D Day Attack Case Study

On June 6th, 1944 at around 6:30 in the morning, members of the 299th Combat Engineer Brigade would make their way as some of the first men on Omaha and Utah beaches. On Omaha beach companies “A” and “C” would work the entire day under heavy fire while clearing obstacles and mines. Company “B” landed on Utah beach where they would clear mines and obstacles in order to allow tanks to travel up the beach. Company “B” would also be under direct and indirect fire, however, company “B” did not have any infantry support in front of them. The company was supposed to land on

On June 6th 1944, the U.S. and allied forces executed an amphibious assault named Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day, along the north-western coastline region of France. The operation covered in this paper will discuss a key battle during the Invasion of Normandy. The Invasion of Normandy was a successful operation focused towards German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. This paper will also cover a brief history and key points of The Battle of Omaha Beach. Critical reasoning and battle analysis will be expressed through what intelligence assets were applied, utilized and available during the time era. The analysis outcome will lead to an expressed alternative ending on The Battle of Omaha Beach. A detailed explanation of how intelligence assets could have been used to change the course of the battle will defend the explained alternative ending discussed. The main points of discussion will include Adolf Hitler’s decision to move most of his tank divisions and infantry units 150 miles north to Calais, the significance of the highly effective group known as the French Resistance and a famous illusionist Jasper Maskelyne.

The invasion of D-Day is the largest joint sea born invasion in the history of the world. Although very well planned, the amphibious landings were a gamble made by the Allied forces to gain foothold in Europe. Every American has heard about the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe on D-Day. However, how many Americans stop and think about how much planning, preparation and luck that went into making it the success that it is remembered for? I will attempt to depict what it took to conquer the Normandy beaches using historical and military facts that make it such an iconic event in the world’s history still today.

These machines we're made because trench warfare was slow and unpredictable, because of sneak attacks, just waiting for time to shoot seemed very slow too them. Tanks we're able to drag barbed wire away with an grappling hook or also to flatten barbed wire so that the soldiers couldn't cross it. The first tanks we're difficult to maneuver mostly because of thick mud and uneven grounds of the Western Front. The tanks we're also hot and very small as well as cramped. The idea for the tanks came from studying farm

The first tanks came with the internal combustion engine and caterpillar tracks. These, however, were quite unreliable and broke down very frequently. The naval force devised bigger, stronger ships with bigger guns. Their new and improved submarines were imperative in this war. They aided in the strategy of war of attrition, or breaking the enemy down by attacking its personnel and supplies.[viii]

Britain and France desperately awaited the moment when the US would fully join in the fighting in Europe during World War II, and D-Day brought that full fledged involvement. If not for the efforts of the United States of America, its cooperation and planning with its allies, the invasion would not have been successful. It was successful, however, due to previous planning, the level of supplies and men from the US combined with the European allies, as well as the divided German forces. D-Day was the beginning of liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control. Hitler had known that in order for the Allies to be successful, there would have to be an invasion of mainland Europe - which his forces controlled most of - and that it would come from northwestern Europe, with Great Britain being the jumping off point. But if he was expecting the attack, why was he not better prepared? The planning that had gone into the invasion at the beaches of Normandy on the coast of France had been thorough and extensive, with a large part of that planning being the intentional disinformation about the location of the invasion, thus fooling the Nazi leader. These factors explain why Operation Overlord was successful, and thus became the turning point in the world war.

As the day progressed, this prospect seemed more and more likely until the naval commander released the destroyers to provide support to the troops on the beaches and on top of the bluffs. This support This support helped to both establish and maintain the American beach head at Omaha Beach.

The army had already started to experiment on gasoline driven trucks as early as 1911. In order to take the supplies up north the infantry division required 150 tons of gasoline per day, and the armored division required 350 tons per day. Some of the supply lines was thousands of miles long.

Workers put together a whole dummy oil dock near Dover made from sewage pipes, camouflage-painted board and fiberboard. The Lord Mayor of Dover mentioned publicly to King George VI, when he came to inspect the facility, that it could be used possibly as an asset after the war. The mock dock was protected by fighter air patrols ordered by the British Royal Air Force. Crude oil was burned in smudge pots by workers on the ground to make sure the facility was kept in a haze. Pyrotechnics were also used to simulate damage and fires from occasional hits from nearby German guns. The Ghost Army also had a division that made the radio deceptions happen their name was The Signal Company which had only 296 men that were special trained for the task which took hours to plan and complete. They would have to have hundreds of hours of training. In conclusion the Ghost Army was a critical part to D-Day. The Ghost Army helped the allies gain much land and help win the battle of D-Day. If the Ghost Army hadn’t been there to help end the war many more innocent lives would have been taken by the

The Allied Forces took much time in plotting the invasion of the beaches of Normandy, France to establish a sure victory, as they’d be sacrificing many troops and resources. They also skillfully and masterfully concocted a planned hoax by deciding they would place dummy landing sites all around the eastern coast, set up dozens (hundreds, even) tanks to bluff an invasion of the wrong site. They even planned to organize a faux radio network, that told

“6936 vessels gathered in preparation for landings at Normandy beaches” (Preston) The Allied forces were encouraged to stand by each other and supply the army with the boats, tanks, and planes needed to be successful on D-Day. D-Day strengthened the Allied forces, making it possible for them to unite together and emerge victorious from the battle of Normandy. This victory gave their army the fierce initiative to continue fighting towards the end of WWII. Less than a week later, on June 11, the beaches were fully secured by the Allied forces. Finally, after a major increase in morale on D-Day, the allied forces were able to band together and secure the five beaches at Normandy where they had fought just days earlier.

Another part of why WWI was an industrial war, not just because of the new technological advancements, but because of the numbers in man power. Like mass production in industry, soldiers were mass made.

During his time as the DES Operations Officer, Major Wagoner was the lead planner in the development of the FPCON Bravo support design to the installation. His knowledge and expertise allowed him to successfully coordinate with the Division Staff, Garrison Directorates, and the Directorate of Emergency Services to provide a robust reaction force that played a vital role in providing law enforcement and other emergency services during two 1st Infantry Division Command Post Exercises.

In the book, Ryan tends to quote just figures and doesn’t expand on just how that many boats, planes, paratroopers, or soldiers would look if you actually saw them. Hundreds upon hundreds of boats were sent across the English Channel filled with men. They sailed across in orderly lines and rows, different ships of different sizes all moving along together as far as the eye could see. If you just read the book, the best idea you can get about the naval fleet is from a picture in the book of the boats. In the movie, the boats are shown from the view of the soldiers on the boats, to the Germans waiting on the shore. With the use of great special effects, we can get an accurate idea of the mind-boggling amount of ships waiting off the shores of France to invade. Also as impressive as the boats, were the troops coming wave after wave onto the shore. In the invasion scenes, Ryan does a great job in explaining just what had happened to the men and their boats as they invaded the Omaha, Sword, Utah, and Gold beaches. But, the film does a better job of shocking the viewer with the amount of men actually there and the ones that actually die. It used an extraordinarily large amount of extras as soldiers to invade the beach, convincing the viewer that what they were seeing was in fact real. While the deaths are never gory, they get their point across without disturbing the viewer. But in the book, Ryan states simply that a

Most logistical tacticians have a tendency to review historical documents before developing strategies to deploy and redeploy troops and equipment. This common practice is very successful to deploying soldiers and equipment, but historically there is a lack of emphasis on the redeployment, or retrograde of equipment. The soldiers are undoubtedly brought home; nonetheless antiquity shows us equipment is sometimes not a priority to return. Logistic American retrograde issues were first publically noticed in 1847 following war with Mexico. A published Army bulletin revealed property divesting as an issue and needed a high priority because of the great loss of left behind equipment. Again after World Wars I and II, the military had immense amounts of equipment scattered across the Pacific and Europe. There was no specific need for the equipment after the war, and much of it was abandoned in place, and although lack of retrograde operations occurred, the abandoned equipment turned useful in supporting the Korean War. Logisticians learning their lessons from previous wars, vowed to not be unprepared while entering the Vietnam War. Specialized programs and systems were established to document, classify and store all equipment entering Vietnam. Continental Army Command initialized the program STOP/SEE to