It faces the English Channel in the north and overlooks Britain, covering an area of about 30,000 square kilometers and a coastline of 600 kilometers. Hundreds of miles of coast are almost cliffs, and the allied landing sites are selected in five relatively flat beaches.
The following are the details of the Normandy invasion:
1in the early morning of June 6, 944, 2,390 transport planes and 846 gliders from the United States and Britain took off from 20 airports in Britain, carrying three paratroopers and airborne divisions to fly south, ready to land in an important area behind the Normandy coast of France. This is the beginning of the famous "Normandy landing".
At dawn, the Royal Air Force's 1 136 aircraft dropped 5853 tons of bombs on the pre-selected German coast 10 gun base. After dawn, the US Eighth Air Force dispatched 1.083 bombers, and dropped 1.763 tons of bombs on German coastal fortifications half an hour before the troops landed. Then, all kinds of allied planes were dispatched at the same time to bomb coastal targets and inland artillery positions. At 5: 50, the sun has risen, and allied naval warships began to bomb enemy positions along the coast. Normandy beach became a sea of fire and the ground shook.
Attack force was transported by transport ship to the sea surface 7 to 1 1 mile offshore, and then arrived at the beachhead scheduled to attack on time by landing craft. Followed by a large landing craft carrying heavy weapons and equipment.
Normandy beach, the landing site chosen by the allied forces, is located in northwest France. From east to west, there are five beaches-Tan Jian, Juneau, Jin Tan, Omaha and Utah, with a total length of about 50 miles. The first batch of attack force in the landing plan was five divisions, each occupying a beachhead position.
At 6: 30, American troops began to land on Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. The Fourth Division of the Seventh Army of the United States landed on the coast of Utah beach without much effort, only met with intermittent shelling. Within three hours, they destroyed the enemy guarding the area, and the follow-up troops and equipment were also transported to the shore. But in Omaha beach, the situation of the first division of the US Seventh Army is not good. Big waves, morning fog, smoke and crosswind exhausted the troops and were attacked by enemy gunfire when landing. At that time, the beach was full of dead and wounded soldiers. The next batch of attacking troops also suffered the same misfortune. At this critical moment, two US assault battalions climbed the cliff on the coast with rope ladders and seized and destroyed an enemy battery. But the enemy continued to shoot fiercely and stopped the American troops on the beach. Hubner, commander of the 1st Infantry Division of the US Army, made a decisive decision and asked the destroyers at sea to bomb German artillery groups and bunkers at close range at the risk of killing their own people. The destroyer's cannon really exerted great power, and soon, the Germans in the fortifications surrendered. After a hard and bloody battle, the first division of the US Army finally occupied the beachhead position less than two miles deep.
The 50th Division of the Second Army Corps landed in Jintan at 7: 20. They met some difficulties at first, but gradually destroyed the German resistance. By dusk, they had entered the inland for five miles.
On Juneau Beach, the third division of Canadian army made the fastest progress after destroying the Germans on the beach, and arrived at the port city-Baye highway that night.
The third division of the British army also encountered fierce resistance in Jiantan. At dusk, they met with the 6th Airborne Division.
That night, the Allies had established a firm foothold on the European continent. The number of casualties was less than expected. Nearly 10 division, tanks, artillery and other weapons all landed, and the follow-up troops also poured in, constantly expanding the advantages of the allies over the German defenders. Allied forces landed successfully in Normandy.
Hitler boasted about why his 2500-mile-long "Atlantic barrier" fortifications were vulnerable. It turns out that every June, the English Channel is always rough, and the waves are terrible, making it difficult for ships to sail. Most German generals on the Western Front thought that the Allies would not attack in such bad weather as June. At about 2 am on the 6th, the German General Command stationed in Paris received a report that an American-British airborne division had landed, which seemed to be a "large-scale operation". But Lundstedt, the commander in chief, thought it was a diversion by the Allies and didn't care. Then, the German naval forces on the western front reported to the headquarters: according to the coastal radar report, a large number of black spots appeared on the screen, and a huge fleet was heading for the Normandy coast. The German Chief of Staff on the Western Front replied, "What? This weather? Your technicians must be mistaken! Maybe a flock of seagulls? " Later, when he finally saw that the situation was not good and asked Hitler to send two armored divisions to deal with the allied airborne divisions, Hitler banned the use of his strategic reserve. Hitler still insisted that this was just a feint, and the allies would definitely land in Calais.
Hitler was cheated by suspicious soldiers at Allied headquarters. Before Normandy landing, the allied forces assembled a fleet in disguise and sent a large number of telegrams, which caused the illusion that the allied forces were headquartered in Kent, England. American general Patton, who is famous for his bravery, was allowed to walk on Kent street, and German intelligence personnel were judging him as the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces. On the eve of the attack, British planes dropped a lot of tin foil, which made the German coastal radar show that there seemed to be an allied fleet sailing eastward to Calais.
In order to keep it strictly confidential, the whole southern England cut off all traffic with the rest of Britain and became a big barracks, where the allies were piled up with mountains of military equipment and materials for overlord action. In order to prevent leaks, the British government also suspended all diplomatic relations between Britain and foreign countries, canceled normal shipping along the coast, and used all ships for the transportation of overlord action, so that General Eisenhower of the United States would not hinder the mobilization and assembly of troops. The British government has set up a cordon in this area, and no one is allowed to cross it without permission. Every tent, barracks, parking lot and every unit are carefully marked on the action map. The scheduled actions of each unit have been accurately arranged. The army that landed in Normandy was huge, with more than 2.87 million allied troops, more than 6,000 warships and more than 0.3 million planes. The Germans know nothing about the preparations for such a large-scale military operation.
The preparations for the Normandy landing were huge and complicated. Many armored vehicles have been improved, including road rollers for cleaning beaches, armored vehicles equipped with mine-sweeping vehicles to clean roads in mined areas, armored temporary bridges crossing ditches, and even two artificial ports have been built for landing troops to unload equipment and materials. For the terrain reconnaissance of the target, the coastline from the Netherlands to Spain was photographed by plane as early as a year ago, especially in April and June of 1944, and * * * dispatched 4,500 aircraft reconnaissance sorties. In addition, there are thousands of messages provided by French underground resistance organizations. In this way, German fortifications, bridges, airports, swamps, warehouses, highways, railway stations, etc. Everything along the European coast was made clear by the allies. On the battle plan carried by the heads of the landing forces, even the trees were marked out.
By June of 12, several beaches of the allied forces in Normandy had been connected in a line, and the follow-up troops continued to flow and the military supplies continued to increase, all of which ensured the success of the Normandy landing. 19 In August, the allies occupied Mount on the west bank of the Seine. On this day, the people of Paris held an armed uprising and liberated their capital. On August 25th, Eisenhower's 2nd French Armored Division entered the city center from the south and west gates of Paris. In the afternoon, French general leclerc was ordered to accept the German surrender.
The liberation of Paris marked the end of the Normandy campaign. More than 400,000 Germans were killed, injured and captured. Once again, Germany was forced to fight on two fronts, caught in the iron tongs of the Soviet Union and the United States and Britain, and the day of its demise was not far away.