The disadvantage is that the German army has the strongest defense force here, and the defenders are elite troops, the fortifications are complete and strong, and there is no large port nearby, and there is also a lack of inland communication lines, which is not conducive to the development of depth after the landing. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Normandy was far away from the British, it had the advantage that the German defense was weak, the terrain was open and could deploy 30 divisions at the same time, and the third was that it was only 80 kilometers away from Cherbourg, the largest port in northern France.

After several trade-offs and comparisons, "Kausak" chose Normandy and began to formulate a specific plan on May 12, 1941, with "Overlord" as the code name for the battle plan and "Sea King" as the code name for the relevant naval operation.

It was initially planned to land three divisions on three beachheads, later known as "Omaha", "King" and "Juno", at a 32-kilometre-wide stretch between Kalantan and Caen, with two brigades airborne.

The second echelon, consisting of 8 divisions, will occupy Cherbourg in two weeks. The biggest challenge in the whole plan was the port problem, that is, how to solve the logistics of the troops before the capture of Cherbourg.

It is important to know that the beaches of Normandy are mostly windy and rough weather for a long time, and it is impossible to guarantee logistical supplies by landing on the beachhead alone - this seems to be an insurmountable difficulty.

Helpless, the naval representative of the "Kausak" British Rear Admiral John? Hughes? Hallett remembered Mountbatten's joke at a meeting: "Since there is no natural harbor, build an artificial harbor." ”

Therefore, it was suggested that the manufacturing of accessories should be assembled into an artificial port to solve the problem. There was no other solution, and his idea was approved. On May 15, Morgan submitted the outline of the "Overlord" plan to the British-American Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee for approval, and the Anglo-American Soviet-Tehran Conference decided to launch the "Overlord" operation at the end of September 1941.

U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, arriving in London on May 17, 1941.

Eisenhower read the Morgan Plan, considered the assault front too narrow and lacked sufficient assault force in the initial attack, and proposed a revision to expand the landing front to 80 km.

The first echelon was increased from 3 to 5 divisions, the landing beachhead was also increased from 3 to 5 (the "Utah" and "Sword" beachheads were added), and the airborne troops were increased from 2 to 3 divisions, an opinion supported by the commanders of the three services of the Supreme Command.

Eisenhower convened the first meeting of the Supreme Command of the Expeditionary Force at the Norfolk Hotel, at which the program for landing operations was clarified, making this meeting the most important military conference of World War II.

Subsequently, the Anglo-American Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee approved the outline of the "Overlord" plan and the revised battle plan, but the need for landing ships also increased, and in order to ensure that there were enough landing ships, the Anglo-American Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee decided to set the landing date between September 25-30.

Since the landing date (codenamed D-Day) was set at the end of September, the Allied High Command began to determine specific dates and times, a complex matter of coordination, with the various services making different demands according to their own needs, and the Army requesting landing at the climax to reduce the time the troops were exposed to the beach.

The Navy demanded to go ashore at low tide in order to minimize damage to the landing craft by obstacles; The Air Force requires moonlight to facilitate the airborne troops to identify ground targets, and finally, after careful consideration, scientifically draw up a plan that suits the needs of various branches of the military.

The landfall between high tide and low tide was determined by the fact that the tides at the five beachheads were not the same, so five different landing times (code H hours) were prescribed, and the D day was scheduled on the day of the full moon, and the airborne landing time was 1 a.m., and the landing dates that met the above conditions were only two sets of three consecutive days in September 1941, from 5 to 7 September, from 25 to 28 September, and finally the first day of the second group, which was 25 September.

The purpose of the Normandy landing campaign was to cross the English Channel and seize a strategic landing ground in northern France, creating the conditions for the final defeat of Germany in the second European theater. The campaign was to land in Normandy, to seize the landing field, to expand the landing field to a width of 100 kilometers and a depth of 100 kilometers.

It was planned to first parachute 2 American paratrooper divisions on the right flank of the landing site to cut off the German reinforcements from Cherbourg and cooperate with the landing force to seize the "Utah" beachhead; Airborne 1 British paratrooper division on the left flank to seize the crossing point of the Conn Canal.

Then the first batch of 8 reinforced battalions of the landing force landed at 5 beachheads, established landing grounds, and after consolidating and expanding the landing grounds, the follow-up troops went ashore, the right flank first captured Cherbourg, and the left flank advanced to the line from the Conn River to Saint-Ro, covering the attack of the right flank troops;

In the second stage, he captured Okana, Bayeux, Izzini, and Carentin, and in the third stage, he captured Bretagne, advanced to the Seine, and took Paris directly.

The post of Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces was originally intended to be filled by experienced British generals, but Churchill knew that the number of American troops would greatly exceed that of the British after landing, so he took the initiative to propose that American generals take the position.

President Roosevelt originally planned to appoint Marshall, chief of staff of the Army, but considering that it was more necessary for Marshall to coordinate in Washington, Marshall recommended Eisenhower, who was then commander of the Allied Mediterranean theater, to take the post.

Other members of the Supreme Command were: Deputy Commander British Air Marshal Ted, Chief of Staff US Army Lieutenant General Smith, Deputy Chief of Staff British Army Lieutenant General Morgan, Army Commander British Army General Montgomery, Navy Commander British Navy Admiral Ramsay, Air Force Commander British Air Force Admiral Mallory.

The army had four army groups: the British 2nd Army, commanded by British Army Lieutenant General Temple, with 5 corps and 13 divisions, landed on the "Gold" and "Sword" beachheads on the left flank. The 1st Canadian Army, commanded by British Army Lieutenant General Duncan? Grenium, with 1 corps and 3 divisions, landed on the beachhead of "Juno", and the above two armies attacked Caen as the left flank.

The U.S. 1st Army, commanded by U.S. Army Lieutenant General Bradley and with 5 corps and 14 divisions, landed on the "Omaha" and "Utah" beachheads, and attacked St. Lo and Carentin as the right flank, which was the main direction of attack. The three armies formed the 21st Army Group, commanded by British Army General Montgomery, which was the first echelon of the landing force.

The U.S. 3rd Army, commanded by U.S. Army Lieutenant General Patton, has jurisdiction over 4 corps and 9 divisions, and is directly under the command of the Supreme Command.

The army will invest a total of 86 divisions, including 7 armored divisions of the United States, 4 armored divisions and 3 armored brigades of the British army, and the 2nd armored division of the French army, the 1st armored division of Poland, and 1 armored brigade of the 4th armored division of Canada.

The tank models used are American-made M4A1, M5A1, M3A3 tanks, British-made Churchill, Cromwell tanks and DD amphibious tanks, M10M36 tank destroyers, Churchill bridge-building tanks, Crab minesweeper tanks, etc. (To be continued.) )