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D-DAY
Mr. Goddard | PLUSH | May 2009
WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING
• 11.7.2 Understand the U.S. and Allied wartime
strategy, including battles of Midway, Normandy,
Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Battle of the Bulge.
• Specifically in this case Normandy
• D-Day June 6th 1944.
TOPIC OVERVIEW
1. The planning phase and build-up
2. D Day,the securing of the beachhead and
the break-out from Normandy
THE FURTHEST EXTENT OF HITLER’S
EMPIRE IN 1942
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 BritishCanadian 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.
THE RAID ON DIEPPE (19.8.42)
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.
Roosevelt knew the risks of the invasion. He
resisted Stalin’s pressure for an early launch of the
second front. This delay was the cause of much
bitter feeling between the Russians and Americans.
AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES SENT TO ENGLAND
BEING UNLOADED FROM A LIBERTY SHIP.
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.
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)
FORTITUDE – AN INFLATABLE RUBBER
TANK
FORTITUDE – CANVAS AIRCRAFT
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.
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.
Hitler expected the invasion here in
the Pas de Calais
Normandy
THE MAQUIS
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.
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.
Hitler’s Festung Europa (fortress Europe)
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.
Von Rundstedt with Hitler and at his trial at Nurenberg.
ATLANTIC WALL
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.
Despite gaps in the line, the defences were formidable in
some places.
German
blockhouse on
the island of
Jersey.
The remains of a German blockhouse today.
The wall was complex
Rommel inspects anti-tank defences on a French
beach.
Admiral Ramsay
General Eisenhower
General Montgomery
Leigh-Mallory
‘Operation Overlord’ planning meeting.
Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower gives a pep talk to American
paratroopers the evening before D Day.
•
Southampton docks
Landing Craft
WORWAR022.WMV
THE REAL GOAL WAS LATE IN COMING
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.
Sections of a Mulberry Harbour today in Normandy.
Towed to France in sections the Mulberry Harbours
allowed the Allies to unload supplies until Cherbourg
was captured.
Section 2: D day and the breakout from Normandy
The troops spent up to four hours in the landing craft and
most were violently seasick.
American troops on Omaha Beach, scene of the heaviest
fighting and over 5,000 US deaths on D Day.