Military Discussion : D-Day (Operation Overlord 06 June 1944)

[King Tiger]

Today is the 65th Anniversary of D-Day.

One of the greatest battle in the history of World War II.
Operation Overlord was the codename for invasion of Europe by Allied forces.

It is the largest and greatest seaborne invasion ever assembly.
The invasion fleet, from 8 different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels :
1,213 warships, 4,126 transport vessels, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels.

The invasion began with an large overnight airborne invasion inland by
23,000 mens from US 82nd, 101st Airborne Divisions and British 6th Airborne Division,
follow by massive air and naval bombardments.

Battleships and cruisers provide heavy shore bombardment and full fire support
beyond the suppression of shore defenses overlooking landing beaches
and support to break up enemy concentrations as Allies troops moved inland.

By 06 June, 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel.
By 11 June, 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies landed in normandy beaches.
By 30 June, 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies landed in normandy beaches.
By 04 July, 1,000,0000 men had been landed.
By 31 Aug, 3,000,000 men had been landed.

By the end of the Normandy campaign, losses have been high for Allies sides.
The Allies lost around 209,672 casualties from June 6 to the end of August, around 10 % of the forces landed in France.
4,101 aircrafts were lost and 4,000 tanks were destroyed.



The discussion is : Can the Germans possible to stop the invasion ?
If given any other mean of possibilties of deployment, reinforcement, tactics and decision making by German leadership.



Allies and Germany's Fortress Europe

The Invasion 06 June 1944

Advancing Inand 12 June 1944

P.S. Correct me if any of the above information is wrong. :sweat:
Purely military discussion only.

 

[Lolrence]

If they could stop it, there won't be any anniversary right now....

 

[King Tiger]

Massive Shore bombardment

Allies Landing craft moving fast to beach.

GI Troops standing by.....

Allies Landing craft hit by German shore batteries.

GI Troops getting ready.....

 

[King Tiger]

GI Troops pinned down by German fire.

Storm the Front

Under heavy fire.

Notice the Sherman tank bogged down in the beach.

 

[King Tiger]

Struggling to getting inshore, under heavy fire.

Pinned down.

 

[King Tiger]

Breaking through the German defence line.

 

[King Tiger]

Massive buildup.

 

[Simon_84]

actually i think there is not much of a way the germans could have prevent the on-coming assault unless america is not drawn into the war in the first place.

had the american force make use of the tanks in a smarter way like the british/commonwealth forces, they could perhaps cut down the number of lives lost at the omaha beach head.

some of the GIs nearly drown in the sea with their heavy B.A.R and might be a freaking blood wash once on shore...when the mg42 from the bunkers open up.

but the axis powers seriously underestimate the industrial might of america...when japan drag them into the war.

 

[dOlBy]

Massive buildup.

King Tiger, do you have any idea what are those small airship balloon thingy attached to the ships are for? I had seen many pictures of the landing on Normandy but had no idea what are those balloons.

 

[terryansimon]

I personally know of somebody who took part in the invasion. he was one of the pontoon drivers for the Brits when they landed on Gold Beach. unfortunately, he has passed on a few years ago (due to old age) so... God bless his soul.

but back to my main point. quote/unquote him, the sheer amount of Allied firepower on the Germans probably wouldn't have given them a chance to have a say against the Allies. but then again, that's a biased point of view since he was a) part of the Allied movement, and b) part of the invading force that could not fail.

 

[King Tiger]

King Tiger, do you have any idea what are those small airship balloon thingy attached to the ships are for? I had seen many pictures of the landing on Normandy but had no idea what are those balloons.

Hi dOlBy

That is known as Barrage balloon.
It is to protect Allies vessel against low-level attack by German aircraft.
The long metal cables stick from the vessel to the ballon can damage enemy aircraft upon collision with the metal cables, or to make the attacker's approach more difficult.

 

[corneliustoh]

the germans lost it all when they were fighting both USA and USSR. Sorry to be off topic but if the axis wanted to win, i feel that japan should commence invasion on USSR at the east while germany attack from the west. from there, the red army would be surrounded, cut off and defeated. thus with the russian resources, japan and germany might just win the war.

 

[diver-hloc]

If the German Army had gotton their tanks to the beach in time..... maybe. :think:

But we should thank God/Allah/Buddha that they didn't...... :thumbsup:

 

[corneliustoh]

i dunno haha. if german won their might not be a recession since they were anti capitalist.
but still. its good the allies won. i believe its the sheer number of troops the allies had which overwhelmed the smaller but more professional german army.

 

[Akatsuki]

interesting read, almost forgot this historic day... up for awareness

 

[ninelives]

operation flashpoint 2 coming out. from Codemaster, you will experince fights, places like this.

 

[tokrot]

The German already lost the war in battle of stainlingrad. That was the turning point of WWII.
Many people are mislead that D-Day landing was the turning point. It was glorified by the American (Of cos by the infamous movie, Saving Pte Ryan).

Only the Operation Overlord hastened the pace of defeat. The Nazi couldn't fight on two fronts (Eastern and Western) I am surprised that the German managed to hold out so long till the Allies reached Berlin..

 

[tokrot]

the germans lost it all when they were fighting both USA and USSR. Sorry to be off topic but if the axis wanted to win, i feel that japan should commence invasion on USSR at the east while germany attack from the west. from there, the red army would be surrounded, cut off and defeated. thus with the russian resources, japan and germany might just win the war.

The Japs did. In fact they went for Sibera, but they were badly defeated in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. That's the time they decided to make full scale war on China to obtain raw resources. After the battle of Khalkhin Gol, the Japs and Russian signed the non-aggression pact. So the Russian was glad that it didn't fight on two fronts like the German did.

The russian broke the pact during the last days of the war which made Japanese decided it was better to surrender to the American than to the Commie... (though the drop of A-Bomb wasn't really the main decisive factor for surrendering).

 

[FLiNcHY]

I think the Battle of Khalkhin Gol happened to early. It took place in 1939 when Germany hadn't even entered the war to fight russia. If japan had attacked Russia when Germany was trying to take Stalingrad 1941-1943, then the russians would have been hard pressed on both fronts, and might have lost the war.

 

[tokrot]

I think the Battle of Khalkhin Gol happened to early. It took place in 1939 when Germany hadn't even entered the war to fight russia. If japan had attacked Russia when Germany was trying to take Stalingrad 1941-1943, then the russians would have been hard pressed on both fronts, and might have lost the war.

I agreed with what you have mentioned. Russia would be a dead duck if that really happened at the same time.