On June of 1941, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin began pressuring the Allies to create a second front in Western Europe, so that pressure could be relieved from the Soviet Union. But before they could open up a second front they first had to establish a foothold in Western Europe. For this reason, Operation Neptune was developed, its main goal: develop a foothold for the Allies in Western Europe. Operation Neptune was considered one the greatest events in history and the largest seaborne invasion in recorded history. Due to the size and importance of the operation, great planning and preparation had to be done for it. Failure of the operation would have weakened the Allies position. This investigation will research whether …show more content…
the newly developed technology or the deceptions conducted contributed the most to the success of the Operation Neptune. Normandy beach came to be the chose for the invasion, but there arose issues with the location. Normandy beach was a part of Germany´s Atlantic Wall which was a defensive line along the Atlantic coast from Norway to Spain.
This defensive line consisted of concrete gun emplacements, anti-tank obstacles, mines, barbed-wires, wooden-stakes, and booby-traps. To counteract these defensives the Allies developed new technology like the Armored Ramp-Carrier, which could be used as bridges to avoid obstacles and scale walls, and the Sherman-Crab tank, which set off landmines to make safer routes for the infantry. These new land vehicles aided in breaking the Atlantic Wall, so that target points could be captured quickly before German reinforcements could arrive. But not all the technology was effective like the Duplex-Drive tank, many of which sank before reaching the Normandy shore. Without these new land vehicles, troops would have been pinned down and the casualty rates would have been much higher. However it could be that due to the amount of deception campaigns prior to the invasion that the German forces would have been widely spread out and might have taken time to regroup and convene to Normandy beach which would have given the Allied troops enough time to break through the defenses even if they did not have the new technology. It could be argued that the Allies would have never been able to break the defenses without the new technology since troops would have been overwhelmed by the defenses and traps if not destroy fast enough using …show more content…
the new technology. By choosing Normandy the Allies had given up the chance of taking control of ports, which were heavily fortified, so they had to figure out a way to receive troops and cargo for the invasion without needing a port. For this reason, the Allied created artificial ports known as Mulberry harbors. These harbors offered a way to keep supplying cargo to their troops and bring more troops to Normandy, which allowed them to push through German defenses. The Mulberry had a massive impact on the success of Operation Neptune, as it helped the Allies save time and lower amount casualties by allowing them to avoid heavily fortified ports and attack the weak points of the Atlantic Wall without having a problem with receiving supplies. Compared to the new land technology the Mulberry contributed more to the success of the operation due to it helping in the long-term as the land technology was only needed at the coastal areas. Without the Mulberry it would have been difficult to bring in the new land vehicles, so without them, the land vehicles were useless. Even though the invasion was a surprise due to the deception campaign, the casualty rates for the Allies was high and without more troops coming in the invasion would have been crushed by the defense. A part of their operation plans the Allies wanted to establish the element of surprise to prevent Germany from strengthening their defenses along Normandy coast and amassing their army at the location. To prepare for surprise invasion the Allies created Operation Bodyguard, whose main goal was to mislead the Germanys to the location and the time of the invasion. The deceiving campaign began by sending misinformation through the radio to make the Germans think that the invasion would happen in Norway and Pas de Calais. This caused Germany to stretch their defenses along a wide area and they weren´t able to properly defend the actual landing area and by doing this, the Allies were able to attack with less resistance.
If it were not for the deception campaign Germany would have increased their defenses along the Normandy shore and once the Allies arrived they would have been crushed by the defenses. The second part of their efforts to deceive Germany was to set up a fake army close to the coast of Britain with fake dummy camps and vehicles. Also, false communications and battle plans were sent to and from these fake army camps. This further misled the Germans into believing that the attack would happen elsewhere. The last part of their deception took place the night before the invasion, the Allies dropped metal foils near radar stations near Pas de Calais and Cap d’Antifer which the Germans interpreted has a naval convoy heading towards the location. At the same time, dummy paratroopers were dropped over Isigny and Le Havre which further confused the Germans. The deception campaign was a success and the Germans had no clue about the invasion until it was launched. The deception campaigns contribution to the success of the operation was effective as it dispersed the Germany army to different locations so that it delayed the arrival of reinforcements to Normandy, which allowed the Allied time to break the defenses
and create a foothold for their invasion. Compared with the new land and sea technology the deception campaign was more effective and contributed more to the success of the operation. This is because without the deception campaign the other preparations would have been ineffective like the new technologies which would have been discovered by German reconnaissance and their defenses would have been upgraded to counteract the new technology, were it not for the fake army group which hid the true location of the invasion force. In conclusion, the efforts made by the Allies in the preparations had paid off and the invasion was a success. Months of strategic preparations went into the development of new technologies and the deception campaigns, and the outcome of these led to great success for the Allies. The deception campaign played a crucial role in the success of the campaign by not letting the Germanys know about the invasion. The surprise attack rattled the Germanys and in this chaos, the Allies were able to crush the German forces and establish a foothold on Western Europe. The new land technology helped the Allies gain an advantage on the battlefield over German forces and the Mulberry helped bring troops and resources so that the invasion could push on. It is the deception campaign, however which contributed most in the success of Operation Neptune since the lack of manpower in German army caused them to be stretched along a massive coastline and have no clue on the time and date of the invasion. These, along with the other outcome of the deception campaigns shows that the element of surprise was the key to the success of the operation thus making it the most important preparation.
Before the landings were to begin, the coastal German defenses had to be adequately prepped, and softened by a combination of a massive battering by United States ships, and bombing by the United States Air Force. Between the hours of 0300 and 0500 hours on the morning of June 6, over 1,000 aircraft dropped more than 5,000 tons of bombs on the German coastal defenses. As soon as the preliminary bombing was over, the American and British naval guns opened fire on the Normandy coastline (D' Este 112). A British naval officer described the incredible spectacle he witnessed that day: "Never has any coast suffered what a tortured strip of French coast suffered that morning; both the naval and air bombardments were unparalleled. Along the fifty-mile front the land was rocked by successive explosions as the shells of ships' guns tore holes in fortifications and tons of bombs rained on them from the skies. Through billowing smoke and falling debris defenders crouching in this scene of devastations would soon discern faintly hundreds of ships and assault craft ominously closing the shore.
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.
After a quick examination of the recurring theme of Japanese military arrogance, I will argue that the three most compelling strategies that the Japanese could have pursued in the spring of 1942 were, one – to consolidate the most important resource gains that were already made; two – commence immediate planning for a strong anti-submarine warfare campaign; and three – coordinate significant operations with Japan’s Axis partners, particularly in the Indian Ocean and Southwest Asia theaters of conflict.
In 1943, the decision was made to attack the Germans in the spring of 1944. It was called Operation Overlord. On June 6, 1944, Allied troops invaded Normandy on the northern coast of France. The invasion was originally planned for June the fifth, but due to bad weather it was postponed until June the sixth. The Allies consisted of the United States, Britain, France, and Canada.
The 1944 Allied landing at Normandy met a strong, networked German defense that initially disrupted the timing of the invasion, slowed down the Allied advance, and inflicted extensive casualties. The German shore defenses were a result of extensive preparations that began when the German High Command appointed Field Marshal Rommel to defend the western European coast. Rommel believed the best strategy against an Allied inv...
The fifth term sometimes used when talking about D-day is The Atlantic Wall. The Atlantis Wall was the German’s first line of defense in the west, which was along the English Channel coast of France. The wall was only partly completed by June of 1944. It had many guns placed on it, beach obstacles, and mine fields. The part of the wall directly across from England and manned by Field Marshal Rammel's seventeenth and eighteenth armies containing thirty-seven divisions.
The prelude to the Battle of the Bulge began on a winter day in mid-December of 1944. Three powerful German divisions, were the last German offensives in the west at that time during World War II. They began after the Normandy invasion in June 1944. Allied had forces swept rapidly through France but became stalled along the German border earlier that year in September. On December 16, 1944 taking advantage of the weather, which kept the Allied aircraft on the ground, the Germans launched a counteroffensive through the semi-mountainous and heavily-forested Ardennes region in Germany, and advanced 31 miles into Belgium and northern Luxembourg near the Meuse River. Their goal was to trap four allied armies, divide the Americans and the British to force negotiated peace along the western front, and retake the vital seaport of Antwerp in Belgium. Thinking the Ardennes was the least likely spot for a German offensive, American staff commander chose to keep the thin line, so that manpower might concentrate on offensives north and south of the Ardennes known as the "bulge" in the Allied lines. These American lines were thinly held by three divisions in the Allied Army and part of a forth division, while fifth division was making a local attack and the sixth division was in reserve. Division sectors were more than double the width of normal defensive fronts, therefore there were more men scattered along a larger area. The German advance was halted near the Meuse River in late December. Even though the German Offensive achieved total surprise, nowhere did the American troops give ground without a fight. Within three days, the determined American stand and the arrival of powerful reinforcements insured that the ambitious German goal was far beyond reach. In snow and sub-freezing temperatures the Germans fell short of their interim objective- to reach the rambling Meuse River on the edge of the Ardennes. But they managed to avoid being cut off by an Allied Pincer movement.
War finds success and failure inescapably linked to how well the Combined, Joint, and Multinational Commander ensures the Joint War Fighting Function “Sustainment” planning is linked to strategic, operational and tactical objectives. General Eisenhower’s Operation OVERLORD, the Allied cross channel, air, and seaborne invasion of France during World War II provides an excellent case study to show successful integration of the principles and the spirit of the Joint War Fighting Function “Sustainment.” OVERLORD required synchronizing, coordinating, and integrating the logistics capabilities of coalition forces, their equipment as well as civilian manufacturing capabilities to meet the strategic end state (e.g. the defeat of Germany). This article will review the purpose and definition of Joint Sustainment, its imperatives and logistics planning principles and examine how Eisenhower and his planners incorporated these imperatives and principles into Operation OVERLORD.
...he beachheads (Gen Wiese attempted top speed up the deployment of troops across the Rhone on the night of 14 August). If the Germans possessed the ability to maneuver their troops prior to the invasion and during D-Day the landing troops would have suffered significantly more casualties and may not have been successful establishing a beachhead. Finally, with better communication the Gen Wiese would have been able to quickly organize a counterattack against the Allies. The lack of casualties on D-Day and D+1 and the ability of the Allies to accomplish almost their entire D-Day objective highlight the importance of the efforts of the Allies to target the German critical vulnerabilities leading up to the invasion. Instead of countering the German COG (the Nineteenth Army) at full strength, the Allies were lightly opposed and achieved their operational objectives.
(site) In many ways the Allied Navy’s execution Movement and Maneuver provides a model of join function inconsistency during Operation Husky. First, Task Force 88 a Joint amphibious task force designed to conduct amphibious operations to outflank the German defensive positions provides an excellent foreshadow of modern joint doctrine and proved useful to Patton’s drive to Messina. (site) Stands in contrast with perhaps the greatest joint failure of the campaign. True to the nature of Husky, the Navy refused to operate in the restricted waters of the Strait of Messina. This greatly aided the Axis retreat form
When Hitler’s panzer divisions pushed towards Stalingrad, Stalin claimed that an invasion across the English Channel would force Hitler to distract troops from the Soviet front (Murray). Churchill and Roosevelt did not think the Allies had enough troops to engage in an attack on European soil. Instead, they launched Operati...
After heavy defeats in Normandy in July and August 1944, the remnants of the German troops were retreating from France through Benelux to German borders. In German lines was spreading desertion. Units disintegrated in the fight were escaping in all direction from the front back to Germany. Fast progressing of western Allies caused difficulties in supply, as the fighting was getting away from beaches. The whole Allied troops were supplied through the Normandy beaches and harbor Cherbourg. The Germans knew about the Allies problems and tried to keep ports as long as possible. The Allied Forces had trouble delivering supplies from the port to the advancing troops; they were progressing faster than the supplies could be delivered. They created so called “Red Ball Express” -supply system supported by 5,900 trucks. However, its mistake was that it consumed a lot of fuel.
Despite being completely surrounded on all sides by German Army (Wehrmacht) and the German Air Force (Luftwaffe); the French Army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) kept fighting in hopes to wither down the Germans and make them retreat. The attempt was futile and resulted in countless more deaths (Clark 288). The massive retreat of the soldiers to the coast from the Dyle Line, a defensive line running down the River Dyle from Antwerp to Sedan in northern France, was very well handled and allowed the Dunkirk costal pocket to be formed. This part of the operation was the exact opposite of what happened when the BEF and the French Army attempted to defend against the Germans and their lines were completely shattered
In the second installment of The Heroes of Olympus, The Son of Neptune is a thrilling adventure written by Rick Riordan. The book begins where The Lost Hero left off. Percy, also in Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, is wandering Southern California with no memory of where he came from or who he is except one name, Annabeth. Being chased by three gorgons, Percy stumbles upon, with the help of Hera/Juno, Camp Jupiter. In the Roman camp, Percy joins the 5th cohort, which are the misfits of the camp, and befriends Hazel the daughter of Pluto and Frank the son of Mars, who are the biggest misfits of all. Percy and his newfound friends are soon called on a quest. Their mission is to recover the missing standard of the entire legion. They board the Pax, a small rowboat which makes up the entire Roman navy, and embark on their journey.
During the Second World War an engagement between the Soviet and German forces took place near the town of Kursk. The German offensive, named “Operation Citadel”, was countered by two Soviet counteroffensives. The Soviet’s counteroffensives stopped the German advance. The extensive amount of German equipment lost and casualties guaranteed the Soviet’s victory. The Russians were able to defeat the German attack with intelligence gained on the battlefield through prisoner and through intercepted communications. The German military was never able to recover from this loss and this initiated the demise of the Nazi regime during World War II.