d-day - assault from the sea

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

SITUATION

OPERATION OVERLORD

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

PRE INVASION

A pre-invasion memorandum circulated in the U.S.

Chiefs of Staffs office noted that the British were

concerned about possible huge casualties.

According to British thinking:

• Allied forces should only engage Germans on

absolutely favorable conditions.

• Wherever Germans fought British or Americans

in equal strength, Germans won.

• German equipment was superior in all but

artillery and transportation categories.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

The British military didn’t think that the Americans were ready to face the Germans. British General Alexander

wrote:

“They simply do not know their job as soldiers…Perhaps the weakest link of all is the junior leader who just

doesn’t lead, with the result that their men don’t really fight.”

PRE INVASION

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

In Africa, the Allied Forces fought regular line

units. In Europe, they would be facing elite SS

Panzer units widely considered by many to be the

most battle effective force of the WWII.

One such unit was 2nd SS Panzer Division Das

Reich, an elite division during WWII. Over its

entire combat history, this unit had:

• Most number of high award-winners in its

ranks than any other Waffen SS division.

• Destroyed 1,730 tanks and assault guns for the

loss of 500 panzers.

• Overall, destroyed more than 3,000 enemy

tanks. More than any other German field

division.

PRE INVASION

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

PRE INVASION

Some limiting factors included:

• Radius of air cover – the range of a

Spitfire, 150 miles.

• The limits of beach capacity – not

enough space to unload large numbers

of troops.

• The length of the sea crossing.

• The strength of the German defenses:

1,670 miles of fortified gun positions,

observation towers, bunkers that

stretched from Denmark all the way to

the Spanish frontier.

PLANNING

OPERATION OVERLORD

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

• Eisenhower arrived to England on 15 January

1944.

• Held his first staff meeting on 21 January

1944.

• British General Montgomery proposed to land

Americans on the Western flank as they could

get reserves and supplies directly from the

United States.

• The British and Canadian forces would land

on the Eastern flank to fight the main German

forces coming from the East and South-East.

• The initial goal was to seize main road

communications and push armored divisions

through them to prevent the enemy from

getting reinforcements.

PLANNING

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

PLANNING

Operation Overlord would have three

phases:

• Airborne attack.

• Air bombardment.

• Amphibious landing.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

PLANNING

Phase One - Airborne

attack:

• Confuse the enemy.

• Seize main

communication

hubs/roads.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

Phase Two - Bombing:

• Destroy/soften up

defense positions.

• Create craters for

soldiers to take

cover during

assault.

PLANNING

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

Phase Three – Landing:

• 40 mile coast stretch.

• General Bradley

oversaw American

landings.

• General Montgomery,

oversaw British and

Canadian landings.

PLANNING

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

In order to prepare for the amphibious operation and to get the American forces to Britain,

the Allies had to create and manage a massive supply chain:

• Landing craft.

• Devising fire plans.

• Air support schemes.

• Engineering inventories

• Naval escort arrangements

PLANNING

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

The logistical considerations:

• Each armored division required 386,000

ship tons ~ 40 ships.

• Each infantry division required 270,000

ship tons .

• 6,250 pounds of sweets, 12,500 pounds of

biscuits and 100,000 packets of gums.

• Each American soldier would receive 6.25

pounds of rations a day, but only 4 pounds

per soldier was actually consumed.

• Each German would receive 3.3 pounds of

rations a day. But a German rifle company

had 56,000 rounds of small-arms

ammunition versus 21,000 equivalent

American rounds.

PLANNING

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

By the spring of 1944, all of southern England

was one big military camp:

• 20 American divisions.

• 14 British divisions.

• 3 Canadian divisions.

• 1 French division.

• 1 Polish division.

• Hundred thousands of special forces, corps

troops, headquarters units.

PLANNING

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

PLANNING

Although the overall mission for the Allied air

forces was finalized just before the D-Day, the

airmen played a significant role in the operation:

• Long range P-51 Mustang fighter inflicted

heavy damage on Luftwaffe.

• The Germans lost 1,311 aircraft in January,

2014; 2,121 in February and 2,115 in March.

• Attacking German synthetic oil plants reduced

oil production from 927,000 tons in March,

1944 to 472,000 tons in June.

• On D-Day, the Germans flew just 319 missions.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

PLANNING

Although highly disciplined, experienced and

trained, the German army could barely fight on

multiple fronts in late 1943 and early 1944:

• The German Army was retreating on the

Eastern front.

• Their total manpower went from 3 million plus

soldiers in July 1943 to 2.6 million soldiers in

December of the same year.

• If successful against the Allied forces attack on

the Western front, the German military could

shift as many as 59 divisions to the Eastern

front.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

PLANNING

German intelligence service failed to collect

information, while Allied intelligence networks

managed to spread disinformation and gather

relevant intelligence on the German defenses:

• The Germans had no idea about a possible

landing zone.

• Although Hitler suspected that Allies might

land in Normandy, he didn’t take steps to

concentrate defense positions over there.

• While German intelligence thought that Allies

would land 35 divisions, Hitler’s stuff was

studying a possibility of up 90 divisions.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

PLANNING

Allied deceptive tactics helped keep Germans

uncertain about the future landing zone:

• Impersonating Allied commanders touring

Mediterranean.

• Creating fake Army in Scotland.

• Using a wide array of dummy equipment to

confuse German spy networks.

REHEARSALS

OPERATION OVERLORD

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

REHEARSALS

Rehearsing and training:

• A succession of 12 day courses for

Allied supply officers – 70 officers at

a time.

• 25 square miles of West Devon

between Appledore and Woolacombe

were evacuated from the entire

civilian population to let American

forces to rehearse with live rounds.

• Tank battalions practiced escaping

submerged amphibious tanks. Tank

crews had just 20 seconds to escape to

safety.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

• Some rehearsals resulted in casualties.

In one case, British animosity towards

French-Canadians who played an

opposing forces role, resulted in

casualties on both sides.

• In Operation Tiger, a large scale

rehearsal resulted in friendly fire

casualties when troops landed

simultaneously with navy bombarding

the beach.

• German e-boat torpedoed training

U.S. convoy resulting in the death of

965 Americans.

REHEARSALS

EMBARKATION

OPERATION OVERLORD

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

• In the last days of May and June, men

started moving into assembly areas

and embarking on ships.

• Soldiers were issued seasickness pills,

ammunition, grenades and other gear.

EMBARKATION

MOVEMENT

OPERATION OVERLORD

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

MOVEMENT

Phase One – Airborne:

• Late evening on

June 5th, 24,000

paratroopers

boarded the planes.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

MOVEMENT

Phase Two – Air

bombardment:

• Early in the

morning on June 6,

1944, pilots were

briefed and started

preparing for the

mission.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

Phase Two – Air

bombardment:

• At 04:30 June 6,

bombers started

taking off for France

as a part of 11,000

war planes.

MOVEMENT

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

MOVEMENT

Phase Three –

Amphibious landing:

• Ships sailed to the

sea on June 5.

• Ahead of them was

a fleet of 255

minesweepers that

cleared 5 channels.

ATTACK

OPERATION OVERLORD

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

ATTACK


• At 0130 June 6, 1,000 planes starting

dropping paratroopers behind the

enemy lines.

• Their job is to prevent German

reserves from pushing landing forces

back to the sea.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

ATTACK


• British and Canadian

paratroopers didn’t have

major issues landing and

seizing objectives.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944


• On the Western flank, American

paratroopers from 101st and 82nd

airborne divisions were in a

completely different situation.

• Low clouds obscured landing zones

and pilots missed many of them.

• Some paratroopers were dropped in

the sea.

• Others were dropped too low and

didn’t have time to deploy their

parachutes.

ATTACK

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

ATTACK


• Paratroopers from 101st airborne were

scattered over a 25 mile long and by

15 mile wide area.

• 24 hours after a drop, a half of

surviving force was unaccounted for.

• 82nd airborne was dropped right

behind Utah beach.

• Paratroopers from both divisions

didn’t have heavy weapons but had to

find against heavily armed German

units.

• They struggled to hold off Germans

while waiting for landing forces to

reinforce them.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

Phase Two – Air bombardment:

• Shortly before the landing, Allied

bombers and fighter-bombers began

bombing German positions.

• Bombers could not go inland too far

because nobody knew the exact

location of paratroopers.

ATTACK

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

Phase Three – Amphibious landing:

• Over 5000 ships: battleships, tug

boats, cruisers, barges, freighters,

hospital ships were on the move in

the early morning.

• Fleet of 2000 landing craft.

ATTACK

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944


• At 0630 amphibious landing began.

• Utah beach came first.

• Currents and poor visibility

brought landing crafts more than

2,000 yards from intended landing

zone in a lightly defended area.

• Yet all other landing aspects went

close to planning timetables.

• 28 out 32 amphibious DD tanks

reached the beach.

• Three regimental combat teams of

4th Division came ashore under

light fire and took the beach in less

than an hour.

• 23,000 men landed; 197 casualties.

ATTACK

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

ATTACK


• British troops took Gold and Sword

beaches almost as fast.

• But Germans prevented them from

capturing city of Caen.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944


• Canadian troops took Juno beach just as fast, but

suffered heavier casualties.

• Despite losses managed to move 7 miles inland

by nightfall.

ATTACK

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

ATTACK


• Omaha beach was the most difficult landing site.

• 1st and 29th infantry divisions participated in

landing. 2/3 of American force was concentrated

there.

• Omaha was the broadest and the deepest of the

five beaches.

• Dunes, barbed wire, thick undergrowth and land

mines created obstacles.

• 2,000 German troops defended that stretch of the

beach.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944


• Most American bombs were dropped inland, so

the troops didn’t have bomb crates to take cover.

• Naval bombardment wasn’t enough to inflict

heavy damage on German defense positions.

• Rough weather caused major shifts in planning

timetables.

ATTACK

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944


• Men boarded landing crafts 12 miles from shore

rather than 7 miles as it was planned.

• 1o knot north-westerly wind swamped many

landing crafts drowning many soldiers.

• All 26 artillery guns were lost.

• 32 amphibious DD tanks were dropped by

mistake 6,000 yards from the shore. All but 5

sank. Most crews were trapped inside.

• Just five DD tanks reach shore and were behind

the infantry.

• 40% of combat engineers were killed or

wounded; most obstacles were intact.

• Of 16 bulldozers, only 6 came ashore and three

were destroyed right away.

• There was chaos on the beach and among staff

officers aboard the cruiser Augusta.

ATTACK

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944


• The Germans opened fire when the ramps went

down.

• Early in the morning, a single German company

could push them off the beach.

• At some point, General Bradley considered

retreating from Omaha rather than sending in a

new wave of soldiers.

• But then soldiers and sailors began to improvise.

• Navy ships moved extremely close to the shore

to provide much needed fire support to knockout

pillboxes.

• Many officers and NCO began rallying

remaining troops to move off the beach.

• Eventually American troops were able to flank

and capture high ground.

ATTACK

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

ATTACK


• By 1300 German resistance had began to

weaken.

• By late afternoon combat engineers cleared a

path for vehicles; the beach was captured.

• D-day was the bloodiest day in American history

since the Civil war.

• 2,500 American soldiers were killed.

• In less that 24 hours, Allied forces breached

Hitler’s defense lines in multiple locations.

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

SOURCES

• “The Americans at D-Day: The American Experience at the

Normandy Invasion.” John C. McManus

• “Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy.” Max

Hastings.

• “The War: a Ken Burns Film. Pride of Our Nation: June

1944 – August 1944”

D-DAYJUNE 6, 1944

CONTACT

Sergey Ulitenok

[email protected]

Amphibious Warfare

SUNY Maritime Spring 2015

d-day - assault from the sea

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