D-Day
Throughout the course of World War II, there were several American raids, or invasions, of European soil. Young American soldiers risked their own lives in order to save those of thousands of others. The most famous of these invasions happened on the beaches of Normandy, Where US and British forces ran into a strong German resistance . This battle has been studied and glorified by many American historians throughout the years. Every historian has his or her own take on this event, but almost all American historians will express it as an important United States victory.
In his article “Questionable Objective: The Brittany Ports, 1944”, A. Harding Ganz focuses on the “logistical planning” and “strategic considerations” of high ranking officials during the invasion . He continues talk of planning and proper procedures, and eventually encounters the actual battle itself. He describes the D-Day invasion in terms of the raw number of soldiers, but soon changes his positive outlook on the invasion. He says:
On 6 June 1944 the allied forces invaded Festung Europa in Operation Overload.
The Normandy beachhead was successfully established, but stubborn German
resistance resulted in the drawn-out “Battle of the Build-Up” as men and material
were brought ashore. With stalemated Normandy fighting…”
It is clear that Ganz had a pro-invasion stance, but was willing to admit that fighting in Normandy had resulted in at least a temporary stalemate. “The Battle of Normandy: The Lingering Controversy”, as written by Stephen T. Powers, shines a whole new light on the invasion. He too sees D-Day as an important allied victory, but calls it “a stunning success, even though disaster was narrowly averted by the American V...
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... government or military. This project would not be an easy one to complete, but there is no denying that it is an interesting topic, one that has gone overlooked my every historian that I have come across throughout all of my studies.
Bibliography:
Chenault, Ruth. “D-Day: The Greatest Invasion.” New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1969.
Crookenden, Napier. Dropzone Normandy. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976.
Forbes, Joseph. “General Douglas MacArthur and the Implementation of American and Australian Civilian Policy Decisions in 1944 and 1945.” Military Affairs, (January 1995): 1-4.
Ganz, A. Harding. “Questionable Objective: The Brittany Ports, 1944.” Journal of Military History 59 (January 1995): 77-95.
Powers, Stephen T. “The Battle of Normandy: the Lingering Controversy.” Journal of
Military History 56 (July 1992): 455-471.
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.
Man, John, The Facts on File D-Day Atlas, The Definitive Account of the Allied Invasion of Normandy (Swanston Publishing Limited 1994)
Omaha beach was invaded on June tenth. On Omaha beach, one of the most chaotic parts of the battle, the United States first infantry went through the worst part of the landings out of any of the beaches. Their Sherman tanks had been mostly lost before they reached the shore. The three hundred and fifty second division was some of the best trained on the beaches. Within ten minutes, every officer and Sargent had been wounded or killed. The division had over four thousand casualties.
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...
The task of Juno Beach was very difficult and cost many Canadian lives. The Canadians were to overwhelm the German-held beach with troops, overrun their defenses, then allow the rest of the Canadian, other allied troops and artillery safely ashore. On June 6th, 1944 Canada sent in the third Canadian division; however, the German defenses were prepared. The beach was loaded with machine gunners and other German artillery, which resulted in 50% casualties for the first wave of Canadian soldiers. Although suffering all of these casualties, Canada managed to overrun the Germans within hours, hold this important area and progress further into France. This area was very important for the allied forces because controlling the waters was essential. At this point in time, troops and artillery were sent through ships, therefore, because of the Canadians success, allied forces were then able to send more troops in safely to France and disallowed Germany from sending any troops out. This was an important time during the war too, this victory was the start of allied forces taking back German-held land and they were slowly starting to advance into Germany itself. In conclusion, this was an essential and difficult battle that Canada fought alone which lead allied forces closer to stopping
Sister Claire Evelyn Trestrail was the eldest of five being born on the 10th of December, 1877 in Clare, South Australia. Trestrail served in the First World War as a nurse following in her mother’s footsteps who was a trained nurse, Acting Matron of King Edward Hospital in Perth and also had involvement within the Red Cross and the Saint John’s Ambulance Services. Trestrail’s younger siblings also had involvement within the First World War with her two younger brothers; John Henry and Amarald Glen, serving in the royal Flying Corps and respectively, 1 Machine Battalion. Amarald was also presented with a Military Medal for Gallantry at Villaret. Sister Ella also served as a nurse, got married, but tragically returned as an amputee. It was only her youngest sister Amy who did not serve during the war.
Have you ever been a part of something big? Maybe a it was a big game or
The Battle of Normandy was a turning point in World War II. Canada, America, and Great Britain arrived at the beaches of Normandy and their main objective was to push the Nazi’s out of France. The Invasion at Normandy by the Allied Powers winning this battle lead to the liberation of France and Western Europe. Most importantly Hitler’s was being attacked from both the eastern and western front, and caused him to lose power. If the Allied Powers did not succeed in D-Day Hitler would’ve taken over all of Europe.In a document written by General Dwight Eisenhower he persuades the allied powers to invade Normandy. Dwight Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890. Eisenhower became the 34th president of the United States. He served as the president from January 20, 1953 through January 20, 1961. Before his presidency Dwight participated in World War I and was moved up to captain. Dwight would then take part in World War II and work his way up to becoming a General.
Of particular note among the interviews are those with Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, President Eisenhower, and General Simpson, all from 1963. Doug McCabe   The period covered in this book is a very short one, covering the building of the Atlantic wall in little detail, and in great detail, the few days before D-Day and the initial attacks on D-Day itself. On the German side, Hitler has ordered the building of a massive Atlantic Wall to stop any Allied attackers from landing on the western seaboard, from the Kirkenes to the Pyrenees.
The raid was studied carefully after the fatalities that had occurred in order to improve tactics for future attacks. One of them being the location, attacking from the sea was certainly unwise this would later influence landing choices for future attacks. Similarly the allies also concluded that they needed to improve their communication skills between personnel on and offshore. All this adjustments influenced the future attacks but most importantly the attack on D-day. Since all these adjustments were made the future attack on Normandy (D-Day) concluded in a great victory against the Germans. Because of the Victory on D-day it is important to understand that without the disastrous Raid on Dieppe none of these lessons would have been learned and applied , and D-day would've never been a
A writer, David R Jennys had said, “Most German strategists felt that the target would be the Pas-de-Calais area, where the English Channel was narrowest. Therefore, the strongest defenses were constructed there”, (D-Day, The beginning of the end for Nazi Germany). The Germans already had lost many men in other battles and D-Day was remaining for them to shine. Instead of the Germans dominating Juno, Canada and the allies came full force toward the weakened German Army and defeated them. The German troops were not prepared to fight at Normandy because they were alerted wrong and that caused them to lose this battle and in this battle they suffered the most casualties out of any other battle. Last but not least, Juno beach was a successful capture for the Canadians in spite of all the conflicts they had encountered. 20,000 Canadian soldiers fought and landed at Juno on June 6th 1944 in the town of Normandy in France. The initial landing date was June 5th but it was delayed by one day because of harsh weather
Works Cited Horne, Alistair. A.S.A. & Co. To Lose a Battle: France, 1940. New York: Penguin, 1990. Jackson, Julian.
Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. On that fateful day American troops storm the beaches of Normandy for the largest invasion of world war two. As General Patton watches over his men through the steadily held binoculars, the German bunkers flash through the muzzles of MG-42 machine guns. As the ramps of the landing crafts open men fall left and right as Patton studies his Omaha beach map. The Invasion of Normandy was home to a massive force of men all as planned by General Patton under the President Dwight D Eisenhower. The large scale invasion was the first step to gaining a foothold to fight against Nazi occupied Germany and this invasion tactic would prove to be successful earning General Patton much respect. On D-day 448,000 tons of ammo was present leading to shell casings and fragments to lie across the baron and bloody beach. 12,000 allied airmen and 2,000 aircraft were lost in the sky of burning fury. 9,386 allied men still lie in Normandy in present day all facing west towards the U.S. 307 of these men have no engraving on their tombstones and are unknown to this day for their families and friends
World War 1 World War 1 was called “The Great War”, “The war to end all wars”, and “The first modern war”. It has many causes and a few repercussions and I will describe them in detail. The most widely known reason for the start of World War 1 was the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in the Serbian capital of Sarajevo. The ArchDuke was there to talk to the Serbian leaders about peace on the Balkan Peninsula. After a Serbian was arrested for the assassination, Austria-Hungary pulled out of the peace talks and declared war on Serbia.
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.