June 6, 1944 began the long-awaited landing of troops of the anti-Hitler coalition on the northern coast of France, which received the general name "Suzerin" ("Overlord"). The operation was prepared for a long time and carefully, it was preceded by difficult negotiations in Tehran. Millions of tons of military supplies were delivered to the British Isles. On the secret front, the Abwehr was misinformed by the intelligence services of Britain and the United States regarding the landing area and many other activities that ensured a successful offensive. At different times, both here and abroad, the scale of this military operation, depending on the political situation, was sometimes exaggerated, sometimes underestimated. The time has come to give an objective assessment of both it and its consequences in the Western European theater of World War II.
Maked meat, condensed milk and egg powder
As is known from the movies, Soviet soldiers, participants in the war of 1941-1945, called the "second front" American stew, condensed milk, egg powder and other food products that came to the USSR from the USAunder the Lend-Lease program. This phrase was pronounced with a somewhat ironic intonation, expressing little hidden contempt for the "allies". The meaning was invested in it: while we are shedding blood here, they are delaying the start of the war against Hitler. They sit out, in general, wait to enter the war at the moment when both the Russians and the Germans weaken and exhaust their resources. That's when the Americans and the British will come to share the laurels of the winners. The opening of the Second Front in Europe was being postponed, the main burden of hostilities continued to be borne by the Red Army.
In a way, that's exactly what happened. Moreover, it would be unfair to reproach F. D. Roosevelt for not hastening to send the American army into battle, but waiting for the most favorable moment for this. After all, as the President of the United States, he was obliged to think about the good of his country and act in its interests. As for Great Britain, without American help, its armed forces were technically unable to carry out a massive invasion of the mainland. From 1939 to 1941, this country alone waged war with Hitler, she managed to survive, but there was not even a talk of the onset. So there is nothing particularly to reproach Churchill with. In a sense, the Second Front existed throughout the war and until D-Day (day of landing), it fettered significant forces of the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. Most (about three-quarters) of the German navy and air fleet was engaged in operations against Britain.
Nevertheless, without detracting from the merits of the Allies, our participants in the Great Patriotic War always rightly believed thatthat it was they who made a decisive contribution to the common victory over the enemy.
Was it necessary
The condescending and contemptuous attitude towards allied assistance was cultivated by the Soviet leadership throughout the post-war decades. The main argument was the ratio of Soviet and German losses on the Eastern Front with similar numbers of dead Americans, British, Canadians and the same Germans, but already in the West. Nine out of ten killed Wehrmacht soldiers laid down their lives in battles with the Red Army. Near Moscow, on the Volga, in the region of Kharkov, in the mountains of the Caucasus, on thousands of nameless skyscrapers, near obscure villages, the backbone of the military machine was broken, which easily defeated almost all European armies and conquered countries in a matter of weeks, and sometimes even days. Maybe the Second Front in Europe was not needed at all and could have been dispensed with? By the summer of 1944, the outcome of the war as a whole was a foregone conclusion. The Germans suffered monstrous losses, human and material resources were catastrophically lacking, while Soviet military production reached unprecedented speed in world history. The endless "leveling of the front" (as Goebbels' propaganda explained the constant retreat) was essentially a flight. Nevertheless, I. V. Stalin persistently reminded the allies of their promise to strike at Germany from the other side. In 1943, American troops landed in Italy, but this was clearly not enough.
Where and when
The names of military operations are chosen in such a way as to encapsulate the entire strategic essence in one or two wordsupcoming action. At the same time, the enemy, even recognizing him, should not guess about the main elements of the plan. The direction of the main attack, the technical means involved, the timing, and similar details for the enemy necessarily remain a secret. The upcoming landing on the northern European coast was called "Overlord". The operation was divided into several stages, which also have their own code designations. It began on D-Day with the Neptune, and ended with the Cobra, which involves moving deep into the mainland.
The German General Staff had no doubts that the opening of the Second Front would take place. 1944 is the last date when this event could take place, and, knowing the basic American techniques, it was difficult to imagine that the allies of the USSR would launch an offensive in the unfavorable autumn or winter months. In the spring, an invasion was also considered unlikely due to erratic weather conditions. So, summer. The intelligence provided by the Abwehr confirmed the massive transportation of technical equipment. Disassembled B-17 and B-24 bombers were delivered to the islands by Liberty ships, like Sherman tanks, and in addition to these offensive weapons, other cargoes arrived from across the ocean: food, medicine, fuel and lubricants, ammunition, marine vehicles and much more. It is practically impossible to hide such a large-scale movement of military equipment and personnel. The German command had only two questions: "When?" and "Where?".
Not where they are expected
The English Channel is the narrowest stretch of water between the British Mainland and Europe. It was here that the German generals would have begun the landing, if they had decided on it. This is logical and corresponds to all the rules of military science. But that's why General Eisenhower ruled out the English Channel entirely when planning Overlord. The operation was supposed to come as a complete surprise to the German command, otherwise there was a considerable risk of a military fiasco. In any case, defending the coast is much easier than storming it. The fortifications of the "Atlantic Wall" were created in advance throughout all previous war years, work began immediately after the occupation of the northern part of France and was carried out with the involvement of the population of the occupied countries. They acquired particular intensity after Hitler realized that the opening of the Second Front was inevitable. 1944 was marked by the arrival of General Field Marshal Rommel at the proposed landing site of the Allied troops, whom the Fuhrer respectfully called either the “desert fox” or his “African lion”. This military specialist spent a lot of energy on improving the fortifications, which, as time has shown, were almost not useful. This is a great merit of the American and British intelligence services and other soldiers of the "invisible front" of the allied forces.
Deceive Hitler
The success of any military operation depends to a greater extent on the factor of surprise and the timely created military concentration than on the balance of forces of the opposing sides. The second front followedto open on that part of the coast where the invasion was least expected. The possibilities of the Wehrmacht in France were limited. Most of the German armed forces fought against the Red Army, trying to hold back its advance. The war was transferred from the territory of the USSR to the spaces of Eastern Europe, the oil supply system from Romania was under threat, and without gasoline, all military equipment turned into a pile of useless metal. The situation was reminiscent of a chess zuntzwang, when almost any move led to irreparable consequences, and even more so wrong. It was impossible to make a mistake, but the German headquarters nevertheless drew the wrong conclusions. This was facilitated by many actions of allied intelligence, including the planned "leak" of disinformation, and various measures to mislead Abwehr agents and air intelligence. There were even mock-ups of transport ships placed in ports far from the places of actual loading.
The ratio of military groupings
Not a single battle in the history of mankind went according to plan, there were always unexpected circumstances that prevented this. "Overlord" - an operation that was planned for a long time and carefully, repeatedly postponed for various reasons, which was also no exception. However, the two main components that determined its overall success were still managed to be preserved: the landing site remained unknown to the enemy until D-Day itself, and the balance of forces developed in favor of the attackers. In the landing and subsequent hostilities on the continent, they tookthe fate of 1 million 600 thousand soldiers of the allied forces. Against 6 thousand 700 German guns, the Anglo-American units could use 15 thousand of their own. They had 6 thousand tanks, and the Germans only 2000. It was extremely difficult for one hundred and sixty Luftwaffe aircraft to intercept almost eleven thousand Allied aircraft, among which, in fairness, it should be noted that most of them were Douglas transports (but there were many " Flying Fortresses, and Liberators, and Mustangs, and Spitfires). An armada of 112 ships could only resist five German cruisers and destroyers. Only German submarines had a quantitative advantage, but by that time the Americans' means of combating them had reached a high level.
Beaches of Normandy
The American military did not use French geographical terms, they seemed difficult to pronounce. Like the names of military operations, sections of the coast called beaches were coded. Four of them were singled out: Gold, Omaha, Juno and Sword. Many soldiers of the allied forces died on their sand, although the command did everything to minimize losses. On July 6, eighteen thousand paratroopers (two divisions of the Airborne Forces) were landed from DC-3 aircraft and by means of gliders. Previous wars, like the entire Second World War, did not know such a scale. The opening of the Second Front was accompanied by powerful artillery preparation and air bombardment of defensive structures, infrastructure and locations of German troops. The actions of paratroopers in somecases were not very successful, during the landing there was a dispersion of forces, but this did not matter much. Ships were coming to the shore, they were covered by naval artillery, by the end of the day there were already 156,000 soldiers and 20,000 military vehicles of various types on the shore. The captured bridgehead measured 70 by 15 kilometers (on average). As of June 10, more than 100,000 tons of military cargo had already been unloaded on this runway, and the concentration of troops had reached almost a third of a million people. Despite the huge losses (for the first day they amounted to about ten thousand), after three days the Second Front was opened. This has become an obvious and indisputable fact.
Building Success
In order to continue the liberation of the territories occupied by the Nazis, not only soldiers and equipment were required. War devours hundreds of tons of fuel, ammunition, food and medicine every day. It gives the warring countries hundreds and thousands of wounded who need to be treated. The Expeditionary Force, deprived of supplies, is doomed.
After the Second Front was opened, the advantage of the developed American economy became obvious. The allied forces had no problems with the timely delivery of everything they needed, but this required ports. They were captured very quickly, the first was the French Cherbourg, it was occupied on June 27.
Recovering from the first sudden blow, the Germans, however, were in no hurry to admit defeat. Already in the middle of the month, they first used the V-1 - the prototype of cruise missiles. Despite the scarcity of opportunitiesReich, Hitler found the resources for the mass production of ballistic V-2s. London was shelled (1100 missile strikes), as well as the ports of Antwerp and Liege located on the mainland and used by the Allies to supply troops (almost 1700 FAAs of two types). Meanwhile, the Normandy bridgehead expanded (up to 100 km) and deepened (up to 40 km). It deployed 23 air bases capable of receiving all types of aircraft. The number of personnel increased to 875 thousand. Conditions were created for the development of the offensive already towards the German border, for which the Second Front was opened. The date of the overall victory was approaching.
Allied failures
Anglo-American aviation carried out massive raids on the territory of Nazi Germany, dropping tens of thousands of tons of bomb load on cities, factories, railway junctions and other objects. The Luftwaffe pilots could no longer resist this avalanche in the second half of 1944. Over the entire period of the liberation of France, the Wehrmacht suffered half a million losses, and the Allied forces - only 40 thousand killed (plus more than 160 thousand wounded). The tank troops of the Nazis numbered only a hundred combat-ready tanks (the Americans and the British had 2,000). For every German aircraft, there were 25 Allied aircraft. And there were no more reserves. The 200,000th group of Nazis was blocked in the west of France. In the conditions of the overwhelming superiority of the invading army, German units often hung out a white flag even before the start of artillery preparation. But there were frequent cases of stubborn resistance, as a result of which dozens were destroyed,even hundreds of allied tanks.
On July 18-25, the British (8th) and Canadian (2nd) Corps ran into well-fortified German positions, their attack bogged down, prompting Marshal Montgomery to further claim that the blow was a false and diversion.
An unfortunate incidental consequence of the high firepower of the American troops was the losses from the so-called "friendly fire", when the troops suffered from their own shells and bombs.
In December, the Wehrmacht launched a serious counter-offensive in the Ardennes salient, which was partially successful, but strategically there was little to solve.
The result of the operation and the war
After the Second World War began, the participating countries changed from time to time. Some stopped armed actions, others started them. Some took the side of their former enemies (like Romania, for example), others simply capitulated. There were even states that formally supported Hitler, but never opposed the USSR (like Bulgaria or Turkey). Invariably, the main participants in the war of 1941-1945, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and Britain remained opponents (they fought even longer, from 1939). France was also among the winners, although Field Marshal Keitel, signing the surrender, could not resist making an ironic remark about this.
There is no doubt that the Normandy landings of the Allied forces and the subsequent actions of the armies of the United States, Britain, France and other countries contributed tothe defeat of Nazism and the destruction of the criminal political regime, which did not hide its inhuman essence. However, it is very difficult to compare these efforts, which certainly deserve respect, with the battles of the Eastern Front. It was against the USSR that Hitlerism waged a total war, the purpose of which was the complete destruction of the population, which was also declared by the official documents of the Third Reich. All the more respect and blessed memory deserve our veterans of the Great Patriotic War, who performed their duty in much more difficult conditions than their Anglo-American brothers in arms.
