Author Topic: Operation Overlord: What Happened on D-Day and How Successful Were the Landings?  (Read 1105 times)

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rangerrebew

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Operation Overlord: What Happened on D-Day and How Successful Were the Landings?

History Hit

 

On 6 June 1944, the Allies launched the greatest amphibious invasion in history. Codenamed “Overlord” but best known today as “D-Day”, the operation saw Allied forces landing on the beaches of Normandy in Nazi-occupied France in huge numbers. By the end of the day, the Allies had established a foothold on the French coastline.
The Numbers Involved

A second wave of Canadian troops disembarks from landing craft at Juno beach on the Normandy coast, armed with bicycles, shortly before midday on 6 June 1944.

The statistics for the invasion force involved in the operation are staggering. By midnight on 6 June, 132,000 Allied forces had landed in France, while more than 2 million were eventually shipped there in total, comprising a total of 39 divisions.

Thousands of vessels took part in the operation, including 139 major warships; 221 smaller combat vessels; more than 1000 minesweepers and auxiliary vessels; 4,000 landing craft; 805 merchant ships; 59 blockships; and 300 miscellaneous small craft.

https://www.historyhit.com/operation-overlord-d-day/

Offline the_doc

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Operation Overlord: What Happened on D-Day and How Successful Were the Landings?

I read somewhere that one of the beaches was so bad, maybe Omaha, that of the three landing waves, almost everyone in the first two waves was killed or wounded.

Does anyone have confirming info on this?

Offline mirraflake

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My uncle landed 3 weeks after D-day and while being trucked through France to the front lines noticed all the yet unburied dead bodies.

He knew the crap  was going to hit the fan where they was going. I think out of his platoon only 2 was left.

He was severly wounded and spent almost a year in a hospital

He is 95 and still has constant nightmares being chased by german soldiers. WWII crew never got the PTSD treatment they needed.

@rangerrebew


Offline skeeter

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I read somewhere that one of the beaches was so bad, maybe Omaha, that of the three landing waves, almost everyone in the first two waves was killed or wounded.

Does anyone have confirming info on this?

Wouldn't be surprised, but its plain nothing worked as planned on Omaha. If it weren't for improvisation & initiative of individual privates & noncoms the invasion at this point would've failed completely.

The other four invasion beaches went much more smoothly.

Offline Hoodat

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Quote
By midnight on 6 June, 132,000 Allied forces had landed in France

Less than 0.1% of them were French.
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Offline thackney

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I read somewhere that one of the beaches was so bad, maybe Omaha, that of the three landing waves, almost everyone in the first two waves was killed or wounded.

Does anyone have confirming info on this?

https://www.britannica.com/place/Omaha-Beach

...From the beginning everything went wrong at Omaha. Special “DD” tanks (amphibious Sherman tanks fitted with flotation screens) that were supposed to support the 116th Regiment sank in the choppy waters of the Channel. Only 2 of the 29 launched made it to the beach. With the exception of Company A, no unit of the 116th landed where it was planned. Strong winds and tidal currents carried the landing craft from right to left. The 16th Regiment on the east half of the beach did not fare much better, landing in a state of confusion with units badly intermingled....

...By nightfall the 1st and 29th divisions held positions around Vierville, Saint-Laurent, and Colleville—nowhere near the planned objectives, but they had a toehold. The Americans suffered 2,400 casualties at Omaha on June 6, but by the end of the day they had landed 34,000 troops. The German 352nd Division lost 20 percent of its strength, with 1,200 casualties, but it had no reserves coming to continue the fight....

...Although early reports characterized the attack on the Pointe as a wasted effort because the German guns were not there, the attack was in fact highly successful. By 0900 hours the rangers on the Pointe had cut the road behind the Pointe and had put the guns out of action. They were thus the first American unit to accomplish its mission on D-Day—at a cost of half of their fighting force. By the end of the day they were holding onto a small pocket on the heights of the Pointe, and the Germans were counterattacking. The rangers held out for two days until help arrived....

Lot of detail and info at the link...
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Offline thackney

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Less than 0.1% of them were French.

Wasn't most of the French Troops at D-Day behind enemy lines?
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Offline the_doc

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Wasn't most of the French Troops at D-Day behind enemy lines?

I believe they had a significant commando role.