D-Day

At this time in the war, the Soviets were still itching for a second front to be opened, to distract the Germans from the continuous attack on Russia. Most of the war in Europe at the time was between Russia and Germany, and in the Soviets’ opinion, the war in Italy was moving too slowly – it was time for the U.S. to invade Nazi-occupied France. The first attempt at a U.S. invasion of France occurred in Dieppe, on August 19, 1942. For the Americans, it was a disaster. Called Operation Jubilee, this battle made the United States realize that they could not raid a French town, and were in fact basically instructed on how not to invade France by this experience. Soon, the Allies decided to try being more secretive. In Operation Fortitude, they worked to trick the Germans into spreading out and overestimating American forces. They made fake armies in Scotland and Norway, and completely convinced Hitler of an army led by General Patton, moving toward Calasis in Southeast London. The Germans were sure that the United States was planning a major attack with one of their best generals, so they put a lot of focus on this area. There were also fake armies in Gibraltar and the Balkans, so that Hitler figured America had 92-97 divisions, when they truly had only 35. This put him on the defensive, spreading his forces thin. This operation, an effective use of propaganda, helped the U.S. find a gap in the German line. On June 6^th, 1944, the United States invaded Normandy, France in Operation Overload. They brought many supplies – 3.5 million troops, 13000 aircraft, 3500 gliders, 1200 fighter ships, 4204 assault crafts, and 93 destroyers – for this huge amphibious assault. The 101^st airborne, led by General Maxwell Taylor, was in charge of securing the Omaha and Utah beaches. The drops in the region were scattered, leading Germans to continue to think the attack was intended for Calasis. The Allied plan was to hit 5 beaches. First, Sword Beach, the key to Normandy. This group also tried to take Caen, and although they failed at this on D-Day, they were successful in securing it in the months afterwards. Next, at Juno Beach, the Canadian 3^rd infantry launched the most successful attack on a beach all day. At Gold Beach, at the center of the landings, Miles Dempsey led the British 50th infantry division of the 2nd Army. This was considered to be a great success, although they were unable to reach their goal of taking Bayeux. At Utah Beach, American forces in the 4^th cavalry group attacked and captured islands of St. Marcouf, resulting in 2 killed and 17 wounded Americans. Helping this victory was the fact that all of the Americans were dropped 2000 miles South of the landing zone accidentally, keeping them out of harm’s way. There were less than 1% U.S. casualties here, as they were able to surprise Germans with no chance for a counterattack. Finally, at Omaha beach, the American 1^st division was able to secure the landing by a hook. It took 6 hours of very intense fighting that did not go well for the Americans, as well as significant casualties on both sides, to end the fighting. The opposition was much stronger than the U.S. had expected, and because of this, they made less progress than they had hoped. They had wanted to push to the interior, but were not successful, resulting in backups on the beach. D-Day was very successful for Americans overall. General Dwight D. Eisenhower's D-Day Speech: