D-Day
: Operation Overlord
D-Day
is a military term designating the start of a military operation.
The D-day in modern history refers to what happened on June
6th, 1944. This operation, officially named Overlord, was
scheduled to take place on June 4th, but a storm caused
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, to postpone it one day.
D-Day
Planning
A
lot of time went into the planning of operation Overlord.
In May, while troops and equipment were being concentrated
in the staging area of southern Britain, the allies tried
to confuse the enemy. They made false radio transmissions
and placed landing craft and inflated rubber tanks away
from the true staging area. The German's had no idea what
was about to take place. The operation was scheduled on
June 4th because first light and low tide coincided. If
the storm had lasted any longer, the operation would have
been put off for 2 weeks, until the next day first light
and low tide coincided.
Air
Assault
Three
airborne divisions of the US and Britain were scheduled
to drop inland on the morning of the operation. Inclement
weather caused most of the air operation to fail; some soldiers
were killed before reaching the ground. Others landed up
to 35 miles away from their designated landing spots.
Navel
Assault
At dawn, close to 5000 allied ships bombarded the German
stronghold, in the largest navel strike in history.
German
Defense
The
Germans had a lot of defense. The operation was scheduled
for low tide due to the large amount of German water defenses.
Belgian
Gates
Ten-foot-high
steel-framed structures placed parallel with the shore.
Antitank mines were attached to the top.
Teller
mines
Mines on posts angled towards on coming boats, they were
covered at high tide, and were 200 yards from shore.
Ramps
Logs
driven into the sand with mines at the tip. Were used to hit
incoming ship, causing them to tip over/ get stuck, and then
explode then the mine is touched.
Hedgehogs
Mine
tipped 6-foot high obstacles constructed of steel rails
welded together. Would rip out the bottom of landing craft
at high tide.
Barb
Wire and Mines
Miles of Barbwire and mines were placed in front of the
pillboxes and concrete bunkers.
Pillboxes
Small
concrete bunkers that shielded machine gun nests and antitank
guns.
Concrete
bunkers
Steel
reinforced concrete bunkers protected the larger guns, like
the 75, and 88 mm.
Beaches
Five
Different Beaches were hit, Code-named: Utah, Omaha, Gold,
Juno, and Sword.
Omaha
- The second beach from the right, Omaha, was also the largest.
Over 6 miles in length. 100-foot cliffs over looked the
entire beach, and the latter third of the beach had a 10-foot
seawall. The Germans had built up some tough defenses. The
beach was heavily mined, and the Germans had built 5 strong
holds called Widerstandsnester ("resistance nests"). The
battle itself went entirely wrong for the allied forces,
27 of the 29 amphibious support tanks sank in the rough
waters of the channel. The allies lost more then 2400 soldiers
in taking Omaha beach, but by the end of the day, they had
managed to land more then 34,000 troops.
National
Guard Plaque - Omaha Beach |
Omaha
Beach |
Utah
- The farthest beach to the right, Utah, had light defenses
compared to that of Omaha beach. Consisting of some automatic
weapons, and a small number of inland artillery batteries.
Utah was much easier to take then was Omaha, and the allies
only lost 300 men, 1/8 of the troops lost taking Omaha.
The landing went wrong again, as the troops landed almost
2000 yards off target. But luckily, they ended up in a less
defended area.
Utah
Beach |
Utah
Beach |
Gold
- Gold beach was the middle beach, little infantry resistance
and no German armor made this assault very effective. The
British lost around 400 men, but by the end of the day,
managed to land more then 25,000 men.
Sword
- Located on the left of the other beaches, was Sword beach.
It also had light defenses, mainly consisting of far off
artillery. The Germans had machine gun nests hidden in the
dunes, along with mines. The British lost around 700 men,
but managed to land 29,000 by the end of the day.
Juno
- Juno was the second beach from the left. The main thing
the landing troops had to worry about was not the German
troops, but the offshore reefs and shoals. The Landing craft
were running late, so most of the water defense was already
at least partially submerged. The ships paid a heavy price
for being late, with over 30% of the landing craft being
destroyed. 1200 out of the 21,400 troops that landed perished
in taking Juno beach.
Monument
- Juno Beach |
