Operation overlord Essay Example For Students

Operation overlord Essay Operation OverlordBy 1944 World War II had lasted nearly four and a half years. The entire war nowdepended on the success or failure of an invasion of France. The first three years of the warhad almost entirely been a chain of Nazi victories. They had succeeded in crushing Poland andforcing France to surrender. Hitlers attempts at capturing England were halted by the RAF,Royal Air Force. After the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler declared war onthe United States and forced Italy to follow. By November of 1942 Hitler began to pay for his string of mistakes. In Egypt his favoriteGeneral, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, had been defeated at The Alamein by the British EighthArmy, after being trapped between two armies. Hitler, fearing he would be captured, orderedhim back. The fighting in Russia had been so severe and deadly that Marshal Stalin wasdemanding an allied landing in France, so as to force Hitler to move his troops from Stalinsdivisions in the East. The line of trust between Stalin and the allies was thin, but fearing Russiawould leave the was, the United States and Britain send Canadian soldiers and Britishcommandos to raid Frances Port of Dieppe. Nearly five-thousand troops were either dead,wounded or captured by the alert German forces, it had been a disaster. Britain and the United States were butting heads on whether to invade Europe at theearliest possible opportunity. Britain argued that a failure of not capturing a strong hold on abeachhead could set them back two years. In August of 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill met inQuebec, Canada and the invasion was approved. The plan included the landing of allied troopson different beaches, and also the battles that would follow, on the quest for Berlin. Theshortest route would be Dover to Calais, but that would be a place where Germany wouldexpect an invasion and would be heavily guarded. Now all eyes were pointing towardsNormandy. The distance was almost twice that of Dover to Calais. The final review of Operation Overlord was held on May 15,1944 at the St. Pauls schoolin West London. The plan had taken nearly two years to plan. Attending the review waseveryone who had a role in the plan. Some in attendance were King George VI, WinstonChurchill, General Dwight Eisenhower and General Bernard Montgomery. Many of the Britishcommanders in attendance had served in the first World War and were weary of sending massamounts of troops into a battle where the enemy may be laying and waiting for them. The plan was complicated, precise and heavily relied on the element of surprise. Timingand coordination were of great importance, a failure at one of the hundred points could sendthe whole balanced plan in to chaos. The first assault wave would have eight division, close to80,000 men. Three of the eight divisions, 1 of Britain and two of the United States, would beairborne paratroopers and glider troops that would be dropped at night. The other five divisionswould be Infantry divi sions and would land on five beaches at the crack of dawn. After theAtlantic Wall had been broken by the first assault and a stable beachhead was obtained, morethan thirty-nine divisions would rapidly pour in. Capturing a strong hold of a beachhead was crucial to the success of the invasion. Thebeachhead would need to be able to hold back the inevitable counterattack of strong Germanforces. A port would have to be seized to be able to supply necessary supplies for land invasion. A strategic drop was to be made at the Contentin Peninsula of Normandy because its North wasCherbourg a major harbor. Unless this mission was successful, supplies would have to beshipped through open invasion beaches subject to attacks by guns, planes and buzz bombs. British Admiral Sir Bertram would be responsible for five-thousand ships that wouldcarry the assault troops across the channel, bombard the enemy defenses threatening thebeaches, then send troops to landing crafts. Never in history had such a large fleet beenassembled. Chief Marshal Trevor Leigh-Mallory had many concerns about the plans. The24,000 allied paratroopers and glider forces would be in unarmed and unarmored transportplanes, a mere thousand feet above the ground. Over a thousand twin-engine, slow planeswould each carry about twenty paratroopers and be towing a glider. The gliders would carry notonly a glider infantry but also extra ammunition, land mines, antitank guns, cannons and jeeps. If the Germans caught on too quickly and counter attacked happened too soon, it could costthem three-quarters of their airborne troops. When it came down to it Eisenhower had to makethe decision to let the airborne divisions take their chances, because if they did not make theirpositions, the whole invasion could quite possibly fail. The weather, was one of the biggest factors on deciding the date of the invasion. Theweather could not be accurately predicted until three or four days before hand. The date of June5, was set as the beginning of Operation Overlord. If the weather was not suitable they couldpostpone for a maximum of forty-eight hours. Now that the date had been set, Keepinglocations and plans a secret was the main objective. Only a few senior officers knew the exactdate of the invasion, but by the fifth of June over a hundred thousand troops would beinformed. Keeping the plans and date a secret was a hard task for some, and Germany had a fewopportunities to find out about the invasion. At a cocktail party, a United States Airforcegeneral man an indiscreet indication to the date of D-day. On another occasion an army postalclerk accidentally mailed his sister a package of overlord reports instead of the intended gift. Souls of black folk EssayEight miles inland from Sword was Caen, the key town. It wasnt taken the first day and theBritish troops prepared for counterattack. At the same time the British 6th airborne was fightingto hold onto the Orne Bridges. At 9:30 a.m. allied headquarters announced what was already happening in Normandy. 1Under the command of General Eisenhower, allied naval forces, supported by strong airforces, began landing allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.Many peoplein the United States were asleep and didnt get word of the invasion until morning. Churchbells rang, sirens were heard and many people wept and prayed for loved ones fighting inNormandy. The public was not informed of the success, failure or given any information onwhat was going on. They had to wait and hope for the best. Meanwhile, Von Rundstedt decided to call Berlin and demand Hitler release two Panzerdivisions begin held back. Hitler was sleeping and his officials refused to wake him. When hewoke it was to late to repel the invasion. IT was late afternoon before the tanks began to fillCane. The Germans began to try to make it to the gap between the British hold on Juno andSword beaches. It was too late, the Germans had waited too long. The Germans fought to reachthe gap and the British fought to reach Ca en. Allied planes came to relieve some troops in theCotentin, and planes and naval gunfire cut off the Germans. It was a stalemate. When Hitlerawoke and released the two divisions, he thought it would be enough to rid the allies inNormandy. The Panzer divisions got word at 5 p.m. and were ordered to move out at first light. It was too late. By June 8th, the holds on the beachheads were strong. 155,000 soldiers werepoured into Normandy on the first day alone. No accurate number of how many allied troops died in Normandy can be determined. After fifty-five days the allied troops had reached where they should have five days after theinitial invasion. Still they prevailed. D-day had been the beginning of the end for the Germanrule. Today signs of the massive, and deadly battles that took place on the Normandy beachescan still be seen. Rusting hulks of ships still sunk in the sea can be seen. But the most visible, isthe military cemeteries and the rows of carefully placed white crosses that remind people thecost of the invasion that day. Words/ Pages : 2,711 / 24