Britain to fend for itself. That would enable Nazi Germany to muster all its strength against the Soviet Union. By the time American forces returned to Europe-if indeed, they ever returned-Germany might be master of the entire continent, and possibly the Eastern Hemisphere.

American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named supreme commander for the allies in Europe. British General, Sir Frederick Morgan, established a combined American-British headquarters known as COSSAC, for Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander. COSSAC developed a number of plans for the Allies most notable was that of

Operation Overlord, a full scale invasion of France across the English Channel. Eisenhower felt that COSSAC's plan was a sound operation. After reviewing the disastrous hit-and-run raid in 1942 in Dieppe, planners decided that the strength of German defenses required not a number of separate assaults by relativel

concentration of power focused a single main landing. The invasion site would have to be close to at least one major port and airbase to allow for efficient supply lines. Possible sites included among others, the Pas de Calais across the Strait of Dover, and the beaches of Cotentin.

One important question was left unanswered though: what did the Germans know? Under Operation Fortitude, a fictitious American force-the 1st Army Group-assembled just across the Channel from the Pas de Calais. Dummy troops, false radio traffic, dummy landing craft in the bay of the Thames River, huge but unoccupied camps, dummy tanks-all

It was predicted in the planning stages that Omaha would be the hardest beach to take. The beach was narrow, and there were high vertical cliffs behind it. In addition, there also were twice the expected numbers of Germans defending it. The assault was plagued with bad luck from the beginning. Ten infantry barges, carrying more than three hundred men sank with no survivors, twenty-seven amphibious tanks capsized, and almost all of the landing craft carrying the 105mm howitzers succumbed to the rough seas. Being caught in a sinking landing craft meant almost certain death by drowning. The average infantryman carried 70lbs of equipment, plus his weapon (Patrick, 75). "In the first few minutes, nearly one third of the men were hit before reaching the beach. Entire companies were killed in a matter of moments" (Vail 93). The morale of the troops was shattered. Many of them were already seasick, and the shock dealt to them from the death all around them made them panic. !

The invasion from the sea, while not as mixed up as the airborne landings, had it's own problems. The landing craft, overloaded with men, jeeps, tanks, trucks, and artillery, were subjected to rough seas, machinegun fire, and artillery shelling for a good portion of their journey from the larger ships to the beaches. Many of the amphibious tanks, which were to aid in knocking out bunkers and pillboxes, foundered before reaching land. The soldiers hitting the beaches were at an extreme disadvantage. They had to run across almost 300 yards of open beach, dodging mines, bullets, and the constant rain of shells. Their only cover was the wooden and steel obstacles that were placed by the Germans to prevent a landing. Juno, Sword, Gold, Omaha, and Utah were the five beaches scheduled to be hit simultaneously. The British would take Sword and Gold, the Canadians would attack Juno, and the Americans would have Omaha and Utah. The British and Canadians came ashore to light resi!

At 0015 hrs, the pathfinders touched down. These specially trained men were to designate landing zones for the airborne troops that were to follow them. They set up flares, radar beacons, and flashing lights. Even with these visual aids, many inexperienced American pilots dropped their paratroopers far from their designated landing sites. Only one unit landed exactly where it was supposed to be, others were as far as twenty miles from their LZ's. Many units lost many of their men and equipment even before the battle began. Men, artillery, and supplies were drowned or lost in swamps, never to be seen again.

It was Germany's attitude of superiority that lost them the Battle of Normandy. Several years before the invasions, Hitler had ordered Field Marshal Rommel to contrive tactics to defend the French coast from an attack. Rommel came up with several ideas that were pure genius, but for some reason nobody listened to him. The Germans had a new weapon, the V-1 "Buzz-bomb", which was a primitive ballistic missile (Vail 104). Rommel wanted to use it to bomb the Allied troop concentrations that would undoubtedly form around the coast of England. His plan also called for the mining of British harbors, and raiding of docked ships with U-boats. This plan could have ended the assault before it could even commence, for an unknown reason, Hitler and his a

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2842
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)