Operation Overlord Invasion in Normandy Preparations for landing

German Preparations for Throwing Allies into the Sea • German defence plans. • German

Operations of Disguise • Patton’s mythical army group. • British fourth army supposed as

D-Day • The biggest ever amphibious operation begins – early hours of June 6,

The Battle for Build-Up • Battle in the Bocage (boscage). • Battle for Caen.

Slides: 5

Operation Overlord – Invasion in Normandy • Preparations for landing. Determination of places. • What were the difficulties of crossing the English Channel (Strait of la Manche)? • Weather and invasion. • Preparation of the ‘swimming’ tanks (not actually swimming, but simply ‘waterproof’). • Bernard Montgomery – Commander of the landing force. , Eisenhower – Commander-in-Chief. • Artificial floating harbours – ‘Mulberry’ and ‘Gooseberry’. • Allies’ overwhelming superiority in air. • Intention to use paratroops.

German Preparations for Throwing Allies into the Sea • German defence plans. • German generals and their attitude to each other: Overall commander Gerd von Rundschtedt, Commander of army group B, responsible for the defeat of invasion forces, Ervin von Rommel. • Rommel’s try to get all armoured divisions and Hitler’s refusal. • Rommel’s mining campaign. • Real situation around the ‘Atlantic Wall’. • German weakness. • Weather forecasts and German belief that there would be no invasion at the beginning of June.

Operations of Disguise • Patton’s mythical army group. • British fourth army supposed as a great threat by Germans, but it existed only in airwaves. • Will allies attack through Strait of Dover (Strait of Pas-de-Calais)? • Hitler’s decision to stop transfer of troops from Norway to France due to the ‘danger’ of allied invasion into Norway. • German disbelief in possible invasion in Normandy. • “Operation Carbo”.

D-Day • The biggest ever amphibious operation begins – early hours of June 6, 1944. • Paratroopers in action. • Five assault areas: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches. • Birthdays and their impact on war – Rommel was out to Germany for his wife’s birthday and nearly the whole German staff was drunk due to the birthday of Gen. Erich Marcks. • Hitler does not believe that it is real invasion and rejects the plan of moving all panzer troops to Normandy. • Results of first day of battle.

The Battle for Build-Up • Battle in the Bocage (boscage). • Battle for Caen. Montgomery’s mistakes near Caen. • Hitler’s secret weapon: V-1 and V-2 (pronounce as fau-1 and fau-2). • Allies need a port. • Storm. • Cherbourg is taken, but its port is unusable for a while. • Caen taken at last (on July 9 instead of June 6). • Germans believe at last that this is the only invasion which will be in Northern France. • Results of Allied landing. • Preparations for new attacks on Germans.