"Heroic Landing" Allies in Normandy
"Many battles claim the role of the main battle of the Second World War. Someone thinks that this is the battle of Moscow, in which the fascist troops suffered their first defeat. Others believe that the battle of Stalingrad should be considered as such, the third was the battle of Kursk In America, and recently in Western Europe, no one doubts that the Normandy landing operation and the battles that ensued were the main battle. It seems to me that Western historians are right, though not in everything.
Let's think about what would happen if the Western allies were once again delayed and did not land troops in the 1944 year? It is clear that Germany would still have been defeated, only the Red Army would have ended the war, not near Berlin and on the Oder, but in Paris and on the banks of the Loire. It is clear that General de Gaulle, who had not arrived in the carriage of the allies, but one of the leaders of the Comintern, would have come to power in France. Similar figures would be found for Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and all other large and small countries of Western Europe (as they were found for the countries of Eastern Europe). Naturally, Germany would not have been divided into four occupation zones, therefore, a single German state would have been formed not in 90-s, but in 40-s, and it would be called not Germany, but GDR. Nor would there be a place for NATO in this hypothetical world (who would have entered it except the United States and England?), But in the Warsaw Pact would unite the whole of Europe. Ultimately, the Cold War, if it took place at all, would have a completely different character, and would have a completely different outcome. However, I am not at all going to argue that everything would be just that, and not otherwise. But the fact that the outcome of the Second World would have been different, no doubt. But the battle, which largely determined the course of post-war development, should rightfully be considered the main battle of the war. Here are just a battle to call it a stretch.
Atlantic shaft
It was the name of the German defense system in the west. For movies and computer games, this shaft seems to be something very powerful - rows of anti-tank hedgehogs, followed by concrete pillboxes with machine guns and tools, bunkers for manpower, etc. But remember, have you ever seen a photo where it would all be visible? On the most famous and widely replicated NDO photograph, amphibious barges and American soldiers wandering to the waist in water are visible, and this was taken from the shore. We managed to find pictures of the landing sites that you see here. Soldiers land on a completely empty shore, where, apart from a few anti-tank hedgehogs, there are no defenses. So what was the Atlantic Wall after all?
This name was first sounded in the autumn of 1940, when four long-range batteries were built on the coast of Pas de Calais in a short time. True, they were intended not to repel a landing, but to disrupt shipping in the strait. Only in 1942, after the unsuccessful landing of the Canadian rangers near Dieppe, the construction of defensive structures began, mainly all the same, on the English Channel (it was assumed that it was here that the Allies would land), the remaining sections were allocated labor and materials according to the remaining principle. There wasn’t so much left, especially after the intensification of raids on Germany allied aviation (I had to build bomb shelters for the population and industrial enterprises). As a result of the construction of the Atlantic rampart, a total of 50 percent was ready, but directly in Normandy even less. More or less, the only area ready for defense was the one that later received the name of the Omaha bridgehead. However, he did not look at all as it is depicted in a game well known to you.
Think about it, what's the point of having concrete fortifications on the very shore? Of course, the guns installed there can bombard the landing craft, and machine gun fire can hit enemy soldiers when they wander to the waist in the water. But the bunkers standing right on the shore are perfectly visible to the enemy, so that he can easily overwhelm them with ship artillery. Therefore, only passive defenses (minefields, concrete ridges, anti-tank hedgehogs) are created directly at the water cut. Behind them, preferably along the ridges of dunes or hills, trenches come off, and dugouts and other shelters are built on the reverse slopes of the hills, where infantry can wait out the artillery attack or bombing. Well, and even further, sometimes several kilometers from the coast, closed artillery positions are created (this is where you can see the powerful concrete casemates that we love to show so much in the movies).
Approximately according to such a plan, defense was built in Normandy, but, I repeat, its main part was created only on paper. For example, about three million mines were put up, but according to the most conservative estimates, at least sixty million were needed. Artillery positions were mostly ready, but the guns were not installed everywhere. I'll tell you this history: Long before the invasion began, the French Resistance movement reported that the Germans had installed four marine 155-mm guns on the Merville battery. The firing range of these guns could reach 22 km, so that there was a danger of shelling warships, so it was decided to destroy the battery at any cost. This task was assigned to the 9-th battalion of the 6-th parachute division, which prepared for it for almost three months. A very accurate model of the battery was built, and the battalion fighters attacked it from all sides day after day. Day D finally arrived, with great noise and din the battalion seized the battery and found there ... four French 75-mm cannons on iron wheels (from the First World War). Positions were really made under 155-mm guns, but the Germans themselves did not have guns, so they put what they had at hand.
I must say that the arsenal of the Atlantic Wall generally consisted mainly of captured guns. For four years, the Germans methodically dragged there everything that they got from the defeated armies. There were Czech, Polish, French and even Soviet guns, and to many of them there was a very limited stock of shells. Approximately the same was the case with small arms, Normandy got either captured or retired on the Eastern Front. A total of 37 Army (namely, it bore the brunt of the battle) used 252 type of ammunition, and 47 of them were long out of production.
Personnel
Now let's talk about who exactly had to repel the invasion of the Anglo-Americans. Let's start with the command staff. Surely you remember the one-armed and one-eyed Colonel Stauffenberg, who made an unsuccessful attempt on Hitler. And did you wonder why such a disabled person was not completely fired, but continued to serve, even if in the reserve army? Yes, because by the 44 year, the requirements for shelf life in Germany were significantly reduced, in particular, the loss of the eye, arm, severe contusion, etc. no longer were grounds for dismissal of senior and middle officer service. Of course, on the Eastern Front there would be little use for such monsters, but there was an opportunity to plug holes in parts located on the Atlantic Shaft. So about 50% of the commanders there were categorized as "partially fit."
The Fuhrer did not bypass his attention and rank and file. Take, for example, the 70 Infantry Division, better known as the "white bread division". It consisted entirely of soldiers suffering from various diseases of the stomach, because of which they had to constantly keep on a diet (naturally, with the beginning of the invasion, the diet was difficult to observe, so the division itself disappeared). In other parts there were whole battalions of soldiers suffering from flat-footedness, kidney disease, diabetes, etc. In a relatively calm environment, they could carry on their rear service, but their combat value was close to zero.
However, not all the soldiers on the Atlantic Wall were sick or crippled, there were quite a few and quite healthy ones, only they had been there for 40 years (and the fifty-year-old were mainly serving in artillery).
And the last, most amazing fact - the indigenous Germans in the infantry divisions were only about 50%, the rest half was all trash from all over Europe and Asia. It is a shame to admit it, but quite a lot there were our compatriots, for example, the 162-Infantry Division consisted entirely of the so-called "Eastern Legions" (Turkmen, Uzbek, Azerbaijani, etc.). There were also Vlasovites on the Atlantic Shaft, although the Germans themselves were not sure that there would be any good from them. For example, the commander of the garrison of Cherbourg, General Schlieben said: "It is very doubtful that we will manage to persuade these Russians to fight for Germany in the territory of France against the Americans and the British." He was right, most of the eastern troops surrendered to the Allies without a fight.
Bloody Beach "Omaha"
American troops landed at two sites, Utah and Omaha. On the first of them, the battle did not work - there were only two strong points on this site, each of which was defended by a reinforced platoon. Naturally, they could not provide any resistance to the 4 of the American division, especially since both were practically destroyed by ship artillery fire even before the landing.
By the way, there was an interesting case here that perfectly describes the morale of the allies. A few hours before the invasion, airborne assault forces landed in the depths of the German defenses. Due to the mistake of the pilots, about three dozen parachutists were dropped on the very shore near the W-5 bunker. Some of them were destroyed by the Germans, while others were captured. And in 4.00, these prisoners began to beg the bunker commander to immediately send them to the rear. When the Germans asked what it was they wanted to do, the brave warriors immediately said that in an hour the artillery preparation would begin from the ships, followed by the landing. It is a pity that history has not preserved the names of these "fighters for freedom and democracy", who issued the hour for the start of the invasion in order to save their skin.
Let us return, however, to the Omaha bridgehead. In this area, there is only one 6.5 km long section available for landing (to the east and west of it, steep cliffs stretch for many kilometers). Naturally, the Germans were able to prepare him well for defense, on the flanks of the site there were two powerful bunkers with guns and machine guns. However, the guns of them could only bombard the beach and a small strip of water along it (from the sea side, the bunkers were covered with rocks and a six-meter layer of concrete). Behind a relatively narrow strip of the beach, hills began, up to 45 meters in height, along the crest of which trenches were dug. This entire defense system was well known to the Allies, but they hoped to suppress it before the landing began. Two battleships, three cruisers and six destroyers were to conduct fire on the bridgehead. In addition, field artillery was to fire from the landing craft, and eight landing barges were converted into rocket launchers. In just thirty minutes, more than 15 thousand projectiles of various calibers (up to 355-mm) should have been fired. And they were released ... in white light like a pretty penny. Subsequently, the Allies came up with many excuses for low shooting efficiency, here and strong seas, and predawn fog, and something else, but somehow, neither the bunkers, nor even the trenches suffered from the shelling.
Even worse acted allied aviation. The Armada of Liberator bombers dropped several hundred tons of bombs, but none of them hit not only the enemy’s fortifications, but even the beach (and some bombs exploded five kilometers from the coast).
Thus, the infantry had to overcome the completely intact enemy defense strip. However, the trouble for the ground units began even before they were ashore. For example, of 32 floating tanks (DD Sherman) 27 sank almost immediately after launching (two tanks got to the beach on their own, three more were unloaded directly to the shore). The commanders of some landing barges, not wanting to enter the sector fired by German guns (the Americans generally have a self-preservation instinct much better than the sense of duty, and all other feelings), threw off the ramps and started unloading at a depth of about two meters, where most of the paratroopers successfully drowned .
Finally, somehow, the first wave of landing was landed. It consisted of the 146 th engineer battalion, whose fighters had to, first of all, destroy the concrete battens so that the landing of tanks could begin. But this was not the case, behind each snitch was two or three brave American infantrymen, who, to put it mildly, objected to the destruction of such a reliable shelter. It was necessary for sappers to lay explosives from the side facing the enemy (naturally, many of them died at the same time, 272 was killed from all 111's sappers). To assist sappers in the first wave, 16 armored bulldozers were attached. Only three reached the coast, and only two of them were able to use the sappers — the paratroopers hid behind the third and, threatening the driver weaponsmade him stay in place. It seems that examples of "mass heroism" are enough.
Well, then we begin to solid riddles. In any source dedicated to the events on the Omaha bridgehead, there are necessarily references to two "fire-breathing bunkers on the flanks," but none of them say who, when and how suppressed the fire of these bunkers. It seems that the Germans shot, shot, and then stopped (perhaps it was so, remember that I wrote above about ammunition). More interesting is the case with machine guns firing at the front. When the American sappers smoked their comrades because of concrete bollards, they had to look for salvation in the dead zone at the foot of the hills (in some ways this can be considered an offensive). One of the branches hiding there found a narrow path leading to the summit.
Carefully advancing along this path, the infantrymen reached the crest of the hill, and found there completely empty trenches! Where are the Germans defending them? And they were not there, in this sector the defense was occupied by one of the companies of the 1 th battalion of the 726 grenadier regiment, which consisted mainly of Czechs forced into the Wehrmacht. Naturally, they dreamed of surrendering to the Americans as quickly as possible, but you must admit that throwing out the white flag before the enemy attacks you somehow undignifiedly even for the descendants of the brave soldier Schweik. The Czechs laid themselves in the trenches, from time to time releasing a queue or two towards the Americans. But after a while they realized that even such a formal resistance was holding the enemy offensive, so they collected manatki and moved to the rear. There they, in the end, and captured to the general pleasure.
In short, having shoveled a pile of materials devoted to NDOs, I managed to find one single story about the fighting in the Omaha bridgehead, and I quote it literally. "Company" E ", landed in front of Colleville after a two-hour battle, captured a German bunker on the top of a hill and captured 21 man." Everything!
The main battle of the Second World
In this brief review, I told only about the first hours of the Norman landing operation. In the days that followed, the Anglo-Americans had to face many difficulties. There is a storm that almost destroyed one of the two artificial ports; and confusion with the supply (field barbershops were taken to the bridgehead with a big delay); and the inconsistency of the actions of the Allies (the British launched an offensive two weeks earlier than planned, obviously, they were less dependent on the presence of field barbershops). However, the opposition of the enemy among these difficulties is at the last place. So is it worth calling all this a "battle"? "
Let's think about what would happen if the Western allies were once again delayed and did not land troops in the 1944 year? It is clear that Germany would still have been defeated, only the Red Army would have ended the war, not near Berlin and on the Oder, but in Paris and on the banks of the Loire. It is clear that General de Gaulle, who had not arrived in the carriage of the allies, but one of the leaders of the Comintern, would have come to power in France. Similar figures would be found for Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and all other large and small countries of Western Europe (as they were found for the countries of Eastern Europe). Naturally, Germany would not have been divided into four occupation zones, therefore, a single German state would have been formed not in 90-s, but in 40-s, and it would be called not Germany, but GDR. Nor would there be a place for NATO in this hypothetical world (who would have entered it except the United States and England?), But in the Warsaw Pact would unite the whole of Europe. Ultimately, the Cold War, if it took place at all, would have a completely different character, and would have a completely different outcome. However, I am not at all going to argue that everything would be just that, and not otherwise. But the fact that the outcome of the Second World would have been different, no doubt. But the battle, which largely determined the course of post-war development, should rightfully be considered the main battle of the war. Here are just a battle to call it a stretch.
Atlantic shaft
It was the name of the German defense system in the west. For movies and computer games, this shaft seems to be something very powerful - rows of anti-tank hedgehogs, followed by concrete pillboxes with machine guns and tools, bunkers for manpower, etc. But remember, have you ever seen a photo where it would all be visible? On the most famous and widely replicated NDO photograph, amphibious barges and American soldiers wandering to the waist in water are visible, and this was taken from the shore. We managed to find pictures of the landing sites that you see here. Soldiers land on a completely empty shore, where, apart from a few anti-tank hedgehogs, there are no defenses. So what was the Atlantic Wall after all?
This name was first sounded in the autumn of 1940, when four long-range batteries were built on the coast of Pas de Calais in a short time. True, they were intended not to repel a landing, but to disrupt shipping in the strait. Only in 1942, after the unsuccessful landing of the Canadian rangers near Dieppe, the construction of defensive structures began, mainly all the same, on the English Channel (it was assumed that it was here that the Allies would land), the remaining sections were allocated labor and materials according to the remaining principle. There wasn’t so much left, especially after the intensification of raids on Germany allied aviation (I had to build bomb shelters for the population and industrial enterprises). As a result of the construction of the Atlantic rampart, a total of 50 percent was ready, but directly in Normandy even less. More or less, the only area ready for defense was the one that later received the name of the Omaha bridgehead. However, he did not look at all as it is depicted in a game well known to you.
Think about it, what's the point of having concrete fortifications on the very shore? Of course, the guns installed there can bombard the landing craft, and machine gun fire can hit enemy soldiers when they wander to the waist in the water. But the bunkers standing right on the shore are perfectly visible to the enemy, so that he can easily overwhelm them with ship artillery. Therefore, only passive defenses (minefields, concrete ridges, anti-tank hedgehogs) are created directly at the water cut. Behind them, preferably along the ridges of dunes or hills, trenches come off, and dugouts and other shelters are built on the reverse slopes of the hills, where infantry can wait out the artillery attack or bombing. Well, and even further, sometimes several kilometers from the coast, closed artillery positions are created (this is where you can see the powerful concrete casemates that we love to show so much in the movies).
Approximately according to such a plan, defense was built in Normandy, but, I repeat, its main part was created only on paper. For example, about three million mines were put up, but according to the most conservative estimates, at least sixty million were needed. Artillery positions were mostly ready, but the guns were not installed everywhere. I'll tell you this history: Long before the invasion began, the French Resistance movement reported that the Germans had installed four marine 155-mm guns on the Merville battery. The firing range of these guns could reach 22 km, so that there was a danger of shelling warships, so it was decided to destroy the battery at any cost. This task was assigned to the 9-th battalion of the 6-th parachute division, which prepared for it for almost three months. A very accurate model of the battery was built, and the battalion fighters attacked it from all sides day after day. Day D finally arrived, with great noise and din the battalion seized the battery and found there ... four French 75-mm cannons on iron wheels (from the First World War). Positions were really made under 155-mm guns, but the Germans themselves did not have guns, so they put what they had at hand.
I must say that the arsenal of the Atlantic Wall generally consisted mainly of captured guns. For four years, the Germans methodically dragged there everything that they got from the defeated armies. There were Czech, Polish, French and even Soviet guns, and to many of them there was a very limited stock of shells. Approximately the same was the case with small arms, Normandy got either captured or retired on the Eastern Front. A total of 37 Army (namely, it bore the brunt of the battle) used 252 type of ammunition, and 47 of them were long out of production.
Personnel
Now let's talk about who exactly had to repel the invasion of the Anglo-Americans. Let's start with the command staff. Surely you remember the one-armed and one-eyed Colonel Stauffenberg, who made an unsuccessful attempt on Hitler. And did you wonder why such a disabled person was not completely fired, but continued to serve, even if in the reserve army? Yes, because by the 44 year, the requirements for shelf life in Germany were significantly reduced, in particular, the loss of the eye, arm, severe contusion, etc. no longer were grounds for dismissal of senior and middle officer service. Of course, on the Eastern Front there would be little use for such monsters, but there was an opportunity to plug holes in parts located on the Atlantic Shaft. So about 50% of the commanders there were categorized as "partially fit."
The Fuhrer did not bypass his attention and rank and file. Take, for example, the 70 Infantry Division, better known as the "white bread division". It consisted entirely of soldiers suffering from various diseases of the stomach, because of which they had to constantly keep on a diet (naturally, with the beginning of the invasion, the diet was difficult to observe, so the division itself disappeared). In other parts there were whole battalions of soldiers suffering from flat-footedness, kidney disease, diabetes, etc. In a relatively calm environment, they could carry on their rear service, but their combat value was close to zero.
However, not all the soldiers on the Atlantic Wall were sick or crippled, there were quite a few and quite healthy ones, only they had been there for 40 years (and the fifty-year-old were mainly serving in artillery).
And the last, most amazing fact - the indigenous Germans in the infantry divisions were only about 50%, the rest half was all trash from all over Europe and Asia. It is a shame to admit it, but quite a lot there were our compatriots, for example, the 162-Infantry Division consisted entirely of the so-called "Eastern Legions" (Turkmen, Uzbek, Azerbaijani, etc.). There were also Vlasovites on the Atlantic Shaft, although the Germans themselves were not sure that there would be any good from them. For example, the commander of the garrison of Cherbourg, General Schlieben said: "It is very doubtful that we will manage to persuade these Russians to fight for Germany in the territory of France against the Americans and the British." He was right, most of the eastern troops surrendered to the Allies without a fight.
Bloody Beach "Omaha"
American troops landed at two sites, Utah and Omaha. On the first of them, the battle did not work - there were only two strong points on this site, each of which was defended by a reinforced platoon. Naturally, they could not provide any resistance to the 4 of the American division, especially since both were practically destroyed by ship artillery fire even before the landing.
By the way, there was an interesting case here that perfectly describes the morale of the allies. A few hours before the invasion, airborne assault forces landed in the depths of the German defenses. Due to the mistake of the pilots, about three dozen parachutists were dropped on the very shore near the W-5 bunker. Some of them were destroyed by the Germans, while others were captured. And in 4.00, these prisoners began to beg the bunker commander to immediately send them to the rear. When the Germans asked what it was they wanted to do, the brave warriors immediately said that in an hour the artillery preparation would begin from the ships, followed by the landing. It is a pity that history has not preserved the names of these "fighters for freedom and democracy", who issued the hour for the start of the invasion in order to save their skin.
Let us return, however, to the Omaha bridgehead. In this area, there is only one 6.5 km long section available for landing (to the east and west of it, steep cliffs stretch for many kilometers). Naturally, the Germans were able to prepare him well for defense, on the flanks of the site there were two powerful bunkers with guns and machine guns. However, the guns of them could only bombard the beach and a small strip of water along it (from the sea side, the bunkers were covered with rocks and a six-meter layer of concrete). Behind a relatively narrow strip of the beach, hills began, up to 45 meters in height, along the crest of which trenches were dug. This entire defense system was well known to the Allies, but they hoped to suppress it before the landing began. Two battleships, three cruisers and six destroyers were to conduct fire on the bridgehead. In addition, field artillery was to fire from the landing craft, and eight landing barges were converted into rocket launchers. In just thirty minutes, more than 15 thousand projectiles of various calibers (up to 355-mm) should have been fired. And they were released ... in white light like a pretty penny. Subsequently, the Allies came up with many excuses for low shooting efficiency, here and strong seas, and predawn fog, and something else, but somehow, neither the bunkers, nor even the trenches suffered from the shelling.
Even worse acted allied aviation. The Armada of Liberator bombers dropped several hundred tons of bombs, but none of them hit not only the enemy’s fortifications, but even the beach (and some bombs exploded five kilometers from the coast).
Thus, the infantry had to overcome the completely intact enemy defense strip. However, the trouble for the ground units began even before they were ashore. For example, of 32 floating tanks (DD Sherman) 27 sank almost immediately after launching (two tanks got to the beach on their own, three more were unloaded directly to the shore). The commanders of some landing barges, not wanting to enter the sector fired by German guns (the Americans generally have a self-preservation instinct much better than the sense of duty, and all other feelings), threw off the ramps and started unloading at a depth of about two meters, where most of the paratroopers successfully drowned .
Finally, somehow, the first wave of landing was landed. It consisted of the 146 th engineer battalion, whose fighters had to, first of all, destroy the concrete battens so that the landing of tanks could begin. But this was not the case, behind each snitch was two or three brave American infantrymen, who, to put it mildly, objected to the destruction of such a reliable shelter. It was necessary for sappers to lay explosives from the side facing the enemy (naturally, many of them died at the same time, 272 was killed from all 111's sappers). To assist sappers in the first wave, 16 armored bulldozers were attached. Only three reached the coast, and only two of them were able to use the sappers — the paratroopers hid behind the third and, threatening the driver weaponsmade him stay in place. It seems that examples of "mass heroism" are enough.
Well, then we begin to solid riddles. In any source dedicated to the events on the Omaha bridgehead, there are necessarily references to two "fire-breathing bunkers on the flanks," but none of them say who, when and how suppressed the fire of these bunkers. It seems that the Germans shot, shot, and then stopped (perhaps it was so, remember that I wrote above about ammunition). More interesting is the case with machine guns firing at the front. When the American sappers smoked their comrades because of concrete bollards, they had to look for salvation in the dead zone at the foot of the hills (in some ways this can be considered an offensive). One of the branches hiding there found a narrow path leading to the summit.
Carefully advancing along this path, the infantrymen reached the crest of the hill, and found there completely empty trenches! Where are the Germans defending them? And they were not there, in this sector the defense was occupied by one of the companies of the 1 th battalion of the 726 grenadier regiment, which consisted mainly of Czechs forced into the Wehrmacht. Naturally, they dreamed of surrendering to the Americans as quickly as possible, but you must admit that throwing out the white flag before the enemy attacks you somehow undignifiedly even for the descendants of the brave soldier Schweik. The Czechs laid themselves in the trenches, from time to time releasing a queue or two towards the Americans. But after a while they realized that even such a formal resistance was holding the enemy offensive, so they collected manatki and moved to the rear. There they, in the end, and captured to the general pleasure.
In short, having shoveled a pile of materials devoted to NDOs, I managed to find one single story about the fighting in the Omaha bridgehead, and I quote it literally. "Company" E ", landed in front of Colleville after a two-hour battle, captured a German bunker on the top of a hill and captured 21 man." Everything!
The main battle of the Second World
In this brief review, I told only about the first hours of the Norman landing operation. In the days that followed, the Anglo-Americans had to face many difficulties. There is a storm that almost destroyed one of the two artificial ports; and confusion with the supply (field barbershops were taken to the bridgehead with a big delay); and the inconsistency of the actions of the Allies (the British launched an offensive two weeks earlier than planned, obviously, they were less dependent on the presence of field barbershops). However, the opposition of the enemy among these difficulties is at the last place. So is it worth calling all this a "battle"? "
Information