Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of sources
This investigation will focus on the question: ‘To what extent would the U.S.invasion on D-Day have been successful without the implemented U.S. strategies?’. D-Day also known as Operation Overlord was one of the largest military assaults in history. Planning for such an attack took extensive preparation and tactic. The investigation explores the strategies of the Normandy landings and the events leading up to it.
“The liberation of Europe from years of German control was the most detrimental part of successful Allied outcome. The London Controlling Section (LCS) devised an elaborate two-part plan called Operation Fortitude that SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force) helped
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to fine tune and that both British and American forces implemented. Allied forces, both real and imaginary, stationed in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Iceland implemented Fortitude North, which created a threat to Norway. Other Allied formations situated in east and southeast England participated in Fortitude South, which suggested a threat to the French coast east of Normandy in an area called the Pas de Calais.” A documented message from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gen. George C. Marshall from Dwight D. Eisenhower Library Pre-Presidential Papers, 1916-52 is relevant to this research question because it is a document written by Eisenhower with brief script excerpt and investigation regarding the Normandy Landings. A value of this Origin is that it an official excerpt from Eisenhower in WWII which can be seen as a credible primary source. Eisenhower had first handedly been the leader of the Allies, thus this excerpt can be seen from Eisenhower's point of view. A value of the purpose is its intent to inform Gen. George C. Marshall of the planned invasion on Normandy beach. According to the George C. Marshall Foundation “During World War II, Marshall as Army Chief of Staff (1939–1945) was the most important military figure in the U.S. military establishment and of great significance in maintaining the Anglo-American coalition”. A value of this content is it provides vital details and the view of Operation Overlord (D-Day) from a General's perspective. A limitation of the origin is it was focused on one key event with failure to mention other important aspects of the occurrence, thus failed to convey the bigger picture to the reader. A limitation of the purpose was that it was unclear to the reader of the intended outcome. A limitation of the content is “the many years after the period described, the details might have become blurred with the passing of time, certain aspects consciously or subconsciously forgotten, and memoirs molded to conform to views evolved since then”.
The journal, American Eyewitness: D-Day: June 6 1944 American History By Leesburg is relevant as it provides eyewitness accountability of the Normandy InvasIon. A value of the origin is it provides historical hindsight which can be seen as reliable. A limitation of the origin is relying on memory as memory can be forgotten or risk being obviously bias. A limitation of the purpose is it stays at surface level not giving enough giving enough insight to other events. A limitation of the content is the vulnerability of false recollection and information being incorrectly conveyed to the reader. A short telling from the book, The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan was also relevant to my research because it provides factual and unbiased analysis of strategies implemented during D-Day; assessing the role of the Allies and Axis forces. This origin is valuable as Cornelius Ryan is a well-known Irish author who took interest into Operation Overlord whilst on a trip to Normandy conducting interviews with thousands of people gathering stories from both Germans and Allies. His …show more content…
gathered stories were published in 1959 making it very popular at the time considering Operation Overlord was commenced in 1944. A value of the purpose is the appreciation of multiple perspectives in attempt to ensure the reader that bias was not a contributing factor in the information presented. A value of the content is its clarity in terms of what happened during the Normandy landing which presents itself clearly to the reader; essentially serves as a basic analysis. Section 2: Investigation In June 1944, Allied powers raged the shorelines of Normandy in plans to free Western Europe from the control of Nazi Germany.
Amid the Axis powers failed endeavor to attack Europe, the U.S. had backed off the extension of Axis powers and started to build troops and hardware in Britain. A right system in wants to guarantee the thrashing of the Axis powers was frequently in contradiction amongst Britain and the U.S. Operation Overlord was an arranged assault under the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. “By November of 1943 Britain concurred with the arrangement of a colossal activity to cross the English channel and free France". However the land and/or water capable assault would not be as straightforward as it is
expressed. The achievement of D-day required exact technique, as well as Allied air and maritime prevalence and German troops not congregating in one zone. Consequently the Allies expected to setup a fabrication keeping in mind the end goal to ensure the Germans had no clue where or when the task would occur. "To shroud the subtle elements of the genuine intrusion website, the Allies utilized an intricate web of trickiness to convince the Nazis that an assault could come anytime along their Atlantic Wall—the 1,500-mile arrangement of beach front safeguards that the German High Command had developed from the Arctic Circle to Spain's northern fringe or even as far away as the Balkans." Furthermore the subsequent activity D-Day was a noteworthy defining moment in World War II. D-Day is a standout amongst the most commended military tasks ever. Less known, in any case, is the mystery and fraud the Allied powers used to enhance the attack's odds of succeeding. Now, Allied insight administrations came in, chiefly the British. "They built up an arrangement called Fortitude by which; they would make two ghost armed force charges—one in Scotland to undermine an attack of Norway, and the other in East Anglia and southeast England to debilitate the Pas de Calais." “The last task, known as Quicksilver, would build up a fanciful armed force bunch assigned the First US Army Group (FUSAG)." Years after D-Day views had shifted. The topic of Normandy had not remained the same for too long. D Day
Planning is one of the, if not the most, important element of war. This is why the hard-work Canadian military forces put into planning for the attack on Vimy Ridge earned the nation much deserved respect in the eyes of other countries around the world. Germany captured Vimy Ridge early in the war and made it into a strong defensive position, consisting of a huge system of tunnels and trenches manned by soldiers with machine guns and artillery pieces. Previous Allied attacks on Vimy Ridge in 1914 and 1915 had cost the British and French hundreds of thousands of casualties and had been mostly unsuccessful.The planning and preparations for the attack were extensive, and time consuming. The Canadians were trained rigorously. Models of...
In 1942, the Allies decided to help out the Soviet Union and opened up another front to the war in Western Europe. The United States and Britain did not have a large enough military to mount an invasion at the time but they had drawn up plans to prepare for an invasion in case Germany’s western front weakened or the Soviet Union was put into dire straits. In August of 1942 the Canadians attempted an invasion of the French port city of Dieppe. It was a poorly planned and coordinated invasion that was meant to be a test the defense that Germany had established that ended in disaster, nearly 5,000 troops were either killed, wounded, or captured. In July 1943, British, American, and Canadian troops invaded Sicily as the western front expanded from Africa into Europe. The valuable experience from the amphibious landings in southern Europe would be used to launch to launch the largest invasion force in the world to crack open the solid ...
At daybreak, August 19th, 1942, the Allies began their raid on the French coastal city of Dieppe occupied by Germany. The raid has extreme Canadian significance, as it pertains to 5000 Canadians involved in the campaign, 3,350 of which became casualties and 916 died on the bloodstained beach at Dieppe. The Dieppe raid is widely considered a failure on every level and has left a dreadful mark in Canadian military history because of how poorly it panned out. Operation Jubilee remains one of the most hotly debated Allied aspects of the war. Tactically, it was a complete failure as little to no objectives were attained. This essay will explain that Dieppe failed because of the tactical errors on the part of the Allies, in conjunction with the fact the entire operation was very poorly planned out. It will do so by discussing 4 major points: poor allied planning, how Dieppe was a difficult place to attack, that the assault was launched for political rather than military reasons and finally, how it failed to upgrade morale.
D-Day by Stephen E. Ambrose follows the landings on the Calvados coast of Normandy from the pre-planning stages all the way up through the invasion and through about D-Day plus one - one day after the Normandy landings. The first two chapters deal with the combatants in a general fashion before moving on to the location of the landings and why it was chosen. From there, Mr. Ambrose moves into planning of the operation and the preparation for the same. This discussion of the preparation leads into a chapter on the operation specific training that the soldiers received. Then Ambrose discusses the numerous briefings that the troops underwent before the invasion was even launched and then he writes about the process behind General Eisenhower’s deciding to launch the invasion. Once that actual invasion begins, Ambrose uses oral history accounts from men on both Utah Beach and Omaha Beach to tell the story of how the day progressed. The end of the book is taken up with the British and Canadians on Gold Beach and Sword Beach, as well as the actions of the British airborne units. Finally, Mr. Ambrose ends his book with an overview of the Allied forces at the end of June 6, 1944.
In order to receive a victory in the Battle of the Bulge, General Patton used Mission Command Analysis in order to understand how he can be successful for this mission. The first thing of understanding t...
In this paper, I will provide a Battle Analysis and outline the events leading up to and surrounding the Battle of 73 Eastings (refers to a north-south grid line). In addition, I will describe how the United States Army’s (USA) 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment (ACR) defeated forces from the Iraqi Republican Guard (IRG) using speed, technology and superior combat power. Although some consider the Battle of 73 Eastings extremely successful, some consider it a failure due to the large amount of Iraqi forces that retreated towards Bagdad. Lastly, I will analyze how each side used their intelligence assets and what they could have used to change the outcome.
Field, Frank. British and French Operations of the First World War. Cambridge (England); New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
For a long time, when anyone thought of a war movie, they immediately thought of Darryl F. Zanuck’s, The Longest Day. Cornelius Ryan, who was the author of the book by the same name, and happened to be a D-day veteran himself, wrote the movie. The book meticulously recreates the events preceding and during the invasion. It is filled with detailed descriptions of multiple occurrences during the invasion. It explains everything from mass attacks on beaches and towns to humorous anecdotes. The book wasn’t exactly a story involving characters, and neither was the film. The Longest Day is more a story of tragedy, glory, and courage surrounding one very important day. And even though mainly American and English filmmakers produced the movie, the movie and book both portray the Germans fairly. But the film added so much to the story that the book could not. Without some of the stunning visuals that the five (Zanuck went unaccredited, but was said to have directed over half the movie) directors put in the film, it would have been impossible to comprehend the scale of it all.
In the movie, Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore “invades” other countries with the prospect of bringing ideas back to the United States to improve various public-health related components, such as: worker conditions, education, school lunches, drug policies, and women’s health/rights. During this movie, there was one country that resonated with me the most—France. In this particular segment, Moore goes to a town near Normandy and tells the audience where he can obtain a three or four-star meal. Not to my surprise, he said an elementary school lunchroom. Prior to seeing this film, I watched several episodes of Parts Unknown, where Anthony Bourdain also sheds light on French school lunches and how they are prepared. However, there were some aspects that surprised me and even made me wonder why we, as Americans, do not teach our students how to develop healthier eating habits. As the movie progressed, I
Warfare was in a state of transition. Older commanders and generals in the French and British militaries were very cavalry and infantry focused. These commanders believed that cavalry, infantry, and artillery would assure victory in any circumstance, against any foe. They clung to the static tactics of the bygone World War I era. World War I had been fought primarily on French soil, and the military as well as the government never wanted that to happen again, therefore they wanted to reinforce their main border against any future German. Little did they know that only twenty two years later they would be bested by German forces in a way that would shock the world. This research will be analyzing many important assumptions, oversights,...
To write this book the author, John Toland, had to devote 15 years researching different stories from all sides of the war. He studied war memoirs, interviewed war veterans, and read military documents. While doing this he focused on both the allied and axis forces to truly understand both sides of the story and be able to write such a descriptive and accurate piece of work. This research was used in the book to describe the unlikely victory of the Americans over the Germans during the “Battle of the Bulge”.
It began to emerge the differences in tactics. The question was whether to continue so far the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Forces Europe, General Eisenhower’s tactics attacking on a broad front, or due to problems of supply to take just one mighty blow. In that period Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery developed a new operation plan, which would include the use of 1st Airborne Army (Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton), actually 1st Airborne Corps (Lieutenant General Frederick Browning). The Corps comprised of 82nd US Airborne Division (Brigadier General James M. Gavin), 101st US Airborne Division (Major General Maxwell D. Taylor), and 1st British Airborne Division (Major General Robert “Roy” E. Urquhart) supported with, under his command, 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade (Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski). These units should be dropped along the roa...
Operation HUSKY provides good examples of Joint War Fighting during World War II. None of the Allied commanders in World War II had prior experience in joint air, land, and sea operations, which would make the planning for Operation HUSKY even more challenging. Despite their inexperience, the joint commanders put together a joint task force that displayed good command and control at the operational level when evaluated against commander’s intent, mutual trust, understanding, and integration. Operation HUSKY was the largest amphibious operation of World War II in terms of area covered and the number of divisions put ashore on the first day. Considering the Allied commanders’ lack of experience, Operation HUSKY was a great success in terms
In late 1944, following the successful D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, it seemed that the Second World War was all but over for the Allied forces. On Dec 16, with the winter in site, the German forces launched a counteroffensive that was meant to sway the war into Hitler’s favor. The battle that shortly ensued after this counteroffensive is historically known as the Battle of The Bulge. The Battle of The Bulge initially started with the American forces being outnumbered 250,000 German troops to a mere 80,000 Americans. During this time the American Soldier’s fortitude and character were tested against ultimate adversity.
In May 1940, Britain would get a more aggressive Pro-war leader, Winston Churchill, to replace Neville Chamberlain. Later that month, on May 26, 1940, in the face of a large-scale German attack, British soldiers on the home front were forced to perform one of the largest evacuations in history, The Evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk on the Belgian coast. From July through October, the British people suffered under the Battle of Britain, which was a lot of intense German bombings. But, the Royal Air Force successfully defended its homeland from the German Luftwaffe, and the Nazis were unable to crush British morale. In March 1941, the United States began giving direct aid to the British in the form of weapons and ammunition through the Lend-Lease Act. After Pearl Harbor, in December, America would directly become involved in aiding the British in Europe. In January 1942, Roosevelt and Churchill decided to establish a Combined Chiefs of Staff and to the ma...