June 6th, 1944, Ally troops storm the beaches of Normandy. Know as “Operation Overlord,” this was a strategical plan to liberate France. The beaches of Normandy were divided into 5 sections. On each section, Ally troops pour onto them. The Germans knew they the Allies were planning to attack, but they didn’t know where or when. So when the Allies came, the Germans weren’t as ready as they could have been. The Allies pushed ahead, with overall casualties of 9,000 men. The fight was hard fought, but in the end, the Allies pushed onwards to victory. Many say that this is the moment when the Germans knew they were going to lose, others say before. However, how did the Germans lose? They, for the most part, had a major advantage over the Allies.
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A resistance movement cut important telephone lines in Germany, making it hard for the Germans to communicate. Also, the German army was scattered everywhere. Hitler thought that the D’Day attack would only be a distraction and that the real attack would be on some of the more important locations. This was due to an Ally plan known as “Operation Fortitude.” This operation purposely broadcasted false information about where the attacks would be. The radio commands said that there would be a massive attack on the Pas de Calais, a German base in France, and a massive invasion of Norway. This operation was a ruse to make Germany focus on heavily fortifying theses two places, and while they still focused on their “Atlantic Wall,” Germany would focus more on these two locations instead of the beaches of Normandy. This would divide their army. This disorganized the German army, as they weren’t prepared for an invasion in Normandy. Another way the Germans weren’t organized was because they did not have aerial superiority. Once the USA join WWII and combined their planes with the rest of the Allies planes, they achieved total superiority. This meant that the Germans could no long fly. This lead to many problems involving travel. During the end of May and the beginning of June, close to the time that Operation Overlord was supposed to occur, there was terrible weather. General Rommel saw this as the perfect opportunity to go and visit his family and celebrate his wife’s birthday, as surely the Allies wouldn’t attack anytime soon because of the weather. Rommel drove to Southern Germany, where he stayed at his family home until he got word of the attack. The problem for Rommel was that he couldn’t risk flying, as the Allies had aerial superiority, so he was forced to take the time to drive back. It took him a day to get back, putting his unit at a
A resistance movement cut important telephone lines in Germany, making it hard for the Germans to communicate. Also, the German army was scattered everywhere. Hitler thought that the D’Day attack would only be a distraction and that the real attack would be on some of the more important locations. This was due to an Ally plan known as “Operation Fortitude.” This operation purposely broadcasted false information about where the attacks would be. The radio commands said that there would be a massive attack on the Pas de Calais, a German base in France, and a massive invasion of Norway. This operation was a ruse to make Germany focus on heavily fortifying theses two places, and while they still focused on their “Atlantic Wall,” Germany would focus more on these two locations instead of the beaches of Normandy. This would divide their army. This disorganized the German army, as they weren’t prepared for an invasion in Normandy. Another way the Germans weren’t organized was because they did not have aerial superiority. Once the USA join WWII and combined their planes with the rest of the Allies planes, they achieved total superiority. This meant that the Germans could no long fly. This lead to many problems involving travel. During the end of May and the beginning of June, close to the time that Operation Overlord was supposed to occur, there was terrible weather. General Rommel saw this as the perfect opportunity to go and visit his family and celebrate his wife’s birthday, as surely the Allies wouldn’t attack anytime soon because of the weather. Rommel drove to Southern Germany, where he stayed at his family home until he got word of the attack. The problem for Rommel was that he couldn’t risk flying, as the Allies had aerial superiority, so he was forced to take the time to drive back. It took him a day to get back, putting his unit at a