Chapter 27 02. Allied forces land in Normandy

At 6:30 on June 6, 1944, the Normandy landing campaign officially started! The Allies were the first to conduct airborne operations.The airborne troops landed 10 to 15 kilometers from the coast on both sides of the landing beachhead to prevent the German reserve force from reinforcing the landing site and attack the German coastal defense positions from the side.Since the Allies could only land 6 to 8 infantry divisions in the first day or two, the armored divisions could only be put into combat after a large landing field for the armored divisions had been established.If the German army breaks through the defense line of the landing force before the armored forces land, it will bring disaster to the landing.Therefore, the role of airborne troops is crucial in the initial stage of landing.

The British 1st Airborne Division was the first to go into combat. In the early morning of the 6th, they were airdropped to the left flank of the landing area. The goal was to seize the nearby bridge and prevent the German armored forces from reinforcing the beach.The paratroopers quickly captured the bridges and also captured the bunker at Melville. But the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions of the U.S. Army were not so lucky.Due to the pilot's unfamiliarity with the terrain and the threat of enemy artillery fire, the landing force was scattered in several places.Some paratroopers unfortunately landed in the sea or in low-lying areas flooded by the Germans on land, and many of them drowned in the water due to heavy equipment.After 24 hours of airborne, the 101st Division only assembled about 3,000 people.However, the U.S. military can be said to have been a blessing in disguise. The paratroopers were dropped throughout Normandy and had to fight on their own. This just dispersed the German troops and caused the German commander to greatly overestimate the number of paratroopers, which greatly eased the pressure on the landing field.

The airborne Allied forces quickly seized some crucial bridges and beach passages, destroyed the German artillery positions, pinned down the German reserve forces, dispersed the German troops, and created favorable conditions for the Allied landing forces to land. . With the airborne paratroopers, the Allied forces began to land in large numbers. The Allies chose a total of five beaches as landing sites, namely Sword Beach, Juno Beach, Gold Beach, Omaha Beach, and Utah Beach. Sword Beach is the easternmost of the five landing sites.The British troops landed from the east of Sword Beach, quickly defeated the German infantry, and joined the airborne troops in the afternoon.However, the British troops who landed on the west side of Sword Beach encountered tenacious resistance from the German tank troops and were unable to join forces with the Canadian troops who landed on Juno Beach.The two sides fought fiercely until dusk before the Allies repelled the Germans.

The Juno Beach landing area is about 10 kilometers wide, and the German infantry is deployed in the village behind the beach dunes.The landing operation was extremely tragic at the beginning, and one-third of the Allied landing craft were destroyed by German mines and obstacles.Although the Canadian attacking troops easily crossed the beach, they were relentlessly attacked by the powerful firepower of the German army in front of the dunes. The casualty rate of the first attacking troops was as high as 50%.At noon, the Canadian forces occupied the towns along the coast, advanced inland, and joined the British army on Golden Beach.

Gold Beach is the central point of the five landing sites.The Germans had heavy defenses in the coastal towns of Rivera and Amer, and installed four 155mm heavy artillery 500 meters from the coast, aiming directly at the coast.The British naval fleet bombarded with powerful artillery fire before destroying the four heavy artillery.By nightfall, 25,000 Allied soldiers had successfully landed. Omaha Beach was the most heavily fought beach in D-Day.The Allied forces who landed on Omaha Beach almost got home and suffered huge losses. The number of casualties alone reached 2,500, so Omaha Beach was called "Bloody Omaha".

Omaha Beach has a total length of 6.4 kilometers, and the coast is mostly cliffs with a height of more than 30 meters, which is absolutely easy to defend and difficult to attack.The Ninth Army of the U.S. Army undertook the beach landing mission on Omaha Beach.Previously, the Allied forces received information that the German army here had only one regiment of troops, and they were still reservists, and their combat effectiveness was very poor.In fact, Rommel sent all the elite 352nd Infantry Division of the German army to Normandy two months ago, and it was a main regiment of the 352nd Division stationed at the beach in Omaha.It's a pity that after the landing troops set off, the Allied intelligence agencies found out that the 352nd Division was in Normandy.Thus, the tragic war scene in the movie "Saving Private Ryan" began.

On the day of landing, the weather was very bad. The Allied forces lost 10 landing craft and more than 300 officers and soldiers in the strait due to excessive wind and waves.It was also very difficult after the landing began. Among the 32 amphibious tanks prepared in the west section of Omaha Beach, 27 sank due to excessive wind and waves as soon as they entered the sea, and 2 of the surviving 5 tanks were quickly destroyed. Destroyed by German artillery fire.For two full hours, not a single U.S. soldier washed up on the beach in the western section, and only occupied a small section of the beach in the eastern section. A large number of soldiers huddled on the beach and were helpless. Despite the German artillery fire, the landing operation was almost completely stagnated.

At this critical moment, the U.S. Navy took action.Since the landing force did not send back any information for a long time, the naval commander realized that the situation on Omaha Beach might be extremely bad, so 17 destroyers, regardless of the danger of being struck by mines, stranded, and bombed by German coastal artillery, advanced to a distance of only 730 meters from the beach. meters, at close range to provide fire support for the landing of the US military.At this time, the death squads of the US military also climbed up to Cape Hawke, and the US troops who had been blocked on the beach before also began to charge.At noon, the second echelon of the landing force landed ahead of schedule.Under the guidance of the Air Force, the battleships and cruisers of the U.S. Navy also began to shoot at the coast, and the German defense system finally collapsed.

When it was dark, the U.S. Army successfully landed, and the Fifth Army went ashore and set up a command post.After landing, Major General Roger, the commander of the army, immediately sent a telegram to his superiors saying: "Thank God for creating the US Navy." Utah Beach is located on the west side of Callentan Bay.The 4th Division of the 7th Army of the U.S. Army was in charge of the beach landing here. The deputy commander of this division was Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt. As deputy commander of the U.S. 4th Division, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was a special fighter by any standard.The eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt and cousin of President Franklin Roosevelt, he had participated in the landings in North Africa, Sicily and Corsica.Roosevelt Jr. was short, with a wrinkled face, a fibrous heart, frozen shoulders, and a husky voice, but he was known for his courage in battle and his love for soldiers.Although his age was no longer suitable for amphibious operations, Roosevelt Jr. persuaded his superiors to allow him to participate in the landing operations to "pacify those boys."With only a pistol and a crutch, Roosevelt Jr. embarked on the extremely dangerous landing front.This short general became the spiritual pillar of the soldiers.He was the only general to land on the day of D-Day.

Among the five landing beaches, Utah Beach was the beach with the smoothest operation and the fewest casualties.In part, this was thanks to the aggressive spirit of Commander Roosevelt Jr. Due to the decisiveness of Roosevelt Jr., after the landing operation started, the landing force took control of the coastal road only 3 hours; However, the army commanded by Roosevelt Jr. has successfully achieved the operational objectives of the landing and established a solid landing field, but they only killed 197 people, less than 10% of the expected casualties. General Eisenhower appreciated Roosevelt Jr.'s command ability very much, and planned to appoint him as the commander of the 90th Infantry Division.But Roosevelt Jr. never had a chance to take office again. Just the day before his appointment, Roosevelt Jr. suffered a heart attack and died in a jeep.

On July 14, Roosevelt's body was buried in the Normandy American Cemetery.Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his contributions to the Normandy landings.Later, someone asked General Bradley, commander of the US First Army: Who do you think is the bravest person you have ever seen in your entire military career.Bradley replied: Ted Roosevelt of Utah Beachhead (Ted is Theodore's nickname).General Patton, who has always been known for his bravery in combat, also mentioned in his diary that Roosevelt Jr. was the bravest soldier he knew. On June 6th, the decisive 24 hours predicted by Rommel and called by Eisenhower as the longest day in history passed in this way.Famous war correspondent Robert Capa ventured with his camera to follow the first wave of Allied troops landing, wading with them to the shore and dodging bullets together.He took nearly 100 exciting photos. However, because the people who developed the photos were too excited and the temperature was adjusted too high, only 8 blurred photos were kept in the end, which is very regrettable.When the few remaining photos were published in the newspaper, it was written next to them: Capa's hand shook very badly when taking the photo, and he was very excited. Even more agitated than Capa was Hitler. On June 7, Hitler handed over command of five armored divisions on the Western Front to Rommel.Rommel was determined to counterattack with this elite force. He set the first goal of the counterattack to prevent the Allies from connecting the five landing beaches into a complete large landing field, and secondly to ensure Caen and Cherbourg.It is a pity that the German armored forces came from a distance of 100 to 200 kilometers, and were subjected to fierce air strikes by the Allied forces along the way, so they could not be organized and put into combat.Sporadic troops rushed to the beach, and suffered heavy casualties under the bombardment of the Allied warships, losing their former prestige. Throughout the day on June 7, under the overwhelming firepower of the Allied navy and air force, the German army was unable to organize a large-scale counterattack. Although the initial counterattack had failed, the Germans were unwilling to let the Allies develop.Rommel adjusted his deployment, using infantry to defend the line from Caen to Cormont, and drew out armored troops to counterattack to prevent the US army from attacking.But before Rommel adjusted his new deployment, the British army launched an offensive on its own initiative, disrupting the German army's plan. On June 13, the British 7th Armored Division encountered the 2nd SS Armored Division of the German SS on its way to advance, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.For the British, this was a tragic battle.Because they encountered the "armored tiger" of the German SS - Wittmann. Wittmann was born in Bavaria, Germany, and was infected by Nazi ideology since he was a child. Before the war, he joined the "Hitler Guard Standard" armored division.In the Battle of Poland and the Soviet-German battlefield, Wittmann repeatedly made outstanding achievements and was the ace tank player of the German army.Wittmann once commanded a "Tiger" tank, which destroyed 20 Soviet tanks and 28 anti-tank guns in the Battle of Kursk.By January 1944, his personal total of destroyed tanks reached 88.Hitler was very happy and personally awarded Wittmann the Knight's Cross and promoted him to lieutenant.Because Wittmann was born in the SS, and there are very few people in the SS who can fight, and most of them are "asphalt road soldiers" who kicked beautifully in the goose step, so Goebbels made a big publicity and packaged Wittmann A German national hero.In addition, Wittmann is handsome and very photogenic. For a while, he became a household name in Germany, and his fans exploded. After the Allied forces landed in Normandy, Wittmann's armored force rushed to reinforce Normandy from Calais, France, but suffered heavy losses from the bombing of Allied aircraft.Wittmann's company had only 4 usable "Tiger" tanks and a No. 4 tank that was obviously outdated at the time, and was ordered to defend Height 213 in Pokaki Village. On June 13, an armored column of the British 7th Armored Division appeared in the village of Pokaki in an attempt to attack the flank of the German armored instructor.At this time, the other 4 tanks of Wittmann's company hadn't started yet. In order to gain time, he drove quickly on his bicycle, blocked the intersection where the British army entered the village, and opened fire suddenly at a place less than 100 meters away.Wittman is a tank master trained in actual combat in the Soviet Union. He skillfully adopted the tactics of "hitting the head, pinching the tail, and cutting in the middle" to knock out the first and last tanks in the British army, blocking the British army The road of tank attack and retreat paralyzed the entire British armored column on the road.Then, Wittmann calmly used the 88mm gun of the "Tiger" tank to headshot the British tanks one by one, from the first to the last.A total of 20 "Cromwell" tanks, 4 Sherman "Firefly" tanks, 14 half-track vehicles and 14 "Bren" armored personnel carriers were destroyed by the British army. An attached company was wiped out, and more than 200 people were killed.This was accomplished by a Wittmann Tiger tank in 5 minutes. This battle is definitely the biggest shame since the establishment of the British Army. The Seventh Armored Division is not an ordinary army. It was brought out by Montgomery and defeated Rommel in North Africa. The tank beat him up and down, trampled him to pieces.It is said that in a fit of rage, Churchill dispatched all the officers of the troops of the 7th Armored Division, from the commander to the end, to the kitchen to chop vegetables. Although the British army lost a lot of personnel and tanks and was forced to retreat, it attracted the elite German SS 2nd Panzer Division to Caen, creating conditions for the US offensive.After the U.S. occupation of Carentin, the German army could not draw troops from Caen, so they had to urgently dispatch the 17th Panzer Division of the SS to attack the U.S. flank to eliminate the U.S. threat to Cherbourg.After fierce fighting, the U.S. army repelled the German army, broke through the German defense line in the San Sauvo area on June 14, and captured San Sauvo on the 16th. According to Hitler's instructions, the four divisions in the area must try their best to block the advance of the US army, then fight and retreat to Cherbourg, and defend Cherbourg to the death.Rommel knew very well that after several days of fighting, these four divisions were exhausted and were no longer capable of holding on to Cherbourg.So he suggested to Hitler that these troops be withdrawn directly to the Seine River to strengthen the defense of the Seine River, but Hitler refused.When the defense line in the San Sauvo area was about to be breached, Rommel ignored Hitler's instructions and decisively ordered the troops in his hands to retreat southward quickly, which saved many troops. On June 19, a storm broke out in the English Channel, with a wind force of magnitude 8 and a wave height of 1.8 meters, which caused great losses to the Allied forces.On the landing beach, the Allied forces sank a total of 7 tank landing ships, 1 large personnel landing ship, 1 oil tanker, 3 barges, 7 trawlers, and 67 landing craft, and 1 cruiser and 1 ferry were damaged due to collisions. .The strong wind forced the unloading of the Allied forces to be interrupted for 5 days, making it impossible for 20,000 vehicles and 100,000 tons of materials to be transported to land as planned.The losses caused by the storm greatly exceeded the losses in the 13 days of combat since the landing, and the logistical supplies of the Allied forces encountered serious difficulties. If the German army can seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and organize a large-scale counterattack, the situation of the war is very likely to be rewritten.However, the strength of the German army at that time could only barely maintain the defense, so the golden opportunity was missed. On June 20, three US divisions advanced to only 8 kilometers from Cherbourg. On the 21st, in order to preserve the port facilities of Cherbourg, the US military called on the defenders to surrender by radio, but the German army refused.As a result, the U.S. military decided to attack Cherbourg. On the 22nd, the air forces of the allied countries made aviation firepower preparations before the attack. A total of 500 sorties were dispatched to carry out intensive bombing of Cherbourg, dropping 1,100 tons of bombs.Then the American army launched a fierce attack from the south, and the German army resisted desperately. From the fierce battle to June 24, Schlieben, the commander-in-chief of the Cherbourg German army, had exhausted all the reserves. He called Berlin to request an airdrop of the Iron Cross, and awarded meritorious personnel to boost morale and prepare to stick to the end.In order to capture Cherbourg as soon as possible, the US military requested the navy to provide naval gun fire support. On June 25, the allied navies dispatched 3 battleships, 4 cruisers, and 11 destroyers to form a naval artillery support formation, and carried out a 7-hour artillery attack, which effectively suppressed the German artillery fire.At dusk that day, with the support of powerful naval and air force firepower, the U.S. Seventh Army rushed into the urban area of ​​Cherbourg.The next day, Shiliben announced his surrender, but some strongholds that had lost contact with the main force were still stubbornly resisting. On July 1, the last German stronghold at Cherbourg surrendered.In the battle to capture Cherbourg and the Cotentin Peninsula, the American casualties were as high as 25,000, and the German casualties were about 36,000. Although the Allies captured Cherbourg, they were unable to use the port.As early as the second day after the Allied forces landed, the German army expected that the next target of the Allied forces would be Cherbourg, so they set out to destroy Cherbourg. The docks, breakwaters, cranes and other port equipment were all blown up by the German army. mines, and blocked the channel with sunken ships.An engineer expert of the U.S. military looked at the destruction of Cherbourg, shook his head and praised that it was "the most thorough and thorough destruction in history."Immediately after the Allied occupation of Cherbourg, a large number of engineers were dispatched to carry out clearance work to restore Cherbourg's transport capacity. This work lasted for three weeks. Over the next three months, the port of Cherbourg gradually ramped up its unloading, becoming the second largest Allied port in Europe. While the U.S. captured Cherbourg, Montgomery commanded the British Second Army to storm Caen. On June 27, the British army repelled the German counterattack after a bitter battle and took control of the bridge over the Oden River. On the 28th, the main force of the British army crossed the Oden River and established a bridgehead position with a front width of 3,650 meters and a depth of 900 meters. On the 29th, the German army concentrated 5 armored divisions to launch a counterattack. The Allied Air Force launched a large-scale attack on the German armored forces and carried out extremely violent bombing, disintegrating the German offensive.The 11th Armored Division of the British Army took the opportunity to occupy the strategically important 112 Heights southwest of Caen.The German army was well aware of the importance of Height 112, and immediately organized several counterattacks, but none of them succeeded. On the 30th, the German army concentrated all its artillery fire and violently bombarded the 112 Heights.It was difficult for the British army to hold on, so they had to retreat to the banks of the Oden River. Although the German army recaptured the 112 highland, under the fierce attack of the Allied Air Forces, it was unable to exert the assault power of the armored forces.In order to secure Caen, Rommel had to give up some outlying positions and concentrated 700 tanks on the outskirts of Caen.The Allied forces were unable to advance at this time, and the two sides entered a confrontation stage. On June 29, Rommel and Rundstedt met with Hitler and reported on the Western Front.Hitler was very dissatisfied with this, and replaced Marshal Rundstedt with Marshal Kruger as the commander-in-chief of the German army on the western front. On July 1, the Allied Forces announced the successful end of the naval operation in the "Overlord" plan, namely the "Sea King" operation.Part of the Allied navies who participated in the Normandy landings were transferred to the Mediterranean and the Pacific.The Allied forces established two new naval bases in the Normandy area, one in Cherbourg and the other in the artificial port of Juno Beach, responsible for dispatching personnel, transportation and unloading of materials. By the beginning of July, the Allied landing force had reached 25 divisions, including 13 American divisions, 11 British divisions, and 1 Canadian division. A total of 1 million people crossed the English Channel and landed on the European continent.For an army of one million, the current landing field is still very narrow, and the Allied Forces decided to continue to expand the landing field. On July 3, the Allied forces concentrated 14 divisions and launched a fierce attack on about 7 German divisions in front of the landing site.Allied progress was slow, taking 5 days to advance 6.4 kilometers, while casualties were as high as 5,000.In the next seven days of bloody fighting, the Allies paid another 5,000 casualties before advancing 4.8 kilometers. A poor family thinks of a good wife, and a country in trouble thinks of a good general.The fierce battle was imminent, and the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces thought of the brave General Patton. On July 6, General Patton commanded the Third Army of the U.S. Army with extremely strong mobility and assault capabilities, and set foot on the European continent. On July 11, the U.S. military launched a pincer attack on Saint-Lo, an important transportation hub in the Normandy region. The German army desperately resisted the U.S. offensive relying on solid fortifications.However, the German army's consumption could not be replenished, and it was at the end of its rope. It finally collapsed in the second round of the US attack.The battle in Saint-Lo was very fierce, and Lieutenant General Max, commander of the 84th Army, an important front-line commander of the German army, was killed.The U.S. military also paid a high price of nearly 40,000 casualties for the capture of San Lo.After the fall of Saint-Lo, the German defense line in Normandy was divided into two sections by the Allied forces, and the situation became more passive. At this time, the British army also launched a second round of offensive against Caen. On July 7, the Allied forces dispatched 460 sorties of heavy bombers to bombard the German positions indiscriminately, dropping 2,500 tons of bombs in less than an hour. On July 8, with the fire support of naval warships, the British army assaulted Caen.Unexpectedly, the air force's bombing was too violent. Although it caused heavy casualties to the German army, it also made the ground full of pits, which seriously affected the advance of the British ground forces. Therefore, the British army only occupied Caen on July 10. On July 18, in order to further expand the landing field, the British army continued to advance from Caen to the southeast. In order to cooperate with the British offensive, the air forces of the allied countries carried out more intense bombing. A total of 1,700 heavy bombers and 400 medium bombers were dispatched. 12,000 tons.This time the Allied forces became smarter, and all air-dropped bombs were switched to instantaneous fuzes to reduce damage to the road.However, the German army also changed its tactics, adopted a deep defense, used a large number of 88mm anti-aircraft guns to shoot tanks flat, and continued to organize counterattacks, causing heavy casualties to the British army, and the offensive was forced to stop. Although the British offensive did not achieve the expected results, the Allied forces had formed a landing field with a front width of 150 kilometers and a depth of 15 to 35 kilometers, established and consolidated a strategic bridgehead, and laid a solid foundation for the recovery of Western Europe. So far, the Normandy landing campaign ended successfully.