowed them to be taken completely by surpri. Due to the bad weather, the German navy cancelled its usual patrol of the English Channel. Also, a practice drill scheduled for June 6 was called off. The German meteorological rvices were unaware of the break in the weather. On the eve of the attack, many of the top German leaders were abnt from their commands. Rommel 5, the general in charge of the coastal defens, was in Germany visiting his wife on her birthday, and veral officers were some distance away in Rennes6 or on their way there for a war-game exerci.
The assault on Normandy began at 12:, when the pathfinders for the American airborne units left their planes and parachuted to earth. Five minutes later, on the other side of the invasion area, the British pathfinders made their jump. The pathfinders were specially trained to find and mark the drop zones. The main airborne assault was to commence within the hour.
The airbowlop壁纸
rne attack became confud becau of stiff winds and the evasive flying of the transport planes when they encountered anti-aircraft fire. As a result, the paratroopers were scattered over a wide area and most misd their drop zones, some by as much as 20 miles. Other complications were caud by the terrain, and the worst terrain was on the Cotentin Peninsula. The Germans had laced the open fields with anti-personnel and glider stakes and flooded the low areas. The flooding caud the most trouble for the Americans of the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions, with many of the troops drowned, laden down by their heavy equipment.
11. The airborne units were to cure the flanks of the amphibious assault. That meant ca
pturing bridges, crossroads and coastal batteries. After accomplishing tho tasks, the paratroopers had to withstand any German counterattacks.
12 As the airborne units struggled to achieve their goals, the great fleet made its way across the channel to its appointment with destiny. Leading that grand armada were the minesweepers. Behind them followed a vast array of naval vesls of every conceivable type. Never before had such a fleet been asmbled. Including the landing craft carried on board, the combined Allied invasion armada numbered up to 6,000 ships. Approximately 150,000 men were to cross the English Channel and land at assault beaches codenamed "Utah" ' "Omaha" ' "Gold" ' "Juno" and "Sword."
The first areas of French soil wrested from German control were a group of small islands located three miles off Utah Beach. Allied commanders were concerned that the islands could be ud as sites for heavy guns. The men of the U.S. 4th and 24th Cav学做牛排
alry squadrons were designated to take the islands prior to th卷发
e main invasion. The assault teams found only land mines. The Germans had left the islands unoccupied.
