I was able to visit Normandy and the beaches of D-Day in 2000. The local French people were very pro American, clearly understanding the role we played in their eventual liberation. Walking along the cliffs above the beaches where allied boats landed, my impression was “how did we beat these guys?” The bunkers they had built were several feet thick containing huge guns and only a slit for us to fire into. If the Germans had had a legit air force, we would have been decimated that day.
Walking along the cliffs above the beaches where allied boats landed, my impression was “how did we beat these guys?”
He asked, “Where are the horses?”
I don’t know if we weren’t decimated!!
But our men had the numbers and perseverance to win the day.
But I heard an American guy who was there speak on the TV yesterday and he was brutally honest.
He said he had no choice but to go, he couldn’t swim and it was a massacre at the start.
12 guys out of his division lived.
He had a Spanish name and maybe his statements weren’t the most patriotic but I wouldn’t have wanted to be there!
And so many guys died just SINKING to the bottom because they were dropped too early in too deep water with all that gear!!
What a ####ing nightmare SMH
Poor kids. And most of them were what I consider now to be kids.
Rips the heart out.
You see many more American flags in Normandy than in most parts of the US.
One of the less heralded intentional tactics used in the US bombing campaign was using the bombers as bait in order to attrite the Luftwaffe fighters in preparation for the invasion.
As such, "safer" flight plans were not always chosen if there was a chance to take out more fighters while hitting the targets.
. . . which is one reason why D-Day didn’t happen until mid-1944.It would’ve been impossible to execute the landings against significant aerial opposition - which is why Jimmy Dolittle’s change of bombing tactics and escort tactics was so crucial.
Under Dolittle’s plan, the bombers were actually bait, and the real mission was to decimate the Luftwaffe’s fighters with P-51 fighter sweeps rather than passively waiting for the Luftwaffe to attack. Under pressure of that attrition, the Luftwaffe was pulled away from the French coast and became ineffective there.
As you most likely know. But even at that, the Allied invasion ships were towing barrage balloons until their captains decided the aggravation wasn’t worth it and cut them adrift.
The Germans did have a real air force on D-Day. In fact, they even sent some early jets over to recon the landings. What the Germans didn’t have was numbers and fuel and they’d lost many of their best pilots - but not all. Their fighters were not able to sortie in amounts that could punch through and hold open a route through the horde of Allied fighters to decisively strike Allied forces on the beach or support their counterattacking Panzers. Part of the success of the Allied landings was paid for in the blood of the fighter pilots who died to keep German air power off the ground troops and the blood of the bomber crews flying support missions and serving as targets the Luftwaffe had to prioritize - thus allowing Allied fighters to kill their counterparts.
Even though the Luftwaffe had been pounded into a shadow of its former self, it was still nothing to sneer at and it was anything but easy for our airmen. Read more here: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/AAF-H-DDay/index.html