Chapter 21 Chapter 20 The Fall of German Fascism

At the beginning of 1943, when the outcome of the war in North Africa was still unclear, the plan of the United Kingdom and the United States to open up a second battlefield in Europe had already been carried out.In January of the same year, the "Casablanca Conference" decided to set up a joint agency in London, and Brigadier General Barker of the United States and Lieutenant General Morgan of the United Kingdom were jointly responsible for the formulation of the plan.In May of the same year, the Anglo-American "Washington Conference" confirmed the implementation date as May 1, 1944, code-named "Overlord".In August of the same year, approved by the "Quebec Conference", it was stipulated that the US and British troops would land in Normandy, France, and then attack the heartland of Germany. . On December 1, 1943, the leaders of the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom passed a resolution at the "Tehran Conference", confirming that "Overlord" would be implemented in May 1944. General Eisenhower of the United States was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, responsible for commanding Operation "Overlord".

In the preliminary plan drawn up by Morgan, two points were adopted by the later determined plan: 1. Determined Normandy as the landing site; 2. Established and explained the necessary forces for the landing.The reason is that the coastline controlled by the German army in Western Europe is about 3,000 miles long, and the area that can be covered by the British air force base is only less than 490 kilometers from Frussin to Cherbourg.In addition, there must be a good port near the selected landing point so that follow-up personnel and materials can quickly catch up.At the same time, the beach needs to be flat and open to facilitate the initial operations of the vanguard and the establishment of the bridgehead.Only two places meet these criteria: the Pas de Calais from Dunkirk to the mouth of the Somme; West Normandy from Cony to the Cotentin peninsula.

The Calais area is the closest to the British mainland, the sea transportation time is the shortest, and the Allied forces can receive effective air support when they land. Therefore, it is a key fortified area of ​​​​Germany. The main forces of the German army and air force in Western Europe are concentrated here. When the Allied forces landed, There will be strong resistance from the ground.The advantages of landing in Normandy are: the German defense is weak, the German fighter jets are difficult to reach due to the range limitation, and the beach terrain is conducive to landing operations; but the disadvantages to the Allied forces are: the sea transportation distance is longer, the air cover is more difficult, and the capture Cherbourg may take longer.

The location problem is solved, and the next step is how many troops to use on the first day of landing.Morgan believes that due to the lack of ships, the first batch of disembarked troops can only be 1 army (3 divisions), and the rest of the troops can only disembark in place in the next few days.This also requires the cooperation of wind, climate, tide, cloud cover, visibility and other conditions, and the speed of German reinforcements must also be taken into account, that is, on D-Day (the first day when the landing operation was launched), there should be no more than 3 German troops in the Coney area. There should be no more than 5 divisions on D+2, and no more than 9 divisions on D+8.

Montgomery believed that Morgan's plan would be greatly limited in terms of logistics and tactics. He strongly advocated a wide frontal attack. Not only should the two armies of the United Kingdom and the United States land at the same time, but each army should send two or even three armies ashore at the same time. .In order to prevent confusion, Montgomery advocated that each army should have its own designated beachhead, and other armies should not use it again.In order to cooperate with the landing operations, he suggested that before landing, 2 to 3 divisions should be air-dropped behind the first-line German coastal troops to achieve the purpose of containment, and then 5 divisions would land on 5 beaches at the same time.The attack front should also be widened from 40 to 80 kilometers.Landing forces increased by 40%, airborne forces increased by 200%.To achieve this scale of landing, the original ships are far from enough, and it is necessary to raise money everywhere.The original plan required 3,323 landing craft, 467 warships, and 150 minesweepers. Now it is necessary to double the number of minesweepers, 240 warships, and 1,000 landing craft.As a result, the original date of landing in May had to be postponed for one month, and the "Anvil" plan for landing operations on the southern coast of France had to be delayed until July in order to concentrate ships to meet the demands of Normandy. need.

In addition to the plans and calculations on paper, the preparation of various combat equipment is also arduous and complicated.The strong industrial technology of the United Kingdom and the United States is showing great power at this moment.They designed amphibious tanks specially for landing operations, and installed auxiliary equipment with different functions such as bulldozers, mine sweepers, and flamethrowers on the combat tanks.The ports near the landing area cannot be captured in a short time, and a large amount of follow-up materials have to be transported through the beach. Therefore, two artificial ports were designed, consisting of movable caissons, towed from the British mainland to the coast of Normandy for installation.At the same time, there are plans to install oil pipelines from under the sea.

Eisenhower estimated that 47 divisions would be sent from England to Normandy within 7 weeks. Due to the limitation of the number of means of transportation and aircraft, a total of 8 divisions were sent to the European continent on D-day, and 10 divisions could be sent to the European continent on the next day. There are a total of 15 divisions in Normandy in the first day, and there should be 18 divisions by the 11th day, 24 divisions by the 21st day, and 30 divisions by the 36th day.At the same time, it is estimated that the German army’s front-line strength on D-day is 6 divisions, 12 divisions on the 5th day, 25 divisions on the 11th day, 30 divisions on the 21st day, and 37 divisions on the 36th day. teacher.According to the plan, if the landing battle can reach the line of the Seine River on the 90th day after the launch of the landing battle, the landing battle will be considered a success, and the attack on the Germans will really begin.

Within a month of D-Day, the Anglo-American forces would be outnumbered.There are three remedies for this: 1. Continue to exert pressure on the Russian and Italian fronts, making it impossible to draw troops from the Eastern Front to reinforce the Western Front; 3. Extensive bombing of railways and bridges in Western Europe, aggravating the difficulty of mobilizing German reserves.However, Eisenhower's attempts to weaken German forces in Western Europe by exerting pressure on other theaters were unsuccessful.On the Italian battlefield, Kesselring's troops were strong enough to stop the Allied attack; on the Soviet front, the ground had thawed in mid-April, and the Soviet offensive had already disintegrated in the mud.Instead, Hitler was able to mobilize troops to increase the defense of Western Europe.Therefore, the Allies could only resort to bombing the rear and deceiving the enemy.The former carried out extensive and destructive bombing of all roads, railways, and bridges leading to the coast in France, completely isolating the coast guards from the rear.The latter is to convince the German army that the landing point is in the Calais area, and Normandy is just a feint.

To this end, the Allies carefully planned several things: on the British mainland opposite Calais, set up a huge barracks facility, made many rubber tanks, and frequently transmitted radio signals, creating the illusion of large-scale massing and mobilization of large forces here.This operation was maintained until the German forces in the Normandy area collapsed.Taking advantage of the German High Command's judgment that Patton's forces represented the main attack direction of the Allied forces, the Allied Forces also created the "Patton 9th Army", which was intended to convince the German army that Patton's Army was the main force for the landing, and the goal was the Calais region of France.For this reason, Eisenhower deliberately kept Patton out of sight for several months to create an atmosphere of mystery.In fact, Patton's III Corps was scheduled to participate in the second phase of the battle in Normandy.The coalition forces also used overseas spy agencies to spread the word, saying that 45 to 60 divisions were assembled in the British mainland on the other side of Calais, ready to attack Calais at any time.In the weeks leading up to D-Day, Allied aerial bombardments amounted to 246 north of the Seine, but only 33 south of the Seine.The air reconnaissance of Normandy was once, and the Calais area was reconnaissance twice.Using these deception methods in conjunction, the coalition forces successfully deceived the German army until the eve of the collapse of the German defense line in Normandy, so that the German 15th Army in Calais did not dare to send reinforcements to Normandy at a critical moment.It was not until July 19 that Kruger took over the command of Rommel's "Army Group B" before sending the 116th Armored Division of the 15th Army's reserve to the Caen area that was about to collapse.

After Germany occupied France, it took almost four years to build the so-called "Atlantic Barrier", but by the end of 1943, it was still in vain. In early December 1943, after Rommel was ordered to inspect the "Atlantic Barrier" project, he submitted a report to Hitler, pointing out many deficiencies in defense measures.On the issue of dealing with the Allied landings, he advocated their annihilation on the beach, and he also volunteered to be responsible for the defense of the most important areas.Rommel's view of "defending the enemy on the coastline" was in the hands of Hitler, who had always "struggled for every inch of land".Hitler quickly adjusted the command system of the Western Front troops: he returned in July 1942, and the former commander-in-chief of the Western Front, Lundst, remained in his post, but his troops were divided into two army groups, and Rommel served as the "B Army Group". Group "commander, commanding the 88th Army (in the Netherlands), the 15th Army (in Antwerp-Orne River line), the 7th Army (in the Orne River-Royal River line). General Laskowitz, commander of the "G Group Army Group", commanded the 1st Army (located in the Bay of Biques) and the 19th Army (located on the Mediterranean coast in southern France).

From January 1944, Rommel began to implement his own defense plan.In view of the experience of the North African battlefield, he believed that the Allied forces must use fierce aerial bombing to open the way, destroying the defense forces and facilities on the German coast as much as possible, and then, under the cover of surface ships and aerial firepower, use hundreds of assault craft and armored landing craft landed from the sea on a wide front.He concluded that the Allies would use airborne forces to open the Atlantic Wall defenses from behind and quickly establish a bridgehead. According to this judgment, Rommel advocated the installation of various obstacles against underwater landing craft on the coast, the installation of anti-airborne obstacles in areas where airborne landing is possible, and the installation of a large number of mine arrays on the offshore ground.He asserted that if the opponent is not driven into the sea within 4 days after the start of the battle, the battle will fail, and the 24 hours after the start of the landing battle will determine everything.For this reason, he opposed the traditional "concentrated use" principle of German armored forces, and advocated that the tank units should be scattered in divisions near the coastline where the enemy is most likely to land. use. The work of setting up the coastal obstacle line is progressing relatively smoothly. This is a kind of "artificial reef": 1. Bury wooden or iron piles on the seabed, and tie mines or landmines on the top; Insert a sharp steel sheet or hang a mine to cut through the rubber of the landing craft and cause an explosion; 3. Place a "dried fruit clip mine", that is, put a heavy shell in a cement box and insert a wooden stake. When the landing craft hits a wooden pile, it will cause the shell to explode due to the pressure of the fuse due to the principle of leverage; 4. The lighting equipment on the beachhead will illuminate the incoming landing troops; 5. Some temporary obstacles, Such as the French army's combat defense obstacles captured before.Rommel set up 4 such obstacle belts in order from far to near according to the tide level of the sea. In addition to setting up water barriers on the coast, anti-airborne obstacles are also set up in possible airborne areas.Every 100 feet or so, a 10-foot-high wooden pole is erected on the ground, deeply buried in the ground, and cannonballs are hung on it. Detonate.If a manned glider falls over this obstacle, it will be seriously injured if it is not blown up.Rommel regretted that when the coalition forces launched the Normandy landing, his coastal defense project was only 40% complete, especially the Normandy coast, whether it was sea or land, these costly and unfinished obstacles had a great impact on the landing of the British and American coalition forces. Didn't pose too much of a hindrance. Rommel also turned a six-mile-wide strip from the coast to the interior into a minefield.This mine belt consists of many minefields for several miles in length and width, and several passages are left between the formations to allow the rear reserves and supplies to pass through.Set up a stronghold in the center of the minefield, allowing small groups of troops to stick to it.Once the coalition forces landed or airborne coalition forces fell into the minefield, it was difficult to get out, and the coalition airborne troops falling behind the defense line also had difficulty entering the coast from the rear to join the landing forces.Rommel also placed each division and division headquarters in strongholds in minefields, so that each division commander became a "fortress commander".It is true that this kind of minefield later brought great damage to the British and American coalition forces.Rommel planned to plant 400 million various landmines in this long and narrow area, but time was short. When the battle came, he only buried 4 million mines. In the defensive plan, the contention was the deployment of the strategic reserve of 10 armored divisions.Many generals who have no combat experience with the British and American armies, such as Lundster, the commander of the armored forces on the Western Front, Schwebenburg, and the director of the armored forces, Guderian, etc., although in theory, agree that Rommel destroyed the Allied forces on the landing. On the beach, they agreed that this was unrealistic. They advocated that the armored reserves should be deployed on maneuvering points far from the coast, so that the enemy could penetrate a little deeper and strike again.They are based on the traditional combat principle that "tank soldiers must only be concentrated, not dispersed".Based on the experience of North Africa, Rommel believed that the Allied forces must have air supremacy when they land, and use heavy bombing to cut off the connection between the German front line and the rear. Paralyzed while moving forward.Furthermore, the assembled armored forces would become a living target for Allied bombing.Therefore, he insisted that the armored forces should be close to the coast, so that they could be engaged in anti-landing operations within a few hours.Hitler was in a dilemma, and it seemed that both opinions had their merits. In the end, he adopted a compromise plan, letting Rommel command 3 armored divisions, which were arranged close to the coast, and the other 7 divisions were placed behind the inland.The result of this arrangement is to weaken both the operational reserve and the strategic reserve.Later facts showed that Rommel's plan was correct. When the deployment of the armored reserves was settled, the question remained as to exactly where the Allied forces should land.Almost all senior German generals believed that, theoretically, strategically, and tactically, the Allied forces should land in the Calais region of France, which is the closest to the British mainland, but Hitler showed a unique "inspiration" this time. He believed that the Allied forces would land in Normandy, based on the fact that the location of the latest Allied forces exercise resembled the coastal terrain in Normandy.Although Rommel noticed it later, he always believed that even if there was a Normandy landing, it was a strategy of the Allied forces to "strike east and west", and the real blow would still occur in the Calais area.This delusion has been with him until the complete collapse of the Normandy defense line. Eisenhower's offensive plan roughly included five aspects: 1. Establish a firm foothold on the coast between Cayuntin and the Orne River and obtain a beachhead; 2. Occupy Cherbourg and the ports on the Brittany Peninsula; The Coney area was to be broken through by the British army to attract the enemy's reserves; 4. The US military took the opportunity to break through on the northwest flank and headed straight for the Royal River; on the Seine.According to the plan, we should reach the line of the Seine on D+90. The steps to be carried out were that on D-Day, three airborne divisions were first dropped into the German rear of the Atlantic defense line, the British 6th Airborne Division landed in the Orne Valley, and the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed at the bottom of the Cotentin Peninsula. Stabilize the wings of the bridgehead and harass the Germans from the rear to weaken the enemy's resistance at the strongholds in the area.The American 1st Army landed east and north of the Viaille, and the British 2nd Army landed between Bayeux and Caen.A total of 5 divisions landed on 5 beaches at the same time. The five beachheads are: "Utah", "Omaha", "Gold", "Juno", and "Sword".In this way, the first batch of landing troops can reach 8 divisions, 5 army divisions, and 3 airborne divisions.The total strength of the battle was 20 divisions of the U.S. Army, 17 divisions of the British Army (including 3 divisions of the Canadian Army), 1 division of the French Army, and 1 division of the Polish Army, with a population of more than 2.87 million.It is rare in history to gather such a huge force in the small British Isles. The choice of D-Day is a difficult problem. Due to the complex composition of arms for landing operations, the sea, land and air have their own restrictions.The sea and air force's advance attack on coastal targets requires at least one hour of daylight, and the landing of the army must catch up with the first high tide of sea water, so that follow-up troops can take advantage of the second high tide to go ashore to participate in the battle.However, since Rommel set up an obstacle at the bottom of the water, it must be destroyed before the high tide in order to open a channel for the first attack wave.The high tide in the westernmost part of Normandy was 40 minutes earlier than that in the easternmost part, so the five beachheads had their own attack times.In addition, D-day must be a day when the full moon rises late, because the aircraft of the Airborne Forces must approach the target before the moonlight rises, and then use the moonlight to help identify the landing site.In addition, the cloud base must be above 3,000 feet on D-day.The wind force does not exceed level 4 on the sea surface and level 3 on the coast.Visibility is at least 3 miles.According to the records provided by the meteorological data of Normandy for more than 100 years, there are not many such weather in June, and the probability is almost 1/13, that is, there is such a climate condition in June in one year in 13 years.In June, there are only three days such as June 4, 5, and 6 to have such conditions, and D-day must be selected within these three days.Eisenhower then set D-Day as June 4th. On June 5, 1944, two hours after Eisenhower issued the Normandy landing operation order, more than 4,000 coalition landing ships and more than 700 warships set sail, and the fleet was woven into a skynet by fighter jets.On the flanks, patrol fleets and warships closely searched the sea for attacks by German submarines and torpedo boats.Minesweepers and obstacle removal troops cleared the way ahead and approached the five landing beaches.After dusk that day, the transport planes and glider carrying the airborne troops took off from more than 20 airports in mainland Britain. At 2 o'clock in the morning on June 6, the 6th British Airborne Division first landed behind the German "Atlantic Wall".At 3:14 in the morning, more than 2,000 Allied aircraft began to bomb the German coastal defense facilities in turn.At the same time, the landing gunboats and destroyers in the landing fleet also constituted floating turrets on the sea, intensively bombarding the coastal German fortifications, and the rocket landing craft sprayed a large number of rockets at the coastal fortifications at a high rate of fire.When the barrage extended inland, the amphibious tanks of the coalition forces were engulfed by the waves, rushed onto the beach, and attacked the German firepower. At 6:30 a.m. on June 6, the first batch of landing troops of the coalition forces began to fight on the beach. The German army in Normandy was not mentally prepared for this. Rommel was not on the front line and was planning a birthday for his wife in the country. The commander of the 7th Army who was in charge of the defense of Normandy German, Dietrich, commander of the 1st Tank Corps of the SS, and Fuchdinger, the only commander of the 21st Panzer Division who could launch a counterattack to the beach within two hours, were not in their tactical command positions.Before the Allied landing, Jodl and his staff officers believed that the Allied landing site was not Calais, but Cherbourg in Normandy. They checked the tide tables and warned Hitler that June 5-13 would be a suitable time for the Allies to land. The day of the offensive, but Rommel turned a deaf ear to it. On the day of landing, the German 21st Armored Division's counterattack to the beach was unsuccessful, but it disrupted the Allied plan to occupy Cany, the defense center of Normandy, mainly because the Allied commanders were too cautious and lost their opportunity.After the battle started, the German armored reserve team encountered the predicament that Rommel expected. On June 7, Rommel ordered Dietrich's 1st SS Panzer Army, which had been delayed for 10 hours, to launch an attack in the early morning, splitting the landing Allied forces in two, but suffered heavy air strikes on the way, and the operation throughout the day forced to give up.It was not until the afternoon of June 8 that the three battered Panzer Divisions of the 1st SS Panzer Corps reluctantly launched a counterattack, but the Allies had won two days, the beachhead was consolidated, and the German attack was repulsed. Seeing that the Allied forces will firmly occupy the beachhead, the only feasible way for the German army is to transfer the 15th Army in the Calais area to reinforce Normandy.Although the German army has seized all the combat orders of the 7th Army of the US Army, judging from these documents, it is impossible for the Allied forces to land another time, but Rommel and even Hitler began to believe that the Normandy landing was just a "snap from the east to the west" and that the second landing would be inevitable. in Calais. On June 9, the Allied forces used the British radio station to announce that the Allied forces were about to launch an attack on Belgium. Hitler caught the trick and ordered the 1st SS Armored Division with 21,000 people to go north instead of going south to reinforce Normandy. On June 10, the commander-in-chief of the armored forces on the Western Front, Schwebenburg, was planning to take a defensive position, and then attack after the three armored divisions regrouped. Unexpectedly, his headquarters was destroyed by the Allied Air Force, and all the command facilities and staff officers were destroyed. Annihilated, he himself was seriously injured, and the counterattack plan was shattered. By June 12, Montgomery had firmly established his bridgehead in Normandy, 320,000 soldiers had landed, 54,000 vehicles, and more than 100,000 tons of supplies had also been sent to land.The positions of the two armies of the United Kingdom and the United States have joined together.The military town of Bayeux has been occupied, and the US military has also occupied Carentan, the necessary place leading to Cherbourg, but Caen is still in the hands of the Germans. During the night of June 12th to 13th, Germany’s newly developed V-1 missiles began to attack the British mainland. In Hitler’s imagination, thousands of missiles fell on London like raindrops, and the British would suddenly collapse and surrender. summation.In the second half of June, the Germans launched a total of 2,000 missiles, but the effect was not very satisfactory, with each one killing only one person on average.Britain was shaken, but the vision of the British surrendering for peace that Hitler pursued did not appear.Since the German army was unable to drive the Allied forces into the sea, they faced two choices, either concentrate their forces in the west of Normandy to defend Cherbourg to prevent the Allies from taking this important seaport, or focus on the Coney area to prevent the Allies from Carry out a large-scale breakthrough into the vast plains of southern France.Hitler believed that the focus should be on defending Coney and preventing the British and American troops from advancing to the south of France, but the strength of the German army was already powerless to prevent the Allies from further expanding their victories. On June 25, the US military captured the fortress of Cherbourg with tenacious fighting, but it was completely destroyed and could not be used again until August. When Cherbourg was about to fall, the Germans hastily established a defensive line in the Conny area.Allied forces also took root on the coast, and the battle was at a stalemate.Rommel was reinforced by the 9th and 10th SS Armored Divisions from the Eastern Front. On June 26, he was about to attack, but was preempted by Montgomery. On the 29th, Dietrich's SS Panzer Army severely damaged Montgomery.That night, the Western Front Strategic Armored Reserve, which was directly under the Supreme Command, turned into a large-scale counter-offensive under the command of Schwebenburg and was defeated by the British army.This was also the last counterattack of the German army in Normandy, and Hivibenburg was dismissed by Hitler.A few days later, Marshal Rundstedt was dismissed.Marshal Kruger took over the post of Commander-in-Chief on the Western Front. He quickly realized that the nature of the Western Front was completely different from that of the Eastern Front, and his confidence when he took office quickly disappeared. On July 7, Montgomery once again broke through the German defense line in Coney. The cannons and field guns on the warship poured 80,000 shells on Rommel's position, and the Royal Strategic Bomber dropped 2,560 tons of bombs on the medieval city of Coney. , The 16th Division of the German Air Force and the 12th Armored Division of the SS fought an excellent defensive battle.Montgomery paid a heavy price and entered the river bank area. After Rommel blew up the bridge, he retreated to the opposite bank and established a defensive position in depth. On July 17, Rommel was seriously injured by an Allied air strike while inspecting the front line.On the second day, Montgomery launched the last strategic breakthrough to Rommel's carefully arranged Coney area in an attempt to rush out of Normandy. 2,000 bombers dropped 8,000 tons of bombs, and the two divisions on the front line of the German army were quickly wiped out.More than 700 tanks of the British army rushed southward. At a heavy price, they finally broke through the first, second, and third lines of defense, but then they were beaten badly in front of the fourth line of defense.Although the British army's attempt to rush out of Normandy near Coney was repeatedly frustrated, Montgomery was accused by some Allied generals of "fighting in the circle of Coney City for more than a month", but objectively, the British army has firmly attracted the main force of the German army. Around him, favorable conditions were created for the US military to rush out of Normandy first. On July 6, General Patton secretly arrived in Normandy to command the newly formed U.S. Third Army.He put forward a bold battle plan, the gist of which is: use several ancient roads on the Cotentin Peninsula, concentrate one or two armored divisions, cooperate with aerial bombing, break through Avranches into the open terrain of southern France, and rush out of Normandy The bridge fort, the German army detours around the rear of the Brittany Peninsula and the rear of Coney.He believes that according to his plan, a strategic breakthrough can be achieved within 48 hours.However, Eisenhower and Bradley did not accept Patton's suggestion, and still blindly adopted the infantry group's front-line push tactics. After half a month of bloody battles, the US military only advanced 20 kilometers. On July 18, the US army occupied Saint-Lo and was forced to stop the offensive at the same time. In order to break the deadlock in Normandy, Bradley formulated the "Cobra" plan to break out of Normandy, but this plan was a replica of Patton's original plan.As it turned out, the Cobra program was one of the most remarkable programs of World War II. On July 25, Patton commanded Middleton's 8th Army and Haislip's 15th Army in the 3rd Army. Under the guidance of well-designed tactics, the infantry and tank soldiers alternately covered and attacked the new tactic. A breakthrough was achieved in 48 hours, and Avranche, a strategic town and the gateway to southern France, was captured on July 30.The German army retreated across the board. In early August, Patton's 3rd Army rushed out of Avranches, and the Allied forces finally achieved a strategic breakthrough in Normandy, pushing the battle to a climax.Patton's Legion and the U.S. 1st Army under the command of Hodges spread out in a fan shape across the vast southern French plains, swept across the Brittany Peninsula, and detoured westward to the rear of Conid's Army. Montgomery's frontal attack by the British Army also made a breakthrough .Hitler did not listen to the dissuasion of his generals, and organized the remaining German troops to withdraw to the Seine River defense line. Instead, he concentrated the remnants of 5 armored divisions and 7 infantry divisions in an attempt to recapture Avranches and cut off the communication line behind Patton.But as soon as the counterattack began, the armored forces were bombed and paralyzed by the Allied air force.In this way, the attacking German army instead cast itself into a trap and fell into the encirclement of the Allied forces that were forming a detour. On August 14, the Allied forces tightly surrounded the German 7th Army and the 15th Army from Calais in the Falaise area.In half a month, Patton turned from north to south, then turned to the east, and then went north to implement a large roundabout encirclement. It was only 6 miles away from being completely closed, but Bradley believed that it was the planned combat range of the British army. He was afraid that Patton and Montgomery would have conflicts that would affect the unity of the Allied forces. In addition, he concluded that Patton had barely sealed the opening, and his thinner blockade would be destroyed by the frenzy of the Germans fleeing for their lives. It seems more cost-effective to wipe out its main force. On August 18, the German troops in the encirclement of Falaise fled from the 10-kilometer-wide "pocket mouth".The Allied air force dropped tons of bombs on the fleeing German army, and Falaise became a real slaughterhouse. When the Battle of Normandy was going on, on August 15, the U.S. Seventh Army and the French First Army landed in St. Tropez in southern France, took Toulon and Marseille within two weeks, and defeated the German Brasco. The 19th Army in Witts' "Army Group G" then continued north in pursuit.On September 12, the French 1st Army going north and the U.S. 3rd Army going east joined forces near Dijon. From September 1st to 11th, Patton's offensive reached its climax and came to an abrupt end at the same time.Because Eisenhower allocated all the fuel and gasoline to Montgomery in order to ensure Montgomery's march to the north.On August 31, Patton's army was exhausted.The pursuit stopped at the Moselle River, and the fleeing German army fled until they reached the German border before they regained their composure and barely held their ground.Some scholars after the war, including Liddell Hart, believed that if Patton could get gasoline in time, World War II could have ended almost a year earlier.There was no longer any force worth mentioning in Patton's front.Throughout the Battle of Normandy, the German army lost about 400,000 people (half of which were captured), about 1,300 tanks, 20,000 military vehicles, and 1,500 cannons; the Allied forces lost about 210,000 people.This largest landing operation in history ended with the disastrous defeat of the Germans. The Soviet army in the east had already stood on the Vistula River in Poland. The strategic situation of fighting on two fronts had put Germany in a desperate situation of inevitable defeat. After the Battle of Kursk, the German strategic reserve was devastated. The lack of German resources and the consequences of the attack on the industrial production base by the Allied strategic air force have become more and more serious. It is impossible to establish another military force in the short term. A large-scale strategic reserve team.Although the Soviet army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Kursk, its abundant resources and production capacity, as well as the assistance from the United Kingdom and the United States, not only quickly made up for the losses, but also provided combat capabilities to further expand the results of the war.Therefore, the Eastern Front battlefield in 1944 showed such a situation. On the front from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, the Soviet Army formed an irregular trapezoidal formation and launched attacks to the west alternately. The focus was on the north and south wings. .The German army kept retreating, tightening the defense line, and stubbornly resisting with broken and incomplete troops. In early December 1943, Konev's 2nd Ukrainian Front attacked the Dnieper River bend first, and advanced to the vicinity of Kirovgrad.Under Hitler's order to hold its ground, Manstein's "Army Group South" was caught in a dilemma.In late December, Vadudin's 1st Ukrainian Front began to attack westward. On January 28, 1944, the troops of Konev and Vatudin surrounded and annihilated six divisions of the German army in the Korsun area. They were all victims of Hitler's "no retreat" order.On the Soviet side, Vadudin was seriously injured (he died soon), and Zhukov took over as the commander of the Ukrainian 1st Front Army. On March 13, 1944, the 3rd Malinovsky Ukrainian Front south of Konev had captured the port of Kherson westward.Konev's troops, which were in the middle of Zhukov and Malinovsky, leaped from Uman, forcibly crossed the Bug River, Transnistria River, and reached the Proust River on the Romanian border, forcing Kles on the Black Sea coast. The special "Army Group A" retreated.Zhukov's left flank followed suit and turned southward, sweeping across the German coastal positions. In early April, the Ukrainian 1st and 2nd Front Army approached the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, a natural barrier in Hungary, and surrounded the 1st Panzer Army commanded by the German "Southern Army Group" Huber with about 200,000 to 300,000 people.Zhukov issued two surrender letters to the German army: the first time he threatened that if he did not surrender immediately, he would shoot one-third of the captured people; the second time he threatened that if he did not surrender, he would shoot all the captured people.The German 1st Panzer Corps desperately broke through to the west. After marching 240 kilometers, it joined the 4th Panzer Corps on April 9. In order to save the situation, Hitler replaced Manstein and Kleist at the same time on March 30, and renamed the "Army Group A" to the "South Ukrainian Army Group", and Schörner took over the command; Don Army Group") was renamed "North Ukraine Army Group", and Model took over command. In early May, Konev's troops and the German Manteuffel's troops launched a tank battle on the banks of the Siret River in Romania. The Soviet troops were repelled, and the German troops temporarily held their positions.However, on the Crimean Peninsula, the German 17th Army, which was defending according to Hitler's order, was completely annihilated by Tolbukhin's 4th Ukrainian Front Army and Yeremenko's Independent Coastal Army on May 9.This was the worst defeat of the German army in Ukraine.At this time, under the pursuit of Govorov's Leningrad Front Army, the German "Northern Army Group" was also forced to withdraw westward to the line from the Gulf of Finland to Pskov, and Leningrad, which had been trapped for a long time, was relieved.Finland begins negotiations with the Soviet Union, but no progress is made. On June 10, Govorov occupied Vyborg and started a new round of offensive.Baghramyan's 1st Baltic Front, Cherniakhovsky's 3rd Belarusian Front, Zakharov's 2nd Belarusian Front, and Rokossovsky's 1st Belarusian Front took turns commanding Busch The German "Central Army Group" launched a fierce attack. On July 3, the 5th Guards Tank Army of the Soviet Army Rotmistrov drove straight into Minsk along the Moscow-Minsk Highway. Within a week of breaking through the German defense line, they completed a sweeping march of 240 kilometers.The pincer attack of the Soviet army is exactly like the attack of the German army in the opposite direction three years ago.The German "Central Army Group" has actually been defeated, with a loss of more than 200,000 people. By mid-July, a large gap 400 kilometers wide was broken through the central German defense line, and the German army had been driven out of Belarus and retreated into Poland.In the north, the Belarusian 3rd Front attacked immediately without waiting for the Germans to close the gap, defeated the German 3rd Panzer Army, occupied Vilnius, and created a big gap between the German "Central Army Group" and "Northern Army Group".In the south, after the Soviet Army readjusted the commanders of several front armies, Konev's Ukrainian 1st Front Army, with the assistance of Rokossovsky's Belarusian 1st Front Army, launched an assault on southern Poland. "Army Group" was devastated. On July 27, Konev's troops captured Lvov.At this time Rokossovsky's troops also crossed the Bug River and broke into Poland. On July 31, Rokossovsky's vanguard pushed back Siedlce's German army and reached the east bank of the Vistula. At this time, the crisis in Germany began to erupt. 7月20日，斯陶芬贝格谋杀希特勒未成，却引起德国国内一片混乱。在西线，巴顿军团冲出阿弗朗什瓶颈地带，开始扫荡法国南部。 8月1日，科马罗夫斯基将军领导了华沙起义，但遭到德军残酷镇压。这时，苏军在华沙郊外遭到德军第2、第4装甲军团的猛烈反击，被迫放弃一些桥头堡，难以给起义者以有力的支援（也许还有扶植亲苏的波兰政治派别的企图）。由于苏军的补给线伸展过长，这次声势浩大的进军终于停止在维斯瓦河上。到8月中旬，莫德尔调往西线，莱茵哈特接任“中央集团军群”司令。 9月初，哈佩被任命为德军“北乌克兰集团军群”司令。 虽然德军在正面将苏军暂时阻止在维斯瓦河上，但苏军却在南面侧翼上，开始了巨大的迂回行动。苏军的胜利促使罗马尼亚国内发生剧变，8月23日，罗马尼亚国王逮捕了安东尼斯库，成立以萨纳捷斯库为首的新政府。新政府立即接受同盟国条件，停止敌对行动，并要求德军在14天内撤出罗马尼亚。于是，罗马尼亚境内的德军和罗军互相开火，双方都陷入混乱。趁其混乱，马利诺夫斯基乌克兰第2方面军沿锡雷特河两岸冲杀，托尔布欣乌克兰第3方面军从德涅斯特河下游沿黑海海岸向西挺进。8月30日，苏军占领希特勒视为德国工业命脉的普罗耶什蒂大油田，第二天占领首都布加勒斯特，驻罗马尼亚的德军第6军团20个师除少数分队逃脱外，大部被歼，其惨败程度堪与斯大林格勒相比。到1944年9月底，东线被俘德军总数在50万人以上。 德国兵力已明显枯竭，德军无力向南延长侧翼来和苏军对抗。苏军最南翼的部队开始在东南欧和中欧的广大地区扫荡前进，托尔布欣的乌克兰第3方面军从多布罗加进入保加利亚，9月8日，保加利亚向德国宣战。接着，托尔布欣部渡过多瑙河同南斯拉夫铁托部队会师，并于10月20日解放南斯拉夫首都。此时，正面向西推进的马利诺夫斯基的乌克兰第2方面军也冲入匈牙利平原，但在布达佩斯受阻。11月底，托尔布欣部在布达佩斯以南200公里的多瑙河和德拉瓦汇合处，展开了更为广阔的迂回包围行动，于12月初，前出到布达佩斯后侧的巴拉顿湖。 在东线北翼战场上，芬兰在9月已接受苏联的停战条件，并向德军开火。苏军北面的几个方面军趁机发动进攻，舍尔纳指挥的德军“北方集团军群”放弃里加，退守库尔兰，但苏军在进攻东普鲁士的一场坦克会战中受挫，北翼战场在10月底陷入僵持。 西线盟军冲出诺曼底后，于1944年8月25日解放巴黎，从9月开始沿三个方向进军：蒙哥马利的集团军群在沿海一带向东北进军，先后占领了安特卫普等海岸港口，扫荡了德国部署在海岸地区的V-1飞弹发射基地，下一步计划进攻德国北部平原，从北面包围鲁尔工业区；中路霍奇斯指挥美军第1集团军向东进击，接连攻下比利时的列日和卢森堡首都卢森堡城，抵达德国边境；右翼的巴顿第3集团军连克兰斯、夏龙、凡尔登，越过默兹河、摩泽尔河，并在梅斯和南锡之间的摩泽尔河东岸建立了桥头堡，并于9月下旬同帕奇的美军第7集团军会师。这样，西线盟军已连成一片，准备作一番修整后，向德国本土大举进攻。 希特勒经过对形势的研判后，作出了一个胆大妄为的决定，决心向盟军发动反攻。其战略构想是在阿登地区集中优势兵力，进行突破，然后越过默兹河直捣布鲁塞尔和安特卫普，把盟军一劈为二，力求歼灭北面的美国第1、9集团军，英国第2集团军、加拿大第1集团军，这样就能迫使西方盟国单独媾和，让德国腾出手来全力对付东方的苏联。 1944年12月16日，莫德尔“B集团军群”所属三个军团约20个师（其中7个装甲师），在蒙绍－埃希特纳赫之间，向霍奇斯第1集团军防线上的5个师发动突袭。由于盟军猝不及防，加上伪装成美军的德军分队在盟军后方的破坏，德军很快突破守军防线。在北翼，由于缺乏汽油和美军不断发动侧击，德军迪特里希第6党卫装甲军团进展缓慢。在南翼，勃兰登堡第7军团达成突破后迅速展开，向南构成一道屏障，掩护北面的突贯。在中路，曼陀菲尔第5装甲军团进展迅猛。12月19日，曼陀菲尔部迫使被围的美军第106师两个团投降。12月22日，曼陀菲尔部再围前来增援的美军第101空降师于巴斯托尼，是日，巴顿第3军团开始北上解围。至此，巴斯托尼地区的作战成为双方成败的关键。 曼陀菲尔一面围攻巴斯托尼，一面分兵继续向西疾进。12月23日后，天气开始放晴，盟军出动5000架飞机，对德军地面战斗部队和后勤运输车队狂轰滥炸，德军行动立即受到极大限制，盟军的制空权优势得到充分发挥。24日下午，曼陀菲尔的前锋第2装甲师，因缺乏汽油和遭到美国空军的沉重打击，被迫停止在离默兹河仅6.5公里的塞莱斯小镇上，这也是德军进攻的极限。德军陷入进退两难，前面无法进攻，后方又不能解决巴斯托尼的被围美军。12月28日，霍奇斯第1军团在北面，巴顿第3军团在南面，向德军实施南北夹击。1945年1月1日，为牵制巴顿军团北上解围，德军集中10个师，在南面阿尔萨斯发动打击，但却丝毫没有改变阿登战局发展。战至1945年1月3日，德军集中两个军向被围的美军发动最后一次猛攻，但被后者击退。1月8日，希特勒被迫命令德军后撤。1月16日，南北美军在豪法里兹会师，并在1月28日，将德军赶回原来的出发阵地。 阿登反扑是希特勒一厢情愿地希望同西方盟国单独媾和的产物，它消耗了德国最后的一点军事实力，从而失去了认真在西线组织防御的一次机会，加速了第三帝国崩溃的步伐。尽管希特勒信奉“进攻是最好的防御”这句格言，但事实表明，希特勒在阿登的进攻是最坏的防御。 当德军在阿登突进时，丘吉尔向苏联人要求在东线赶紧发动攻势，以减缓盟军的压力。斯大林通知西方盟国，苏军将在1945年1月中旬发起进攻。12月下旬里，德军参谋总长古德里安获得一项重要情报，从波罗的海到喀尔巴阡之间的战线上，苏军集结了250个步兵师和22个装甲军。他把这一情况告诉希特勒，后者根本不相信，认为这是自从成吉思汗以来所捏造的最大骗局。希特勒趁古德里安外出时，把正面预备队中的两个装甲师从波兰调出，去解匈牙利首都布达佩斯之围。这样，在东线的正面德军只有12个师的预备队和50个千疮百孔的师，同苏军的兵力之比约为1：5，处于绝对劣势。另外，由于西方盟军对德国实施的战略轰炸已产生明显效果，德军的飞机、坦克、汽车生产数量远远不能抵消战场损失的数量，战争初期一度领先并且赖以取胜的制空权、装甲力量和步兵机械化程度方面的优势已完全丧失。苏军则正相反，雄厚的工业基础和丰富的资源，再加美、英两国的援助，使之在制空权、装甲力量和步兵机械化程度方面处于绝对优势。 1945年1月12日，苏军从维斯瓦河上全线出击，向德国本土展开了极为壮观的进军。担任主攻的三个方面军由北向南展开，即罗柯索夫斯基白俄罗斯第2方面军、朱可夫白俄罗斯第1方面军、科涅夫乌克兰第1方面军。科涅夫的部队从巴拉诺夫桥头堡冲出，1月15日占领基埃尔策后，兵分两路渡过奥得河，攻占德国重要工业区西里西亚，于2月上旬推进到尼斯河。1月14日，朱可夫的部队从马格努泽夫和普瓦维两个桥头堡附近冲出，于1月17日攻下华沙，然后穿过维斯瓦河和瓦尔塔河之间的走廊地带，向西追击。1月30日，朱可夫的前锋越过德国边境进入勃兰登堡和波美拉尼亚，到达科斯琴附近的奥得河下游，离柏林仅为64公里。罗柯索夫斯基的部队也在1月14日，从那累夫河上的两个桥头堡出击，于1月9日在内登堡附近，越过1938年的东普鲁士边界，1月21日，占领坦能堡。到1月26日，罗柯索夫斯基在12天内已前进了200公里。 就在苏军向奥得河进军时，2月13日，南翼上的苏军托尔布欣和马利诺夫斯基的部队终于攻克了匈牙利首都布达佩斯。2月下旬，德军从西线和内地调来部队，实施反击，才将东线勉强稳住。苏军则需要一段时间来完善新近延长的交通补给线，暂停了攻势，但他们在奥得河、尼斯河上扎下了根，已稳稳站在柏林的大门口。 德国两面作战的恶果彻底暴露。为了应付东线奥得河上的危机，希特勒把所有原来准备用于填补西线防御的部队，大部调往东线，这就给盟军在西线发动跨过莱茵河的进攻，创造了极好的条件。1945年3月7日，巴顿第3集团军的装甲部队从爱菲尔平原突破了德军的薄弱防线，到达科布伦茨附近的莱茵河畔，他在向南扫荡了科布伦茨到曼海姆之间的莱茵河西岸后，于3月22日晚渡河到达东岸。北面的霍奇斯第1集团军的装甲前锋，也到达波恩附近的莱茵河岸，在雷马根桥被炸毁前，掐灭正在燃烧的导火线，冲过大桥，在东岸建立了桥头堡。蒙哥马利统帅的加拿大第1集团军、英国第2集团军、美国第9集团军也在3月23日夜晚，在莱茵河下游的威塞尔渡河到达东岸。盟军就这样轻松地突破了德国所谓“齐格菲防线”。希特勒急于挡住巴顿的装甲洪流，但他被告知除了远在160公里外的坦克仓库中，还剩5辆坦克可供调动外，已没有力量用来增援了。 希特勒最后一次撤去了伦德斯特西线总司令的职务，由凯塞林接任。但是，德军预备队早已空空如也，无法阻挡盟军向德国腹地的挺进。4月1日，美军第1、第9集团军完成对鲁尔地区莫德尔指挥的“B集团军群”的包围，4月18日，鲁尔战役结束，德军全军覆没，被俘32.5万人，莫德尔自杀。在此之前，美军这两个集团军各有一部装甲纵队，已快速赶到易北河，建立了桥头堡。4月25日，美军和苏军在柏林南部120公里处的托尔高会师。美苏双方商定，沿易北河支流木耳德河来划分两军中央战线的会合线。在北方，英军第2集团军前出波罗的海，5月2日在维斯马同苏军会师。加拿大第1集团军解放了荷兰全境。5月5日，荷兰、丹麦以及德国西北部的德军向蒙哥马利投降。在德国中南部，美军第3集团军于5月1日进入捷克斯洛伐克，另一支部队进入奥地利。在德国南方，美军第7集团军于4月20日攻下纽伦堡，在渡过多瑙河后于4月30日占领慕尼黑。5月4日，美军第8航空队将纳粹宣传部长戈培尔吹嘘成“民族堡垒”的希特勒山间别墅希特斯加登炸成废墟。在最南翼，法国第1军团占领了卡尔斯鲁厄、斯图加特。5月5日，德国“G集团军群”向盟军无条件投降。 由于在雅尔塔会议上，同盟国各方对战后德国的处理已达成协议，所以美国不愿为攻占柏林，取得政治上的有利地位而付出太多的人员牺牲，丘吉尔提出的先于苏军攻占柏林的要求被美国拒绝。攻打德国首都的任务自然也就由苏军单独来承担了。 希特勒从1945年2月起，就决心做困兽犹斗，他下令在柏林以东建立三道防线：第一道防线北起沃林湖东岸，沿奥得河延伸至尼斯河一线；由此往西10～20公里是第二道防线，以泽劳高地为核心阵地；再向西10～20公里为第三道防线。除了这三道防线之外，环绕柏林城构筑了三层防御圈。最外一层离市中心半径约24～40公里；第二层半径约为12～20公里；第三层沿环城铁路线修成。 德军从波罗的海到尼斯河河口防御的部队是海茵里希的“维斯瓦集团军群”和舍纳尔的“中央集团军群”的左翼。“维斯瓦集团军群”中，曼陀菲尔第3装甲军团同苏军罗柯索夫斯基白俄罗斯第2方面军对峙；布赛第9军团同苏军朱可夫白俄罗斯第1方面军对峙；魏丁格的第56装甲军担任集团军群的战术预备队。“中央集团军群”中的格雷泽尔第4装甲军团同科涅夫乌克兰第1方面军对峙。在柏林战役开始时，德军共约50个势单力薄的野战师来对抗苏军193个师的进攻，另外还有大量的“人民冲锋队”和大多由十三四岁的少年组成的“希特勒青年特遣队”等杂牌武装。 1945年4月16日，朱可夫的部队跃出奥得河桥头堡，向柏林正面攻击并从北面进行迂回包围。经3小时激战后，突进到德军第2道防线。之后，朱可夫部受到曼陀菲尔第3装甲军团的顽强抵抗，4月18日，经过三天受阻和付出重大代价后，朱可夫的部队终于攻下德军核心阵地——泽劳高地，打开了柏林的大门。与此同时，科涅夫的部队取道柏林东南，实施南翼迂回包围作战，他在尼斯河上粉碎了格雷泽尔第4装甲军团的激烈抵抗，向德军后方实施突贯。4月19日，科涅夫所部雷巴尔科第3近卫坦克集团军、列柳申科第4近卫坦克集团军已插到措森和波茨坦，切断德军第4军团和第9军团的联系。4月20日，罗柯索夫斯基白俄罗斯第2方面军强渡奥得河，向曼陀菲尔第3装甲军团展开攻势，使其难以分兵加强柏林正面防御。4月24日，朱可夫和科涅夫的部队在柏林东南会合，柏林城和布赛的第9军团被团团围住，苏军已从四面八方突入柏林市中心，与德军及“人民冲锋队”等各种杂牌武装的残余部队，展开激烈的逐街逐屋的巷战。 在攻打柏林期间，希特勒第三帝国也随之进入了闹剧的高潮阶段。希特勒和他的追随者们一直希望能出现奇迹，挽救第三帝国。他期望100多年前腓特烈大帝起死回生的历史重演，他乞灵于星象图。4月12日，当罗斯福总统逝世的消息传来时，纳粹高层欣喜若狂，以为奇迹降临了。希特勒盼望在德国即将崩溃的时刻，苏联同英美的联盟发生破裂，从而使第三帝国死里逃生，但这一切都没有发生。在第三帝国大厦将倾之际，戈林和希姆莱分别演出了一幕抢班夺权的插曲，给纳粹德国的临终闹剧增添了几分荒诞色彩。 4月29日，在意大利的德军已向盟军无条件投降，但在德国本土，德军开始了最后的挣扎。不久前拼凑起来的由温克指挥的第12军团，放弃同英美对峙的易北河防线，返身向东，进攻波茨坦，企图同布赛第9军团里应外合，击破苏军合围圈。温克的攻势昙花一现，很快被粉碎。4月30日，苏军攻克象征德国最高权力的国会大厦，并向最后的老巢——总理府逼近。是日，希特勒和其情妇爱娃·勃劳恩举行婚礼后双双自杀。被希特勒指定为继承人的海军元帅邓尼茨成了德国新首脑。5月1日，布赛的第9军团已不复存在，温克的第12军团也已溃散。此时，德国的残兵败将、难民、伤员潮水般涌向易北河英美战线，以便能得到西方盟军的庇护。5月2日，柏林德军城防司令、第56装甲军军长魏丁格将军下令所有德军停止抵抗，当天下午，柏林战役结束。但在捷克斯洛伐克境内，还有2个德国集团军群约55万人在继续顽抗，直到5月中旬，在苏军猛烈打击下才投降。柏林会战中，苏军歼灭德军40万人，苏军也付出30万人的重大代价。