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Landing
Areas: |
Normandy
coast
on the SE edge of the Cotentin
Peninsular
("Utah"),
and between Rivers Vire and Orne
("Omaha", "Gold",
"Juno", "Sword") |
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21st
Army
Group - Gen Montgomery
Five US, British, Canadian
infantry divisions,
followed by one US infantry and
one British
armoured division, total of
130,000 Allied troops
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Forces
landing and areas of
departure:
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US
Beaches
US
First Army - US Gen
Bradley
"Utah"
Beach - US 7th Corps from
Dartmouth area
"Omaha" Beach -
US 5th
Corps from Portland area
"Omaha"
Beach
follow-up:
one
US
infantry division from Plymouth
area
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British
&
Canadian Beaches
British
Second Army - Gen
Dempsey
"Gold"
Beach
- British 30th Corps from
Southampton area
"Juno"
Beach
- Canadian forces of British 1st
Corps from
Portsmouth area
"Sword"
Beach
- British 1st Corps from Newhaven
area
follow-up:
British
armoured
division from Thames area
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Naval
Task Forces and Commanders
(RN
refers to both Royal and Dominion
Navy vessels)
|
Western
Rear-Adm A G Kirk USN
|
Eastern
Rear-Adm Sir P Vian
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Assault
Phase
|
Warships |
Warships |
Battleships
|
3 US |
3 RN |
Cruisers
|
10 (5
RN, 3 US, 2 French) |
13 (12
RN,
1 Allied)
|
Destroyers
& escorts |
51 (11
RN, 36 US, 4 French) |
84 (74
RN, 3 French, 7 Allied)
|
Other
warships, incl. minesweepers
& coastal forces
|
260 (135
RN, 124 US, 1 Allied) |
248 (217
RN, 30 US, 1 Allied) |
Total
Warships
|
324
(151 RN, 166 US, 6 French,
1 Allied)
|
348
(306 RN, 30 US, 3 French,
9 Allied)
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Major
Amphibious Forces |
Landing
&
Ferry Vessels |
Landing
&
Ferry Vessels |
LSIs,
landing ships & craft |
644 (147
RN, 497 US) |
955 (893
RN, 62 US)
|
Ferry
service vessels & landing
craft |
220 (RN
& US) |
316 (RN
& US) |
Totals
incl. Warships
|
1,188 |
1,619 |
Grand
Total
|
2,807 |
Plus
minor landing craft
|
836 |
1,155 |
Naval
&
Maritime Forces
The
two Naval Task
Forces totalled 672 warships
for assault convoy
escort, minesweeping, shore
bombardment, local
defence, etc, and 4,126 major
and minor landing
ships and craft for initial
assault and ferry
purposes: a grand total of
4,798. To this can be
added the following:
(1)
Home
Command for
follow-up escort and
Channel patrols, plus
reserves:
1
battleship (RN);
118
destroyers and escorts
(108
RN, 4
US, 1
French, 5 Allied);
364 other warships
including coastal
forces (340 RN, 8 French,
16
Allied).
(2)
Western
Channel Approaches
A/S Escort Groups
and reserves:
3
escort carriers (RN),
55 destroyers and escort
vessels (RN).
(3)
Merchant
ships in their
hundreds - mainly
British
liners, tankers, tugs, etc
to supply and
support the invasion and
naval forces.
(4)
British 'Mulberry'
harbour project
of two artificial
harbours and five
'Gooseberry' breakwaters
including:
400
'Mulberry'
units totalling 1.5
million
tons and including up to
6,000-ton
'Phoenix' concrete
breakwaters;
160
tugs
for towing;
59
old
merchantmen and warships
to be sunk as
blockships for the
'Gooseberries'. All
were in place by the 10th
June.
(5)
Specially
equipped British
vessels for
laying PLUTO -
Pipeline Under The
Ocean - across the Channel
from the Isle of
Wight to carry petroleum
fuel.
The
assault forces
sailed from their ports of
departure on the
5th to a position off
the Isle of Wight, and
headed south through swept
channels down 'The
Spout' towards Normandy. Two
midget submarines
were already on station off
the British sector,
ready to guide in the landing
craft. Partly
because of elaborate deception
plans, partly
because of poor weather, both
strategic and
tactical surprise was
achieved. The invasion was
not expected in such weather
conditions and
certainly not in Normandy. The
Germans expected
the Pas-de-Calais with its
much shorter
sea-crossing to be the target
although realised
that diversionary landings
might be made in
Normandy.
Soon
after
midnight on the morning of the
6th, the
invasion got underway with the
US 82nd and 101st
Airborne Divisions dropping
behind 'Utah' beach
and the British 6th Airborne
between 'Sword'
beach and Caen. At dawn,
after heavy
preliminary air and sea
bombardments, and with
complete Allied air supremacy,
the landings went
ahead. Royal Marine Commandos
Nos 47, 48 and 41
took part in the assaults on
the British and
Canadian beaches. Against
varying degrees of
resistance, the toughest on
'Omaha', all five
beachheads were established by
the end of the day
and 150,000 Allied troops were
on French soil.
'Omaha' linked up with the
British and Canadian
beaches by the 8th,
and two days later -
the 10th - 'Utah' made
contact with
'Omaha'. On the 12th,
330,000 men and
50,000 vehicles were ashore.
As
US Seventh
Corps fought its way across
the Cotentin, the
rest of US First Army thrust
forward around St
Lo. Further east the British
and Canadian Corps
of British Second Army battled
their way around
Caen against fierce German
counter-attacks. By
the 18th the
Americans had reached the
western side of Cotentin and
Seventh Corps headed
north for the port of
Cherbourg.
Between
the 19th
and 22nd, violent
Channel gales wrecked
the US 'Mulberry' harbour off
'Omaha' and
seriously damaged the British
one off 'Gold'
beach. Many landing craft and
DUKWS were lost and
a total of 800 driven ashore.
Only the British
harbour was repaired and the
need for Cherbourg
became even more important. By
the 27th,
with strong gunfire support
from Allied warships,
the port was in US hands.
Although the
installations were wrecked and
the waters heavily
mined, the first supply ships
were discharging
their cargoes by mid-July.
As
Cherbourg fell,
British troops of Second Army
started a major
attack to the west of Caen
(Operation 'Epsom')
but were soon held by the
Germans.
By
the end of
June nearly 660,000 men
had landed in France.
Although the Allies were well
established on the
coast and possessed all the
Cotentin Peninsular,
the Americans had still not
taken St Lo, nor the
British and Canadians the town
of Caen,
originally a target for D-day.
German resistance,
particularly around Caen was
ferocious, but the
end result was similar to the
Tunisian campaign.
More and more well-trained
German troops were
thrown into the battle, so
that when the Allies
did break out of Normandy the
defenders lost
heavily and lacked the men to
stop the Allied
forces from almost reaching
the borders of
Germany.
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Normandy
Beaches -
In spite of the vast number of warships
lying off the
Normandy beaches and escorting the follow-up
convoys,
losses were comparatively few, although
mines, especially
of the pressure-operated variety were
troublesome:
6th
- Destroyer
"WRESTLER"
escorting a
Canadian assault group to 'Juno', was
badly damaged
by a mine and not repaired.
8th
- Frigate "LAWFORD" on patrol in Seine
Bay, also
after escorting an assault group to
'Juno', was
bombed and sunk.
9th
- Old light
cruiser "DURBAN" was expended off
Ouistreham as one of
the 'Gooseberry' breakwaters. Sister
ship, the
Polish-manned "DRAGON" was damaged in
early July and joined her
in this final but important role.
12th
- By now
the battleship "Warspite", the ship that
ended the war
with the greatest number of Royal Navy
battle
honours, had left her gunfire support
duties off the
Normandy beaches to be fitted with
replacement gun
barrels. On passage to Rosyth, Scotland
she was
damaged by a mine of Harwich and out of
action until
August. Then she returned in the support
role
bombarding Brest.
13th
-
Escorting a follow-up convoy to the
beaches,
destroyer "BOADICEA" was sunk in the
English
Channel off Portland Bill by torpedo
bombers.
18th
-
Battleship "Nelson" was slightly damaged
by a mine as she
fired her guns off the beaches.
21st
-
Destroyer "FURY" was mined and driven
ashore in the gales
that played havoc with the Mulberry
harbours. She was
refloated but not repaired.
23rd
- Adm
Vian's flagship, the AA cruiser
"Scylla", was also mined in Seine Bay.
Seriously damaged, she was out of action
until after
the war and then never fully
re-commissioned.
24th
- Mines
claimed another victim. Destroyer
"SWIFT's" back was broken and she went
down five miles off the British beaches.
25th
- As
cruiser "Glasgow" in company with US
warships bombarded
Cherbourg, she received several hits
from shore
batteries and was out of action for the
rest of the
war. Nine days after carrying King
George VI on a
visit to Normandy, cruiser "Arethusa"
was slightly damaged by a mine
or bomb while anchored off the beaches.
Three
US destroyers
and a destroyer escort were also lost
off Normandy in
June.
Channel
Patrols -
Attempts by German light forces to
interfere with
invasion shipping had little effect and
they suffered
heavy losses. However, on D-day, torpedo
boats sank the
Norwegian destroyer "SVENNER". Then on the
night of the 8th/9th
another force of destroyers and torpedo
boats tried to
break through from Brest but was
intercepted by the 10th
Destroyer Flotilla of 'Tribals' off
Ushant. Destroyer "ZH-1" (ex-Dutch) was
damaged by
"Tartar" and torpedoed and sunk by
"Ashanti", and "Z-32" driven ashore by the
Canadian
"Haida" and "Huron" and later blown
up.
Western
Channel
Approaches - Aircraft of Coastal
Command and Escort
Groups of the RN and RCN on patrol at the
west end of the
English Channel and its approaches were
ready for any
attempt by U-boats to reach the 'Neptune'
ships. Only
schnorkel-equipped boats dared try, and
the few that did
had little success. In June they lost 12
of their number:
off the Channel, aircraft sank five
including "U-629" and "U-373" in one day,
the 8th,
to one RAF Liberator of No 224 Squadron
(Flg Off
K. Moore). Two more went down in the Bay
of Biscay as
they returned from Atlantic patrol.
Warships accounted
for the remaining five, but two frigates
were sunk and
other escorts severely damaged:
15th
- Frigate
"BLACKWOOD" was torpedoed off Brittany
by
"U-764" and sank in tow off Portland
Bill.
15th
- Frigate
"MOURNE"
was sunk by "U-767" off Land's End.
18th
- Three
days after sinking "Mourne", "U-767" was
caught off the Channel
Islands by destroyers "Fame",
"Havelock" and "Inconstant" of
14th EG and sent to the bottom.
24th
-
Destroyers "Eskimo" and Canadian
"Haida" of 10th Flotilla, together with
a
Czech Wellington of No 311 Squadron,
sank
"U-971"
off Ushant.
25th
- Two
U-boats were lost off Start Point in the
English
Channel - "U-1191" to frigates "Affleck"
and
"Balfour" of the 1st EG, and "U-269" to
"Bickerton" (Capt
Macintyre) of the 5th EG.
27th/29th
- Two
days after badly damaging corvette
"PINK" (constructive total loss) on
the 27th and sinking two
merchantmen, "U-988" was caught and sank
off the
Channel Islands by frigates "Cooke",
"Domett", "Duckworth" and
"Essington" of 3rd EG and a RAF
Liberator
of No 224 Squadron.
Normandy
to Berlin is continued in
Western
Front June 1944-May 1945
link
to
D-Day
Museum, Portsmouth
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