The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, in Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings commenced on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (D-Day), beginning at 6:30 am British Double Summer Time (GMT+2).
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In planning, D-Day was the term used for the day of actual landing, which was dependent on final approval.
The landings were conducted in two phases: an airborne assault landing of 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French airborne troops shortly after midnight, HP G72 Notebook PC Series Battery
and an amphibious landing[4] of Allied infantry and armoureddivisions on the coast of France starting at 6:30 am. Surprise was achieved thanks to the comprehensive deception plan, Operation Bodyguard, implemented in the months leading up to the landings. HP G72T-200 CTO Battery
There were also decoy operations simultaneous with the landings under the codenames Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable to distract the German forces from the real landing areas.[5] HP G72t Battery
Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces was General Dwight Eisenhower while overall command of ground forces (21st Army Group) was given to General Bernard Montgomery. The operation, planned by a team under Lieutenant-General Frederick Morgan, HP Pavilion dv3-4000 Battery
was the largest amphibious invasion in world history and was executed by land, sea, and air elements under direct British command with over 160,000[6] troops landing on 6 June 1944, 73,000 American troops, 61,715 British and 21,400 Canadian.[7] HP Pavilion dv3-4010sg Battery
195,700[8] Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000[6] ships were involved. The invasion required the transport of soldiers and material from the United Kingdom by troop-laden aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. HP Pavilion dv3-4020sp Battery
The landings took place along a 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
Operations
The Allied invasion was detailed in several overlapping operational plans according to the D-Day museum: HP Pavilion dv3-4027TX Battery
"The armed forces used codenames to refer to the planning and execution of specific military operations. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of northwest Europe. The assault phase of Operation Overlord was known as Operation Neptune. HP Pavilion dv3-4028TX Battery
Operation Neptune began on D-Day (June 6, 1944) and ended on June 30, 1944. By this time, the Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy. Operation Overlord also began on D-Day, and continued until Allied forces crossed the River Seine on August 19, 1944." HP Pavilion dv3-4029TX Battery
Just prior to the invasion, General Eisenhower transmitted a now-historic message to all members of the Allied Expeditionary Force. It read, in part, "You are about to embark upon the great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months."[9] HP Pavilion dv3-4030TX Battery
In his pocket was a statement, never used, to be read in case the invasion failed.[10]
Deception plans
Under the high-level plan Operation Bodyguard the Allies had instituted a comprehensive and complex series of deception operations which led to the landings achieving strategic and tactical surprise. HP Pavilion dv3-4031TX Battery
One of the key successes of these operations was to convince Hitler that the Allies' plan was to launch their main attack across the Straits of Dover with the fictitious First United States Army Group to be led by George S. Patton. The fiction was maintained after the Normandy landings to the effect that Hitler, HP Pavilion dv3-4035tx Battery
still believing an attack was imminent across the straits, was unwilling until it was too late to reinforce his troops in Normandy with forces placed to defend the Pas de Calais.
Particularly relevant to the Normandy landings was the use of heavy bombers in HP Pavilion dv3-4050ea Battery
Operations Glimmer and Taxable which flew in highly precise patterns over the Straits of Dover, to drop radar-reflecting aluminium strips ("window") to create a picture on German radar of an invasion fleet moving across the straits simultaneous to the arrival of the invasion fleet in Normandy. HP Pavilion dv3-4057tx Battery
Weather
Only 10 days each month were suitable for launching the operation: a day near the full Moon was needed both for illumination during the hours of darkness and for the spring tide, HP Pavilion dv3-4059tx Battery
the former to illuminate navigational landmarks for the crews of aircraft, gliders and landing craft, and the latter to provide the deepest possible water to help safe navigation over defensive obstacles placed by the Germans in the surf on the seaward approaches to the beaches. HP Pavilion dv3-4100 Battery
A full moon occurred on 6 June. Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had tentatively selected 5 June as the date for the assault. The weather was fine during most of May, but deteriorated in early June. On 4 June, conditions were clearly unsuitable for a landing; HP Pavilion dv3-4100sa Battery
wind and high seas would make it impossible to launch landing craft from larger ships at sea, and low clouds would prevent aircraft finding their targets. The Allied troop convoys already at sea were forced to take shelter in bays and inlets on the south coast of Britain for the night. HP Pavilion dv3-4102tx Battery
It seemed possible that everything would have to be cancelled and the troops returned to their embarkation camps (which would be almost impossible, as the enormous movement of follow-up formations into them was already proceeding). The next full moon period would be nearly a month away. HP Pavilion dv3-4105tx Battery
At a vital meeting on 5 June, Eisenhower's chief meteorologist (Group Captain J.M. Stagg) forecast a brief improvement for 6 June. Commander of all land forces for the invasion GeneralBernard Montgomery and Eisenhower's Chief of Staff General Walter Bedell Smith wished to proceed with the invasion. HP Pavilion dv3-4106tx Battery
Commander of the Allied Air Forces Air Chief Marshal Leigh Mallory was doubtful, but the Allied Naval supremo Admiral Bertram Ramsay believed that conditions would be marginally favorable. On the strength of Stagg's forecast, Eisenhower ordered the invasion to proceed. HP Pavilion dv3-4107tx Battery
As a result, prevailing overcast skies limited Allied air support, and no serious damage was done to the beach defences on Omaha and Juno.[11]
The Germans meanwhile took comfort from the existing poor conditions, which were worse over Northern France than over the Channel itself, HP Pavilion dv3-4121tx Battery
and believed no invasion would be possible for several days. Some troops stood down, and many senior officers were away for the weekend. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took a few days' leave to celebrate his wife's birthday [12] while dozens of division, HP Pavilion dv3-4123tx Battery
regimental, and battalion commanders were away from their posts conducting war games just prior to the invasion.
The order of battle for the landings was precisely as follows, east to west: (Information based on summary of first hand accounts) HP Pavilion dv3-4124tx Battery
British Second Army
6th Airborne Division Commanded by Major-General R.N. Gale was delivered by parachute and glider to the east of the River Orne to protect the left flank. The division contained 7,900 men, including one Canadian battalion.[14] HP Pavilion dv3-4200 Battery
- The British 2nd Army landed three divisions on D-Day. Two were from I Corps and one from XXX Corps on Sword Beach, Gold Beach, and Juno Beach.
Sword Beach
1st Special Service Brigade comprising No. 3, No. 4, No. 6 and No. 45 (RM) Commandos landed at Ouistreham in Queen Redsector (leftmost). HP Pavilion dv3-4207tx Battery
- No.4 Commando were augmented by 1 and 8 Troop (both French) of No. 10 (Inter Allied) Commando.
- I Corps, 3rd Infantry Division and the 27th Armoured Brigade from Ouistreham to Lion-sur-Mer.
No. 41 (RM) Commando (part of 4th Special Service Brigade) landed on the far West of Sword Beach. HP Pavilion dv3-4208tx Battery
Juno Beach
I Corps, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade and No.48 (RM) Commando from Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer toCourseulles-sur-Mer.[14] HP Pavilion dv5-1200 Battery
No. 46 (RM) Commando (part of 4th Special Service Brigade) at Juno to scale the cliffs on the left side of the Orne River estuary and destroy a battery. (Battery fire proved negligible so No.46 were kept off-shore as a floating reserve and landed on D+1). HP Pavilion dv5-1200 Special Edition Battery
Gold Beach
- XXX Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and 8th Armoured Brigade, consisting of 25,000.[16] from Courseulles toArromanches.
No. 47 (RM) Commando (part of 4th Special Service Brigade) on the West flank of Gold beach. HP Pavilion dv5-1208TX SE Battery
- 79th Armoured Division operated specialist armour ("Hobart's Funnies") for mine-clearing, recovery and assault tasks. These were distributed around the Anglo-Canadian beaches.
Overall, the 2nd Army contingent consisted of 83,115 troops (61,715 of them British).[14]
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In addition to the British and Canadian combat units, eight Australian officers were attached to the British forces as eyewitnesses.[17] The nominally British air and naval support units included a large number of crew from Allied nations, including several RAF squadrons manned almost exclusively by overseas air-crew. HP Pavilion dv5-1209TX SE Battery
For instance, the Australian contribution to the operation included a regular Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron, nine Article XV squadrons and hundreds of personnel posted to RAF units and RN warships.[18] HP Pavilion dv5-1222TX Battery
U.S. First Army
Omaha Beach
- V Corps, 1st Infantry Division and 29th Infantry Division making up 34,250 troops from Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes toVierville-sur-Mer.[14][19]
2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions at Pointe du Hoc (The 5th BN and A, B, C Co 2nd BN diverted to Omaha).[19] HP Pavilion dv5-1232TX Battery
Utah Beach
VII Corps, 4th Infantry Division and the 359th RCT of the 90th Infantry Division comprising 23,250 men landing, around Pouppeville and La Madeleine.[19] HP Pavilion dv5-1233se Battery
- 101st Airborne Division by parachute around Vierville to support Utah Beach landings.[19]
82nd Airborne Division by parachute around Sainte-Mère-Église, protecting the right flank. HP Pavilion dv5-1241la Battery
They had originally been tasked with dropping further west, in the middle part of the Cotentin, allowing the sea-landing forces to their east easier access across the peninsula, and preventing the Germans from reinforcing the north part of the peninsula. HP Pavilion dv5-1247la Battery
- The plans were later changed to move them much closer to the beachhead, as at the last minute the German 91st Air Landing Division was determined to be in the area.[19][20]
In total, the First Army contingent totalled approximately 73,000 men, including 15,600 from the airborne divisions.[14] HP Pavilion dv5-1250us Battery
German order of battle
The military forces at the disposal of Nazi Germany reached its numerical peak during 1944. By D-Day, 157 German divisions were stationed in the Soviet Union, 6 in Finland, 12 in Norway, 6 in Denmark, 9 in Germany, 21 in the Balkans, 26 in Italy and 59 in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.[21] HP Pavilion dv5-1300 Battery
However, these statistics are somewhat misleading since a significant number of the divisions in the east were depleted due to intensity of fighting; German records indicate that the average personnel complement was at about 50% in the spring of 1944.[22] HP Pavilion dv5-2000 Battery
German defenses
The German defenses used an interlocking firing style, so they could protect areas that were receiving heavy fire. They had large bunkers, sometimes intricate concrete ones containing machine guns and large-calibre weapons. HP Pavilion dv5-2034la Battery
Their defence also integrated the cliffs and hills overlooking the beaches. The defenses were all built and refined over a four year period.
Atlantic Wall
The Germans' first line of defense was the English Channel, a crossing which had confounded both the Spanish Armada andNapoleon Bonaparte's Navy. HP Pavilion dv5-2045la Battery
Multiplying the invasion obstacles was the extensive Atlantic Wall, ordered by Hitler in his Directive 51 which stretched from Belgium to Spain in varying degrees, but was most elaborate facing the English channel. Believing that any forthcoming landings would be timed for high tide, HP Pavilion dv5-2046la Battery
Rommel had the entire wall fortified with pill boxes, artillery, machine gun positions and extensive barbed wire as well as laying hundreds of thousands of mines to deter landing craft. HP Pavilion dv5-3000 Battery
The Allies chose not to attack at Calais but at the more distant beaches of Normandy which was also the sector boundary between the 7th and 15th German armies, on the extreme eastern flank of the former, to maximize the possible confusion of command responsibility during German reaction. HP Pavilion dv6-3000 Battery
The landings sector which was attacked was occupied by four German divisions.[23] The attacks were timed for low tide because it minimized the effectiveness of landing obstacles which were likely to have resulted in drowned troops; HP Pavilion dv6-3005sa Battery
many landing craft would have been hulled and sunk during the final approach. However, this stratagem exposed the infantry to defensive fire over a greater distance of beach sand.
Divisional areas
716th Infantry Division (Static) defended the Eastern end of the landing zones, including most of the British and Canadian beaches. HP Pavilion dv6-3005TX Battery
This division, as well as the 709th, included Germans who were not considered fit for active duty on the Eastern Front, usually for medical reasons, and soldiers of various other nationalities (from conquered countries, HP Pavilion dv6-3006TX Battery
often drafted by force) and former Soviet prisoners-of-war who had agreed to fight for the Germans rather than endure the harsh conditions of German POW camps (among them so called hiwis). HP Pavilion dv6-3010sa Battery
- These "volunteers" were concentrated in "Ost-Bataillone" (East Battalions) that were of dubious loyalty.
352nd Infantry Division was a well-trained and equipped formation defending the area between approximately Bayeux and Carentan, HP Pavilion dv6-3011TX Battery
including Omaha beach. The division had been formed in November 1943 with the help of cadres from the disbanded 321st Division, which had been destroyed in the Soviet Union that same year. The 352nd had a number of troops who had seen action on the eastern front. HP Pavilion dv6-3015sa Battery
Therefore, the 352nd already had significant fighting experience at holding a defensive position. The division was stationed at Omaha Beach, where by far the heaviest casualties of the invasion were suffered by the landing U.S. forces. HP Pavilion dv6-3020sa Battery
91st Air Landing Division (Luftlande–air transported) (Generalmajor Wilhelm Falley), comprising the 1057th Infantry Regiment and 1058th Infantry Regiment. This was a regular infantry division, trained, and equipped to be transported by air HP Pavilion dv6-3025sa Battery
(i.e. transportable artillery, few heavy support weapons) located in the interior of the Cotentin Peninsula, including the drop zones of the American parachute landings. The attached 6th Parachute RegimentHP Pavilion dv6-3026tx Battery
- (OberstleutnantFriedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte) had been rebuilt as a part of the 2nd Parachute Division stationed in Brittany.
709th Infantry Division (Static) (Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben), HP Pavilion dv6-3030sa Battery
comprising the 729th Infantry Regiment, 739th Infantry Regiment (both with four battalions, but the 729th 4th and the 739th 1st and 4th being Ost, these two regiments had no regimental support companies either), and 919th Infantry Regiment. HP Pavilion dv6-3030TX Battery
This coastal defence division protected the eastern, and northern (including Cherbourg) coast of the Cotentin Peninsula, including the Utah beach landing zone. Like the 716th, this division comprised a number of "Ost" units who were provided with German leadership to manage them. HP Pavilion dv6-3031sa Battery
Adjacent divisional areas
Other divisions occupied the areas around the landing zones, including:
243rd Infantry Division (Static) (Generalleutnant Heinz Hellmich), comprising the 920th Infantry Regiment (two battalions), HP Pavilion dv6-3032sa Battery
- 921st Infantry Regiment, and922nd Infantry Regiment. This coastal defence division protected the western coast of the Cotentin Peninsula.
711th Infantry Division (Static), comprising the 731st Infantry Regiment, and 744th Infantry Regiment. HP Pavilion dv6-3032TX Battery
- This division defended the western part of the Pays de Caux.
- 30th Mobile Brigade (Oberstleutnant Freiherr von und zu Aufsess), comprising three bicycle battalions.
Armoured reserves
Rommel's defensive measures were also frustrated by a dispute over armoured doctrine. HP Pavilion dv6-3033sa Battery
In addition to his two army groups, von Rundstedt also commanded the headquarters of Panzer Group West under General Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg (usually referred to as von Geyr). This formation was nominally an administrative HQ for von Rundstedt's armoured and mobile formations, HP Pavilion dv6-3035sa Battery
but it was later to be renamed Fifth Panzer Army and brought into the line in Normandy. Von Geyr and Rommel disagreed over the deployment and use of the vital Panzer divisions.
Rommel recognised that the Allies would possess air superiority and would be able to harass his movements from the air. HP Pavilion dv6-3040sa Battery
He therefore proposed that the armoured formations be deployed close to the invasion beaches. In his words, it was better to have one Panzer division facing the invaders on the first day, than three Panzer divisions three days later when the Allies would already have established a firm beachhead. HP Pavilion dv6-3042TX Battery
Von Geyr argued for the standard doctrine that the Panzer formations should be concentrated in a central position around Paris and Rouen, and deployed en masse against the main Allied beachhead when this had been identified. HP Pavilion dv6-3044sa Battery
The argument was eventually brought before Hitler for arbitration. He characteristically imposed an unworkable compromise solution. Only three Panzer divisions were given to Rommel, too few to cover all the threatened sectors. The remainder, nominally under Von Geyr's control, HP Pavilion dv6-3045sa Battery
were actually designated as being in "OKWReserve". Only three of these were deployed close enough to intervene immediately against any invasion of Northern France, the other four were dispersed in southern France and the Netherlands. Hitler reserved to himself the authority to move the divisions in OKW Reserve, HP Pavilion dv6-3046sa Battery
or commit them to action. On 6 June, many Panzer division commanders were unable to move because Hitler had not given the necessary authorization, and his staff refused to wake him upon news of the invasion. HP Pavilion dv6-3047sa Battery
The 21st Panzer Division (Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger) was deployed near Caen as a mobile striking force as part of the Army Group B reserve. However, Rommel placed it so close to the coastal defences that, HP Pavilion dv6-3048sa Battery
under standing orders in case of invasion, several of its infantry and anti-aircraft units would come under the orders of the fortress divisions on the coast, reducing the effective strength of the division. HP Pavilion dv6-3048tx Battery
The other mechanized divisions capable of intervening in Normandy were retained under the direct control of the German Armed Forces HQ (OKW) and were initially denied to Rommel.
Coordination with the French Resistance
The various factions and circuits of the French Resistance were included in the plan for Overlord. HP Pavilion dv6-3050eo Battery
Through a London-based headquarters which supposedly embraced all resistance groups, État-major des Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur (EMFFI), the British Special Operations Executive orchestrated a massive campaign ofsabotage tasking the various Groups with attacking railway lines, ambushing roads, HP Pavilion dv6-3050sa Battery
or destroying telephone exchanges or electrical substations. The Allies developed four plans for the French Resistance to execute on D- Day:
Plan VERT was a fifteen day operation involving sabotage against the rail system. HP Pavilion dv6-3055sa Battery
- Plan BLEU dealt with destroying electrical facilities
- Plan TORTUE was a delaying operation aimed at the enemy forces that would potentially reinforce Axis forces at Normandy
Plan VIOLET dealt with the cutting of underground cables.[24] HP Pavilion dv6-3056sa Battery
The resistance was alerted to carry out these tasks by means of the messages personnels, transmitted by the BBC in its French service from London. Several hundred of these were regularly transmitted, masking the few of them that were really significant. HP Pavilion dv6-3057sa Battery
Among the stream of apparently meaningless messages broadcast by the BBC at 21:00 CET on 5 June were coded instructions such as Les carottes sont cuites ("The carrots are cooked") and Les dés sont jetés ("The dice have been thrown").[25] HP Pavilion dv6-3060sa Battery
One famous pair of these messages is often mistakenly stated to be a general call to arms by the Resistance. A few days before D-Day, the (slightly misquoted) first line of Verlaine's poem, Chanson d'Automne, was transmitted. "Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne (Long sobs of autumn violins) HP Pavilion dv6-3065ea Battery
alerted the resistance fighters of the Ventriloquistnetwork in the Orléans region to attack rail targets within the next few days. The second line, "Bercent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone" ("soothe my heart with a monotonous languor"), transmitted late on 5 June, meant that the attack was to be mounted immediately. HP Pavilion dv6-3067ea Battery
Josef Götz, the head of the signals section of the German intelligence service (the SD) in Paris, had discovered the meaning of the second line of Verlaine's poem, and no fewer than fourteen other executive orders they heard late on 5 June. HP Pavilion dv6-3068ea Battery
His section rightly interpreted them to mean that an invasion was imminent or underway, and they alerted their superiors and all Army commanders in France. However, they had issued a similar warning a month before, when the Allies had begun invasion preparations and alerted the Resistance, HP Pavilion dv6-3070ea Battery
but then stood down because of a forecast of bad weather. The SD having given this false alarm, their genuine alarm was ignored or treated as merely routine. Fifteenth Army HQ passed the information on to its units; Seventh Army ignored it.[26]
In addition to the tasks given to the Resistance as part of the invasion effort, HP Pavilion dv6-3077la Battery
the Special Operations Executive planned to reinforce the Resistance with three-man liaison parties, under Operation Jedburgh. The Jedburgh parties would coordinate and arrange supply drops to the Maquis groups in the German rear areas. HP Pavilion dv6-3085ea Battery
Also operating far behind German lines and frequently working closely with the Resistance, although not under SOE, were larger parties from the British, French and Belgian units of the Special Air Service brigade.
A 1968 report from the Counter-insurgency Information Analysis Center details the results of the French Resistance's sabotage efforts: HP Pavilion dv6-3088la Battery
"In the southeast, 52 locomotives were destroyed on 6 June and the railway line cut in more than 500 places. Normandy was isolated as of 7 June. The telephone network in the invasion area was put out of order and beginning June 20, the railway lines of France were rendered inoperable, HP Pavilion dv6-3089la Battery
except in the Rhone Valley where the line Marseilles-Lyon was kept open by the Germans despite heavy engagements with [partisans] units... Although the German local reserves were able to reach the front area despite resistance action... marked delays were achieved against the movement of strategic reserves. HP Pavilion dv6-3100 Battery
The French claim to have delayed up to 12 divisions for 8 to 15 days"[27]
Naval activity
Operation Neptune, as the naval part of the D-Day invasion was known primarily as a Royal Navy affair, both in planning and execution. This is widely considered ‘a never surpassed masterpiece of planning’.[28] HP Pavilion dv6-3100sa Battery
In overall command was Admiral SirBertram Ramsay, who as Flag Officer Dover had controlled the evacuation of over 300,000 troops from Dunkirk four years earlier. He had also been responsible for the naval planning of the invasion of North Africa in 1942 and one of the two fleets carrying troops for the invasion of Sicily in the following year. HP Pavilion dv6-3110ea Battery
The invasion fleet was drawn from eight different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels: 1,213 warships, 4,126 transport vessels (landing ships and landing craft), and 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels. Out of the 2,468 major landing vessels in the two task forces deployed on 6 June 1944 only 346 were American. HP Pavilion dv6-3110sa Battery
Of the 23 cruisers covering the landings 17 were Royal Navy. In fact of the 16 warships covering the American Western beaches (Utah and Omaha) 50% were British and Allied ships. There were 195,700 naval personnel involved; 112,824 (58%) were British (Royal Navy), 52,889 (30%) US and 4,988 Allied countries.[14] HP Pavilion dv6-3111sa Battery
The Allied Naval Expeditionary Force was divided into two Naval Task Forces: Western (Rear-Admiral Alan G Kirk) and Eastern (Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian – another veteran of the Italian landings).
The warships provided cover for the transports against any enemy surface warships, HP Pavilion dv6-3112sa Battery
submarines or aerial attack, and supported the landings with shore bombardment. These ships included the Allied Task Force "O". A small part of the naval operation was Operation Gambit, when British midget submarines supplied navigation beacons to guide landing craft. HP Pavilion dv6-3113sa Battery
Naval screen
An important part of Neptune was the isolation of the invasion routes and beaches from any intervention by the German Navy – the Kriegsmarine. The responsibility for this was assigned to the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. HP Pavilion dv6-3114sa Battery
There were two principal perceived German naval threats. The first was surface attack by German capital ships from anchorages in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. This did not materialise since, by mid-1944, the battleships were damaged, the cruisers were used for training, HP Pavilion dv6-3115sa Battery
and the Kriegsmarine's fuel allocation had been cut by a third. In any case, the Royal Navy had strong forces available to repel any attempts, and the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal area was mined (Operation Bravado)[29] as a precaution.
The second perceived major threat was that of U-boats transferred from the Atlantic. HP Pavilion dv6-3115tx Battery
Air surveillance from three escort carriers and RAF Coastal Commandmaintained a cordon well west of Land's End. Few U-boats were spotted, and most of the escort groups were moved nearer to the landings.
Further efforts were made to seal the Western Approaches against German naval forces from Brittany and the Bay of Biscay. HP Pavilion dv6-3116sa Battery
Minefields were laid (Operation Maple) to force enemy ships away from air protection where they could be attacked by Allied destroyer flotillas. Again, enemy activity was minor, but on 4 July four German destroyers were either sunk or forced back to Brest. HP Pavilion dv6-3116tx Battery
The Straits of Dover were closed by minefields, naval and air patrols, radar, and effective bombing raids on enemy ports. Local German naval forces were small but could be reinforced from the Baltic. HP Pavilion dv6-3117sa Battery
German defenses were concentrated on protecting Pas de Calais against suspected landings, and no attempt was made to force the blockade.
The screening operation destroyed few German ships, but the objective was achieved. There were no U-boat or E-boat attacks against Allied shipping on D-Day.[30HP Pavilion dv6-3118sa Battery
Bombardment
Warships provided supporting fire for the land forces. During Neptune, it was given a high importance, using ships from battleships to destroyers and landing craft. For example, the Canadians at Juno beach had fire support many times greater than they had had for the Dieppe Raid in 1942.
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The old battleships HMS Ramillies and Warspite and the monitor HMS Robertswere used to suppress shore batteries east of the Orne; cruisers targeted shore batteries at Ver-sur-Mer and Moulineaux; eleven destroyers for local fire support. In addition, there were modified landing-craft: HP Pavilion dv6-3120sa Battery
eight "Landing Craft Gun", each with two 4.7-inch guns; four "Landing Craft Support" with automatic cannon; eight Landing Craft Tank (Rocket), each with a single salvo of 1,100 5-inch rockets; eight Landing Craft Assault (Hedgerow), each with twenty-four bombs intended to detonate beach mines prematurely. HP Pavilion dv6-3121sa Battery
Twenty-four Landing Craft Tank carried Priest self-propelled howitzers which also fired while they were on the run-in to the beach. Similar arrangements existed at other beaches.
Fire support went beyond the suppression of shore defences overlooking landing HP Pavilion dv6-3122sa Battery
beaches and was also used to break up enemy concentrations as the troops moved inland. This was particularly noted in German reports: Field-Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt reported that:The enemy had deployed very strong Naval forces off the shores of the bridgehead. HP Pavilion dv6-3123sa Battery
These can be used as quickly mobile, constantly available artillery, at points where they are necessary as defence against our attacks or as support for enemy attacks. During the day their fire is skilfully directed by . . . plane observers, and by advanced ground fire spotters. HP Pavilion dv6-3125sa Battery
Because of the high rapid-fire capacity of Naval guns they play an important part in the battle within their range. The movement of tanks by day, in open country, within the range of these naval guns is hardly possible.[31] HP Pavilion dv6-3127sa Battery
Naval losses
The only naval contact during D-Day occurred when four German torpedo boats reached the Eastern Task Force late in the afternoon and launched eighteen torpedoes, sinking the Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Svenner off Sword beach but missing the battleships HMS Warspite and HMS Ramillies. HP Pavilion dv6-3130sa Battery
After firing, the German vessels turned away and fled east into a smoke screen. Thanks to ULTRA, the Allies knew where the Germans' channel was through their own minefields. The only Allied losses to mines were the USS Corry off of Utah; USS PC-1261, a 173-foot patrol craft; three LCTs; and two LCIs. HP Pavilion dv6-3131sa Battery
Air operations
The success of the amphibious landings depended on the establishment of a secure lodgement from which to expand the beachhead to allow the build up of a well-supplied force capable of breaking out. HP Pavilion dv6-3140sa Battery
The amphibious forces were especially vulnerable to strong enemy counter-attacks before the build up of sufficient forces in the beachhead could be accomplished. To slow or eliminate the enemy's ability to organize and launch counter-attacks during this critical period, HP Pavilion dv6-3141ea Battery
airborne operations were used to seize key objectives, such as bridges, road crossings, and terrain features, particularly on the eastern and western flanks of the landing areas. The airborne landings some distance behind the beaches were also intended to ease the egress of the amphibious forces off the beaches, HP Pavilion dv6-3150sa Battery
and in some cases to neutralize German coastal defence batteries and more quickly expand the area of the beachhead. The U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were assigned to objectives west of Utah Beach. The British 6th Airborne Division was assigned to similar objectives on the eastern flank. HP Pavilion dv6-3163eo Battery
530 Free Frenchparatroopers, from the British Special Air Service Brigade, were assigned to objectives in Brittany from 5 June to August.[33][34] (Operation Dingson, Operation Samwest, Operation Cooney).
The Royal Air Force flew and supplied half of the aircraft deployed. HP Pavilion dv6-3180ea Battery
Nearly half of the US gliders were the larger Airspeed Horsa, as they carried twice as much as the US equivalent. The RAF created a new command, the 2nd Tactical Air Force flying low level missions especially to support operations on the ground.[35] As Eisenhower reported: HP Pavilion dv6-3298ea Battery
"The chief credit in smashing the enemy's spearhead, however, must go to the rocket-firing Hawker Typhoon planes of the Second Tactical Air Force".[36]
British airborne landings
The first Allied action of D-Day was Operation Deadstick, a glider assault at 00:16 on the bridges over the Caen canal and the River Orne. HP Pavilion dv6-3299ea Battery
These were the only crossings of the river and canal north of Caen around 7 kilometres (4.5 mi) from the coast, near Bénouville and Ranville. For the Germans, the crossing provided the only route for a flanking attack on the beaches from the east. For the Allies, the crossing also was vital for any attack on Caen from the east. HP Pavilion dv6-3300 Battery
The tactical objectives of the British 6th Airborne Division were (a) to capture intact the bridges of the Bénouville-Ranville crossing, (b) to defend the crossing against the inevitable armoured counter-attacks, (c) to destroy German artillery at the Merville battery, HP Pavilion dv6-3300sg Battery
which threatened Sword Beach, and (d) to destroy five bridges over the Dives River to further restrict movement of ground forces from the east.
Airborne troops, mostly paratroopers of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades, including the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, HP Pavilion dv6-3350ef Battery
began landing after midnight, 6 June and immediately encountered elements of the German 716th Infantry Division. At dawn, the Battle Group von Luck of the 21st Panzer Division counterattacked from the south on both sides of the Orne River. HP Pavilion dv6-3350sf Battery
By this time the paratroopers had established a defensive perimeter surrounding the bridgehead. Casualties were heavy on both sides, but the airborne troops held. Shortly after noon, they were reinforced by commandos of the 1st Special Service Brigade. HP Pavilion dv6-3351ef Battery
By the end of D-Day, reinforced by Operation Mallard the 6th Airborne had accomplished all of its objectives. For several days, both British and German forces took heavy casualties as they struggled for positions around the Orne bridgehead. HP Pavilion dv6-3351sf Battery
For example, the German 346th Infantry Division broke through the eastern edge of the defensive line on 10 June. Finally, British paratroopers overwhelmed entrenched panzergrenadiers in the Battle of Breville on 12 June. The Germans did not seriously threaten the bridgehead again. HP Pavilion dv6-3355ef Battery
6th Airborne remained on the line until it was evacuated in early September.
American airborne landings
The U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, numbering 13,000 paratroopers delivered by 12 troop carrier groups of the IX Troop Carrier Command, were less fortunate in completing their main objectives. HP Pavilion dv6-3355sf Battery
To achieve surprise, the drops were routed to approach Normandy from the west. Numerous factors affected their performance, the primary of which was the decision to make a massive parachute drop at night (a tactic not used again for the rest of the war). As a result, 45% of units were widely scattered and unable to rally. HP Pavilion dv6-3362ef Battery
Efforts of the early wave of pathfinder teams to mark the landing zones were largely ineffective, and the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar beacons used to guide in the waves of C-47 Skytrains to the drop zones were the main component of a flawed system. HP Pavilion dv6-3362sf Battery
Three regiments of 101st Airborne paratroopers were dropped first, between 00:48 and 01:40, followed by the 82nd Airborne's drops between 01:51 and 02:42. Each operation involved approximately 400 C-47 aircraft. Two pre-dawn glider landings brought in anti-tank guns and support troops for each division. HP Pavilion dv6-6000 Battery
On the evening of D-Day two additional glider landings brought in two battalions of artillery and 24 howitzers to the 82nd Airborne. Additional glider operations on 7 June delivered the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment to the 82nd Airborne, and two large supply parachute drops that date were ineffective.
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After 24 hours, only 2,500 troops of the 101st and 2,000 of the 82nd were under the control of their divisions, approximating a third of the force dropped. The dispersal of the American airborne troops, however, had the effect of confusing the Germans and fragmenting their response. HP Pavilion dv6-6001ea Battery
In addition, the Germans' defensive flooding, in the early stages, also helped to protect the Americans' southern flank.
Paratroopers continued to roam and fight behind enemy lines for days. Many consolidated into small groups, rallied with NCOs or junior officers, HP Pavilion dv6-6001eg Battery
and usually were a hodgepodge of men from different companies, battalions, regiments, or even divisions. The 82nd occupied the town of Sainte-Mère-Église early in the morning of 6 June, giving it the claim of the first town liberated in the invasion. HP Pavilion dv6-6001sg Battery
Sword Beach
The assault on Sword Beach began at about 03:00 with an aerial bombardment of the German coastal defences and artillery sites. The naval bombardment began a few hours later. At 07:30, the first units reached the beach. HP Pavilion dv6-6002eg Battery
These were the DD tanks of 13th/18th Hussars followed closely by the infantry of 8th Brigade.
On Sword Beach, the regular British infantry came ashore with light casualties. HP Pavilion dv6-6002sg Battery
They had advanced about 8 kilometres (5 mi) by the end of the day but failed to take some of the deliberately ambitious targets set by Montgomery. In particular, Caen, a major objective, was still in German hands by the end of D-Day, and would remain so until mid JulyHP Pavilion dv6-6003eg Battery
(central urban area cleared 8–9 July, suburbs fully cleared by 20 July in Operation Atlantic), see Battle for Caen.
1st Special Service Brigade, under the command of Brigadier The Lord Lovat DSO, MC, HP Pavilion dv6-6004sa Battery
went ashore in the second wave led by No.4 Commando with the two French Troops first, as agreed amongst themselves. The 1st Special Service Brigade's landing is famous for having been led by Piper Bill Millin. The British and French of No.4 Commando had separate targets in Ouistreham: HP Pavilion dv6-6005ea Battery
the French, a blockhouse and the Casino; the British two German batteries which overlooked the beach. The blockhouse proved too strong for the Commandos' PIAT (Projector Infantry Anti Tank) weapons, but the Casino was taken with the aid of aCentaur tank. HP Pavilion dv6-6005eg Battery
The British Commandos achieved both battery objectives only to find the gun mounts empty and the guns removed. Leaving the mopping-up procedure to the infantry, the Commandos withdrew from Ouistreham to join the other units of their brigade (Nos.3, 6 and 45), moving inland to join-up with the 6th Airborne Division. HP Pavilion dv6-6005sg Battery
Juno Beach
The Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach faced 2 heavy batteries of 155 mm guns and 9 medium batteries of 75 mm guns, as well as machine-gun nests, pillboxes, other concrete fortifications, and a seawall twice the height of the one at Omaha Beach. HP Pavilion dv6-6006ea Battery
The first wave suffered 50% casualties, the second highest of the five D-Day beachheads. The use of armour was successful at Juno, in some instances actually landing ahead of the infantry as intended and helping clear a path inland. HP Pavilion dv6-6007sg Battery
Despite the obstacles, the Canadians were off the beach within hours and beginning their advance inland. A single troop of four tanks managed to reach the final objective phase line, but hastily retreated, having outrun its infantry support. HP Pavilion dv6-6007TX Battery
In particular, two fortified positions at the Douvres Radar Station remained in German hands (and would for several days until captured by British commandos), and no link had been established with Sword Beach. HP Pavilion dv6-6008eg Battery
By the end of D-Day, 30,000 Canadians had been successfully landed, and the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division had penetrated further into France than any other Allied force, despite having faced strong resistance at the water's edge and later HP Pavilion dv6-6008sa Battery
counterattacks on the beachhead by elements of the German 21st and 12th SS Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) Panzer divisions on 7 and 8 June.
Gold Beach
At Gold Beach, 25,000 men were landed, under the command of Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey, Commander of the British 2nd Army. HP Pavilion dv6-6008TX Battery
The casualties were also quite heavy, around 400, partly because bad weather delayed the swimming Sherman DD tanks, and also because the Germans had strongly fortified a village on the beach. However, the 50th (Northumbrian) HP Pavilion dv6-6011tu Battery
Infantry Division overcame these difficulties and advanced almost to the outskirts of Bayeux by the end of the day. With the exception of the Canadians at Juno Beach, no division came closer to its objectives than the 50th.
No.47 (RM) Commando was the last British Commando unit to land and came ashore on Gold east of La Hamel. HP Pavilion dv6-6012tu Battery
Their task was to proceed inland then turn right (west) and make a 16-kilometre (10 mi) march through enemy territory to attack the coastal harbour of Port en Bessin from the rear. HP Pavilion dv6-6013cl Battery
This small port, on the British extreme right, was well sheltered in the chalk cliffs and significant in that it was to be a prime early harbour for supplies to be brought in, including fuel by underwater pipe from tankers moored offshore. HP Pavilion dv6-6013tu Battery
Omaha Beach
Elements of the 1st Infantry Division and 29th Infantry Division (US) faced the recently formed German 352nd Infantry Division, a mixed group of Russian "volunteers" and teenagers stiffened with a cadre of east front veterans, HP Pavilion dv6-6022eg Battery
unusual in the fact that it was one of the few German divisions remaining with a full complement of three regiments albeit at reduced strength; fifty percent of its officers had no combat experience. However, Allied intelligence was unaware until two weeks HP Pavilion dv6-6023tx Battery
before the planned invasion that the 100 km stretch of beach originally allocated to be defended by the 716th Infantry Division (static) had been cut into two parts in March, with the 716th moving to the "Caen Zone", and the 352nd taking over the "Bayeux Zone", thus doubling the complement of defenders.[38] HP Pavilion dv6-6024tx Battery
Omaha was also the most heavily fortified beach, with high bluffs defended by funneled mortars, machine guns, and artillery, and the pre-landing aerial and naval bombardment of the bunkers proved to be ineffective. Difficulties in navigation caused the majority of landings to drift eastwards, HP Pavilion dv6-6025tx Battery
missing their assigned sectors and the initial assault waves of tanks, infantry and engineers took heavy casualties. Of the 16 tanks that landed upon the shores of Omaha Beach only 2 survived the landing. The official record stated that "within 10 minutes of the ramps being lowered, HP Pavilion dv6-6026tx Battery
[the leading] company had become inert, leaderless and almost incapable of action. Every officer and sergeant had been killed or wounded [...] It had become a struggle for survival and rescue".
Only a few gaps were blown in the beach obstacles, resulting in problems for subsequent landings. HP Pavilion dv6-6027tx Battery
The heavily defended draws, the only vehicular routes off the beach, could not be taken and two hours after the first assault the beach was closed for all but infantry landings. Commanders (including General Omar Bradley) considered abandoning the beachhead, HP Pavilion dv6-6029tx Battery
but small units of infantry, often forming ad hoc groups, supported by naval artillery and the surviving tanks, eventually infiltrated the coastal defences by scaling the bluffs between strongpoints. Further infantry landings were able to exploit the initial penetrations and by the end of the day two isolated footholds had been established. HP Pavilion dv6-6042sf Battery
American casualties at Omaha on D-Day numbered around 5,000 out of 50,000 men, most in the first few hours, while the Germans suffered 1,200 killed, wounded or missing. The tenuous beachhead was expanded over the following days, and the original D-Day objectives were accomplished by D+3. HP Pavilion dv6-6051sf Battery
Pointe du Hoc
The massive concrete cliff-top gun emplacement at Pointe du Hoc was the target of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, commanded by James Earl Rudder. The task was to scale the 30 meter (100 ft) cliffs under the cover of night, approximately at 5:30, HP Pavilion dv6-6051xx Battery
one hour prior to the landings with ropes and ladders, and then attack and destroy the German 15,5 cm Kanone 418(f) coastal defence guns, which were thought to command the Omaha and Utah landing areas. The infantry commanders did not know that the guns had been moved prior to the attack, and they had to press farther inland to find them and eventually destroyed them. HP Pavilion dv6-6054ef Battery
However, fortifications themselves were still vital targets as a single artillery forward observer based there could have called down accurate fire on the U.S. beaches. The Rangerswere eventually successful, and captured the fortifications. They then had to fight for two days to hold the location, losing more than 60% of their men. HP Pavilion dv6-6054sf Battery
Afterwards they regrouped and continued Northeast to the rally point one mile from the gun emplacements on Pointe Du Hoc.
Utah Beach
Casualties on Utah Beach, the westernmost landing zone, were the lightest of any beach, with 197 out of the roughly 23,000 troops that landed. HP Pavilion dv6-6063sf Battery
The 4th Infantry Division troops landing at Utah Beach found themselves in the wrong positions because of a current that pushed their landing craft to the southeast. Instead of landing at Tare Green and Uncle Red sectors, they came ashore at Victor sector, HP Pavilion dv6-6087eg Battery
which was lightly defended, and as a result, relatively little German opposition was encountered. The 4th Infantry Division was able to press inland relatively easily over beach exits that had been seized from the inland side by the 502nd and 506th Parachute Infantry Regiments of the 101st Airborne Division. HP Pavilion dv6-6090sf Battery
This was partially by accident, because their planned landing was further down the beach (Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr, the Asst. Commander of 4th Division, upon discovering the landings were off course, was famous for stating "We will start the war from right here."). HP Pavilion dv6-6090us Battery
By early afternoon, the 4th Infantry Division had succeeded in linking up with elements of the 101st. American casualties were light, and the troops were able to press inward much faster than expected, making it a near-complete success. HP Pavilion dv6-6091nr Battery
War memorials and tourism
The beaches at Normandy are still referred to on maps and signposts by their invasion codenames. There are also several vastcemeteries in the area. The American cemetery, in Colleville-sur-Mer, HP Pavilion dv7-4000eh Battery
contains row upon row of identical white crosses andStars of David, immaculately kept, commemorating the American dead. Commonwealth graves, in many locations, use white headstones engraved with the person's religious symbol and their unit insignia. HP Pavilion dv7-4000sb Battery
The largest cemetery in Normandy is the La Cambe German war cemetery, which features granite stones almost flush with the ground and groups of low-set crosses. There is also a Polish cemetery.
Streets near the beaches are named after the units that fought there, and occasional markers commemorate notable incidents. HP Pavilion dv7-4000 Series Battery
At significant points, such as Pointe du Hoc and Pegasus Bridge, there are plaques, memorials or small museums. The Mulberry harbour still sits in the sea at Arromanches. In Sainte-Mère-Église, a dummy paratrooper hangs from the church spire. HP Pavilion dv7-4001tx Battery
On Juno Beach, the Canadian government has built the Juno Beach Information Centre, commemorating one of the most significant events in Canadian military history. In Caen is a large Museum for Peace, which is dedicated to peace generally, rather than only to the battle. HP Pavilion dv7-4002TX Battery
The American airborne landings in Normandy were the first United States combat operations during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944. Around 13,100 paratroopers of the U.S.82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne Divisions made night parachute drops early on D-Day, HP Pavilion dv7-4003tx Battery
June 6, followed by 3,937 glider troops flown in by day.[2] As the opening maneuver of Operation Neptune (the assault operation for Overlord) the American airborne divisions were delivered to the continent in two parachute and six glider missions. HP Pavilion dv7-4003xx Battery
Both divisions were part of the U.S. VII Corps and provided it support in its mission of capturing Cherbourg as soon as possible to provide the Allies with a port of supply. The specific missions of the airborne divisions were to block approaches into the HP Pavilion dv7-4004ez Battery
vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve River at Carentan to assist the U.S. V Corps in merging the two American beachheads.
The assault did not succeed in blocking the approaches to Utah for three days. HP Pavilion dv7-4004TX Battery
Numerous factors played a part, most of which dealt with excessive scattering of the drops. Despite this, German forces were unable to exploit the chaos. Many German units made a tenacious defense of their strong-points, but all were systematically defeated within the week. HP Pavilion dv7-4005so Battery
Plans and revisions
Plans for the invasion of France went through several preliminary phases during 1943, during which the Combined Chiefs of Staff allocated 13½ U.S. troop carrier groups to an undefined airborne assault. HP Pavilion dv7-4005sw Battery
The actual size, objectives, and details of the plan were not drawn up until after General Dwight D. Eisenhower becameSupreme Allied Commander in January 1944. In mid-February Eisenhower received word from Headquarters U.S. HP Pavilion dv7-4006so Battery
Army Air Forces that the TO&E of the C-47 Sky train groups would be increased from 52 to 64 aircraft (plus nine spares) by April 1 to meet his requirements. At the same time the U.S. First Army commander, Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, won approval of a plan to land two airborne divisions on the Cotentin Peninsula, HP Pavilion dv7-4007eo Battery
one to seize the beach causeways and block the eastern half at Carentan from German reinforcements, the other to block the western corridor at La Haye-du-Puits in a second lift. The exposed and perilous nature of the La Haye de Puits mission was assigned to the combat veteran 82nd Airborne Division, HP Pavilion dv7-4007tx Battery
while the causeway mission was given to the untested 101st, which received a new commander in March, Major General Maxwell D. Taylor.
Bradley insisted that 75 per cent of the airborne assault be delivered by gliders for concentration of forces. HP Pavilion dv7-4008ca Battery
Because it would be unsupported by naval and corps artillery, the commander of the 82nd Airborne, Maj. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, also wanted a glider assault to deliver his organic artillery. The use of gliders was planned until April 18, when tests under realistic conditions resulted in excessive accidents and destruction of many gliders. HP Pavilion dv7-4008tx Battery
On April 28 the plan was changed; the entire assault force would be inserted by parachute drop at night in one lift, with gliders providing reinforcement during the day.
The Germans, who had neglected to fortify Normandy, HP Pavilion dv7-4009tx Battery
began constructing defenses and obstacles against airborne assault in the Cotentin, including specifically the planned drop zones of the 82nd. At first no change in plans were made, but when significant German forces were moved into the Cotentin in mid-May, HP Pavilion dv7-4010em Battery
the drop zones of the 82nd were moved, even though detailed plans had been formulated and training had proceeded based on them.
Just ten days before D-Day, a compromise was reached. Because of the heavier German presence, HP Pavilion dv7-4010eq Battery
First Army wanted the 82nd landed close to the 101st for mutual support if needed. VII Corps, however, wanted the drops made west of the Merderet to seize a bridgehead. On May 27 the drop zones were relocated 10 miles (16 km) east of Le Haye-du-Puits along both sides of the Merderet. HP Pavilion dv7-4010es Battery
The 101st Airborne's 501st PIR (Parachute infantry regiment), which had originally been given the task of capturing Sainte-Mère-Église, was shifted to protect the Carentan flank, and the capture of Sainte-Mère-Église was assigned to the 505th PIR of the 82nd. HP Pavilion dv7-4010ev Battery
For the troop carriers, experiences in the invasion of Sicily dictated a route that avoided Allied naval forces and German anti-aircraft defenses along the eastern shore of the Cotentin. On April 12 a route was approved that would depart England at Portland Bill, HP Pavilion dv7-4010sd Battery
fly at low altitude southwest over water, then turn 90 degrees to the southeast and come in "by the back door" over the western coast. At the initial point the 82nd would continue straight to La Haye-du-Puits, and the 101st would make a small left turn and fly to Utah Beach. HP Pavilion dv7-4010sg Battery
The plan called for a right turn after drops and a return on the reciprocal route.
However the change in drop zones on May 27 and the increased size of German defenses made the risk to the planes from ground fire much greater, and the routes were modified so that the 101st would fly a more southerly ingress route along the HP Pavilion dv7-4010sl Battery
Douve River (which would also provide a better visual landmark at night for the inexperienced troop carrier pilots). Over the reluctance of the naval commanders, exit routes from the drop zones were changed to fly over Utah Beach, then northward in a 10 miles (16 km) wide "safety corridor", then northwest above Cherbourg. HP Pavilion dv7-4010so Battery
As late as May 31 routes for the glider missions were changed to avoid overflying the peninsula in daylight.
Preparations
IX Troop Carrier Command (TCC) was formed in October 1943 to carry out the airborne assault mission in the invasion. HP Pavilion dv7-4010sv Battery
Brigadier General Paul T. Williams, who had commanded the troop carrier operations in Sicily and Italy, took command in February 1944. The TCC command and staff officers were an excellent mix of combat veterans from those earlier assaults, and a few key officers were held over for continuity. HP Pavilion dv7-4010sw Battery
The groups assigned to IX TCC were a mixture of experience. Four had seen significant combat in the Twelfth Air Force. Four had no combat experience but had trained together for more than a year in the United States. HP Pavilion dv7-4010tx Battery
Four others had been in existence less than nine months and arrived in the United Kingdom one month after training began. The last had experience only as a transport group and the last had been recently formed.
Joint training with airborne troops and an emphasis on night formation flying began at the start of March. HP Pavilion dv7-4011eg Battery
The veteran 52nd Troop Carrier Wing (TCW), wedded to the 82nd Airborne, progressed rapidly and by the end of April had completed several successful night drops. The 53rd TCW, working with the 101st, also progressed well HP Pavilion dv7-4011el Battery
(although one practice mission on April 4 in poor visibility resulted in a badly scattered drop) but two of its groups concentrated on glider missions. By the end of April joint training with both airborne divisions ceased when Taylor and Ridgway deemed that their units had jumped enough. HP Pavilion dv7-4011so Battery
The 50th TCW did not begin training until April 3 and progressed more slowly, then was hampered when the troops ceased jumping.
A divisional night jump exercise for the 101st Airborne scheduled for May 7, Exercise Eagle, HP Pavilion dv7-4012eg Battery
was postponed to May 11-May 12 and became a dress rehearsal for both divisions. The 52nd TCW, carrying only two token paratroopers on each C-47, performed satisfactorily although the two lead planes of the 316th Troop Carrier Group (TCG) collided in mid-air, killing 14 including the group commander, Col. Burton R. Fleet. HP Pavilion dv7-4012TX Battery
The 53rd TCW was judged "uniformly successful" in its drops. The lesser-trained 50th TCW, however, got lost in haze when its pathfinders failed to turn on their navigation beacons. It continued training till the end of the month with simulated drops in which pathfinders guided them to drop zones. HP Pavilion dv7-4013eg Battery
The 315th and 442d Groups, which had never dropped troops until May and were judged the command's "weak sisters", continued to train almost nightly, dropping paratroopers who had not completed their quota of jumps. Three proficiency tests at the end of the month, making simulated drops, were rated as fully qualified. HP Pavilion dv7-4013el Battery
The inspectors, however, made their judgments without factoring that most of the successful missions had been flown in clear weather.
By the end of May 1944, the IX Troop Carrier Command had available 1,207 C-47 Skytrain troop carrier airplanes and was one-third overstrength, HP Pavilion dv7-4013so Battery
creating a strong reserve. Three quarters of the planes were less than one year old on D-Day, and all were in excellent condition. Engine problems during training had resulted in a high number of aborted sorties, but all had been replaced to eliminate the problem. HP Pavilion dv7-4013tx Battery
All matériel requested by commanders in IX TCC, including armor plating, had been received with the exception of self-sealing fuel tanks, which Chief of the Army Air Forces Gen. Henry H. Arnold had personally rejected because of limited supplies. HP Pavilion dv7-4014eo Battery
Crew availability exceeded numbers of aircraft, but 40 per cent were recent-arriving crews or individual replacements who had not been present for much of the night formation training. HP Pavilion dv7-4015ew Battery
As a result, 20 per cent of the 924 crews committed to the parachute mission on D-Day had minimum night training and fully three-fourths of all crews had never been under fire. Over 2,100 CG-4 Waco gliders had been sent to the United Kingdom, HP Pavilion dv7-4015ez Battery
and after attrition during training operations, 1,118 were available for operations, along with 301 Airspeed Horsa gliders received from the British. Trained crews sufficient to pilot 951 gliders were available, and at least five of the troop carrier groups intensively trained for glider missions. HP Pavilion dv7-4015sa Battery
Because of the requirement for absolute radio silence and a study that warned that the thousands of Allied aircraft flying on D-Day would break down the existing system, plans were formulated to mark aircraft including gliders withblack-and-white stripes to facilitate aircraft recognition. HP Pavilion dv7-4015sg Battery
Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, commander of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, approved the use of the recognition markings on May 17.
For the troop carrier aircraft this was in the form of three white and two black stripes, HP Pavilion dv7-4015sl Battery
each two feet (60 cm) wide, around the fuselage behind the exit doors and from front to back on the outer wings. A test exercise was flown by selected aircraft over the invasion fleet on June 1, but to maintain security, orders to paint stripes were not issued until June 3. HP Pavilion dv7-4015ss Battery
Pathfinders
The 300 men of the pathfinder companies were organized into teams of 14-18 paratroops each, whose main responsibility would be to deploy the ground beacon of the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar system, and set out holophane marking lights. HP Pavilion dv7-4016eg Battery
The Rebecca, an airborne sender-receiver, indicated on its scope the direction and approximate range of the Eureka, a responsor beacon. The paratroops trained at the school for two months with the troop carrier crews, but although every C-47 in IX TCC had a Rebecca interrogator installed, HP Pavilion dv7-4017ez Battery
to keep from jamming the system with hundreds of signals, only flight leads were authorized to use it in the vicinity of the drop zones.
Despite many early failures in its employment, the Eureka-Rebecca system had been used with high accuracy in Italy in a night drop of the 82nd Airborne to reinforce the Fifth Army at Salerno. HP Pavilion dv7-4019sz Battery
However a shortcoming of the system was that within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the ground emitter, the signals merged into a single blip in which both range and bearing were lost. The system was designed to steer large formations of aircraft to within a few miles of a drop zone, at which point the holophane marking lights or other visual markers would guide completion of the drop. HP Pavilion dv7-4020ec Battery
Each drop zone (DZ) had a serial of three C-47 aircraft assigned to locate the DZ and drop pathfinder teams, who would mark it. The serials in each wave were to arrive at six minute intervals. The pathfinder serials were organized in two waves, with those of the 101st Airborne arriving a half hour before the first scheduled assault drop. HP Pavilion dv7-4020em Battery
These would be the first U.S. and possibly the first Allied troops to land in the invasion. The three pathfinder serials of the 82nd Airborne were to begin their drops as the final wave of 101st Airborne paratroopers landed, thirty minutes ahead of the first 82nd Airborne drops. HP Pavilion dv7-4020eo Battery
D-Day results
Efforts of the early wave of pathfinder teams to mark the drop zones were partially ineffective. The first serial, assigned to DZ A, missed its zone and set up a mile away near St. Germain-de-Varreville. The team was unable to get either its amber halophane lights or its Eureka beacon working until the drop was well in progress. HP Pavilion dv7-4020es Battery
Although the second pathfinder serial had a plane ditch in the sea en route, the remainder dropped two teams near DZ C, but most of their marker lights were lost in the ditched airplane. HP Pavilion dv7-4020ew Battery
They managed to set up a Eureka beacon just before the assault force arrived but were forced to use a hand held signal light which was not seen by some pilots. The planes assigned to DZ D along the Douve River failed to see their final turning point and flew well past the zone. HP Pavilion dv7-4020sa Battery
Returning from an unfamiliar direction, they dropped 10 minutes late and 1 mile (1.6 km) off target. The drop zone was chosen after the 501st PIR's change of mission and was in an area identified by the Germans as a likely landing area. Consequently so many HP Pavilion dv7-4020sd Battery
Germans were present that the pathfinders could not set out their lights and were forced to rely solely on Eureka, which was a poor guide at short range.
The pathfinders of the 82nd Airborne had similar results. The first serial, bound for DZ O near Sainte-Mère-Église, HP Pavilion dv7-4020tx Battery
flew too far north but corrected its error and dropped near its DZ. It made the most effective use of the Eureka beacons and holophane marking lights of any pathfinder team. The planes bound for DZ N south of Sainte-Mère-Église flew their mission accurately and visually identified the zone but still dropped the teams a mile southeast. HP Pavilion dv7-4021so Battery
They landed among troop areas of the German 91st Division and were unable to reach the DZ. The teams assigned to mark DZ T northwest of Sainte-Mère-Église were the only ones dropped with accuracy, and while they deployed both Eureka and BUPS, HP Pavilion dv7-4021tx Battery
they were unable to show lights because of the close proximity of German troops. Altogether, four of the six drops zones could not display marking lights.
The pathfinder teams assigned to Drop Zones C (101st) and N (82nd) each carried two BUPS beacons. HP Pavilion dv7-4022ez Battery
The units for DZ N were intended to guide in the parachute resupply drop scheduled for late on D-Day, but the pair of DZ C were to provide a central orientation point for all the SCR-717 radars to get bearings. However the units were damaged in the drop and provided no assistance. HP Pavilion dv7-4022so Battery
The assault lift (one air transport operation) was divided into two missions, "Albany" and "Boston", each with three regiment-sized landings on a drop zone. The drop zones of the 101st were east and south of Sainte-Mère-Église and lettered A, C, and D from north to south HP Pavilion dv7-4022tx Battery
(Drop Zone B had been that of the 501st PIR before the changes of May 27). Those of the 82nd were west (T and O, from west to east) and southwest (Drop Zone N).
Each parachute infantry regiment (PIR), a unit of approximately 1800 men organized into three battalions, was transported by three or four serials, HP Pavilion dv7-4023so Battery
formations containing 36, 45, or 54 C-47s, and separated from each other by specific time intervals. The planes, sequentially designated within a serial by chalk numbers (literally numbers chalked on the airplanes to aid paratroopers in boarding the correct airplane), HP Pavilion dv7-4024so Battery
were organized into flights of nine aircraft, in a formation pattern called "vee of vee's" (vee-shaped elements of three planes arranged in a larger vee of three elements), with the flights flying one behind the other. The serials were scheduled over the drop zones at six-minute intervals. HP Pavilion dv7-4024tx Battery
The paratroopers were divided into sticks, a plane load of troops numbering 15-18 men.
To achieve surprise, the parachute drops were routed to approach Normandy at low altitude from the west. HP Pavilion dv7-4025eo Battery
The serials took off beginning at 22:30 on June 5, assembled into formations at wing and command assembly points, and flew south to the departure point, code-named "Flatbush". There they descended and flew southwest over the English Channel at 500 feet (150 m) MSL to remain below German radar coverage. HP Pavilion dv7-4025ew Battery
Each flight within a serial was 1,000 feet (300 m) behind the flight ahead. The flights encountered winds that pushed them five minutes ahead of schedule, but the effect was uniform over the entire invasion force and had negligible effect on the timetables. HP Pavilion dv7-4025ss Battery
Once over water, all lights except formation lights were turned off, and these were reduced to their lowest practical intensity.
Twenty-four minutes 57 miles (92 km) out over the channel, the troop carrier stream reached a stationary marker boat code-named HP Pavilion dv7-4025tx Battery
"Hoboken" and carrying a Eureka beacon, where they made a sharp left turn to the southeast and flew between the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Alderney. Weather over the channel was clear; all serials flew their routes precisely and in tight formation as they approached their initial points on the Cotentin coast, HP Pavilion dv7-4026eo Battery
where they turned for their respective drop zones. The initial point for the 101st at Portbail, code-named "Muleshoe", was approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of that of the 82d, "Peoria", near Flamanville. HP Pavilion dv7-4026tx Battery
Scattered drops
Despite precise execution over the channel, numerous factors encountered over the Cotentin Peninsula disrupted the accuracy of the drops, many encountered in rapid succession or simultaneously. HP Pavilion dv7-4027so Battery
These included:
- C-47 configuration, including severe overloading, use of drag-inducing parapacks, and shifting centers of gravity,
a lack of navigators on 60 percent of aircraft, forcing navigation by pilots when formations broke up, HP Pavilion dv7-4027tx Battery
- radio silence that prevented warnings when adverse weather was encountered,
a solid cloud bank at penetration altitude (1,500 feet (460 m)), obscuring the entire western half of the 22 miles (35 km) wide peninsula, thinning to broken clouds over the eastern half, HP Pavilion dv7-4028eo Battery
- an opaque ground fog over many drop zones,
- German antiaircraft fire ("flak"),
- limitations of the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar system used to guide serials to their drop zones,
- emergency usage of Rebecca by numerous lost aircraft,
unmarked or poorly marked drop zones, HP Pavilion dv7-4028tx Battery
- drop runs by some C-47s that were above or below the designated 700 feet (210 m) drop altitude, or in excess of the 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) drop speed, and
second or third passes over an area searching for drop zones. HP Pavilion dv7-4029tx Battery
Of the 20 serials making up the two missions, nine plunged into the cloud bank and were badly dispersed. Of the six serials which achieved concentrated drops, none flew through the clouds. HP Pavilion dv7-4030ed Battery
However the primary factor limiting success of the paratroop units, because it magnified all the errors resulting from the above factors, was the decision to make a massive parachute drop at night, a concept that was not again used in three subsequent large-scale airborne operations. HP Pavilion dv7-4030ek Battery
This was further illustrated when the same troop carrier groups flew a second lift later that day with precision and success under heavy fire. HP Pavilion dv7-4030em Battery,HP Pavilion dv7-4030er Battery,HP Pavilion dv7-4030ew Battery
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