 |
 |
| answer the call of duty while serving in Italy. Eisenhower knew that the best way he could use Patton was to create a fictional "1st Army," which Patton would pretend to lead. Patton, of course, was hesitant to participate in this deceptive act, as he'd rather be in the field, but with some convincing, General Patton re-located and sat in wait. The massive diversionary tactic that would lead up to the June Invasion of Normandy was almost as brilliant as the invasion itself. General Patton's fictional 1st Army was stationed in Kent, England. Consisting of props manufactured by a Hollywood Studio and thousands of soldiers stationed there, German Aerial photgraphs seemed to report that the Allies had amassed a monsterous force, assumably to invade Pas-de-Calais, which was closest to England via the narrowest shore-to-shore gap in the English Channel. To further support this concept, Allied spies such as the infamous "Garbo" used further deceits, by first convincing German leaders to trust and believe them, then by feeding them information that the invasion would indeed occur north, just as the photographs would suggest. Allied radio operators spent countless hours sending false, misleading transmissions |
 |
| that were seemingly coded, which also suggested upon translation that the invasion would take place in Pas-de-Calais. Late into May of 1944, the Nazi leaders, including Adolph Hitler himself, were positively convinced beyond a reason of a doubt that such an invasion was going to take place soon, and it would occur in Pas-de-Calais. They also feared a diversionary invasion would come from Scotland and strike either Belgium or the Netherlands. The diversions were a success. In early June of 1944, the German's had built up powerful defenses in Pas-de-Calais and Belgium, fearing an invasion would occur soon. But to the dismay of Allied leaders, the ever- cautious Germans had also set up defenses in Normandy. Many believed these defenses to be too weak to thwart the actual invasion, but all the same, they were defenses regardless, and one small mistake could prove fatal and throw the Allies back to the sea. As the Allies prepared for war and a scheduled June 5th invasion, they were stuck by poor fate. Weather conditions forced them to postpone the attack and wait for feasible sailing conditions. And so, they waited, some patiently, some wracking their nerves with anxiety. All were laden with fear. Suddenly, on the morning of June 6th, 1944, the weather cleared, and thus began the greatest invasion of all time. The massive D- Day invasion, codenamed "Operation Overlord," would consist of multiple facets of attack, but |
 |
| six primarily. First would be aerial bombardments by Allied planes, striking both the ports in Pas-de-Calais and also the real landing spot in Normandy. These bombings were standard... the German's expected nightly bombings. What they hadn't expected, however, was for the targets to change. Suddenly, Allied bombers were striking with precision and hitting secondary-producing explosions and other fires. German soldiers were finding wooden dummy's designed to look like paratroopers, and in several instances entire companies of German soldiers were bogged down miles from the true combat because they feared Allied paratrooper companies would attack them at any given moment. Next were the gliders that landed well behind the coast, filled with soldiers whose primary objectives were to seize and hold bridges, roads, and rail lines. Practically at the same time these gliders were crashing into the woods, American and British Paratroopers were dropping in, also behind enemy lines, to sieze and destroy gun batteries the German's would use against Allied landing forces |
 |
| as soon as they hit the beaches. The actions of these paratroopers are detailed in fine detail in the HBO epic miniseries "Band of Brothers." Meanwhile, French Resistance soldiers, or Freedom Fighters, would take to arms and destroy rail lines, barracks, and German supplies. The last two methods of attack were the most blunt. In the morning hours the landing craft would take the beaches. This was unexpected in particular by the German's, as the Allied forces has only previously attacked at night. To soften the beachheads of Sword, Juno, Gold, Utah, and Omaha, a massive navy bombardement would rock the coastline for nearly an hour, until |
| the Allied landing craft were close and thus in range of those attacks. The night before the Invasion, multiple mistakes took place on both sides of the conflict, although the German's had made far too many mistakes that inevitibely led to their demise a year later. Prior to the invasion, a radio transmission was accidentally sent out that detailed certain aspects of the real invasion, and those transmissions were intercepted by the Germans. A drunken US soldier in a British pub had blurted out loud the plans of the true invasion. A highly- ranked Commissioned Officer had told his girlfriend all about the invasion, and she in turn told all of her friends and family that same evening. But these mistakes were petty in comparison to the large communication breakdowns and lack of intelligent command on the side of the Germans. It was assumed the Allies would never invade in weather as poor as that which rocked the Normandy coast, and on top of that, they never attacked during daylight hours anyway, so many German soldiers and most of the German Officers and non-com's were given a 2-day leave. Sure that the invasion would not take place for quite some time, the Senior German Officer, General Rumstedt, went on holiday to visit his wife for her birthday. Most of the soldiers defending the beaches in Normandy near the village of Arromanches were relaxed and ill- prepared, as well as ill- equipped, for the invasion which would soon come. In the earliest hours of the attack, the German Officers who still manned their posts saw the chaos unravelling and were sure the invasion would come soon, but by this time they were unable to contact their vacationing soldiers and officers, and their higher-ups refused to dispatch the armoured "Panzer" divisions as they felt this may be a diversionary invasion. In just a few short hours these individuals would regret such mistakes. |