D-Day (Turning Points in History)
Martin Gilbert
Language: English
Pages: 240
ISBN: 0470373016
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The specter of failure was always present. After a failed landing the Nazi regime would have regained the ascendant. New, terrifying bombs and rockets were ready to be launched. Long-distance submarines were in the final stage of development. The last million Jews of Europe were listed for deportation and death.
Failure at Normandy could have given Hitler the chance of continuing to rule western Europe, particularly if the United States, bloodied and defeated in Normandy, had decided-after two and a half years of focusing on Europe-to turn all its energies to the ever-growing demands of the Pacific, leaving Europe to its own devices. Had that happened, I doubt if I would have been alive to write this book, or free to express my opinions without fear of arrest.
--Martin Gilbert
Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery, and the Crisis of Truth in the Modern Age
The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War
Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler
The Scars of War: Tokyo during World War II: Writings of Takeyama Michio
Sought, and obtained, the President’s agreement to the rule proposed by General Morgan and his COSSAC team, whereby if there were more than twelve mobile German divisions in France at the intended moment of the Allied landing, that landing would not take place. Nor, as Morgan had advised, should the Germans be capable of a build-up of more than fifteen divisions “in the succeeding two months.”* Churchill’s primary fear was casualties. “We had the most solemn warnings of what might happen,”.
Of the Normandy landings. The battery comprised four gun positions, a two-storied observation bunker, anti-aircraft guns, defense works, and searchlights. On October 28, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, Commander-in-Chief, West, gave Hitler an assessment on what he believed to be the three most likely points of an Allied invasion. These were the Channel coast, the French Riviera, and the Bay of Biscay, possibly in some combination. Sent by top-secret radio signal, von Rundstedt’s assessment was.
Allied Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, that he wanted the Italian campaign to be the main thrust of Allied strategy. In support of this priority, Eisenhower emphasized “the vital importance of continuing the maximum possible operations in an established theater since much time was invariably lost when the scene of action was changed, necessitating as it did the arduous task of building up a fresh base.” But the Italian campaign, with its prospect both of drawing large German forces deep into.
Warships offshore were starting their final hour of bombardment of the German batteries, in anticipation of the troops reaching them and advancing beyond them. Above the beachhead the Allied air forces flew a total of 13,688 sorties on June 6. These included reconnaissance flights above and beyond the beachhead, cross-Channel shipping protection, smokescreen cover, convoy and beach cover, artillery spotting, anti-U-boat patrols, parachutist and glider tugs, defensive patrols and offensive sweeps.
With the battery at Merville overrun, the Germans concentrated on holding the village of Ranville, five miles inland. Within hours, however, they were driven out. Today, a plaque by the village church records that Ranville was the first French village to be liberated. Four years of Nazi rule were over, and General Gale took up his headquarters in a nearby château. The Germans were determined not to give up. Later in the day they regained the battery at Merville, holding it until the following.