Reading the daily news has actually made me a bit more sympathetic to Monty and the British/Canadian problem. Obviously, Hitler and his high command viewed Caen as the key to their position and they poured virtually all their armor into the British sector to defend it. The problem is they are fighting a war of attrition when they cannot replace the troops or equipment they are losing. And they are playing against Monty, the master of the set piece engagement. It's hard to criticize his caution here. The British have suffered terribly over five years of war and we in the West don't spend lives as freely as the Russians do.
The American position, although not having to face so much tough German armor, has been difficult because we had to divide our forces to push in the opposite directions of Cherbourg and Carentan. Now that Cherbourg has been taken First Army can reunite and reorganize in the push south and west, which will set the stage for Cobra.
Ike foresaw all this months ago when he decided the perfect commander and unit for the breakout would be Patton and Third Army.
Henkster, I'm not as familiar with these maps as you, but are the Germans really showing one Army Group and three field Armies in S.E. England? Boy, their intelligence was really not up to scratch.
Colorado, the map is actually fairly accurate in more ways than it is not. First US Army Group does not exist, and neither do British 5th and 6th Armies. Those “higher level” commands are fictitious creations of Operation Fortitude. But on the American side, they have accurately identified 3rd and 9th Armies, and XII and XV Corps. They have also identified American 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Armored Divisions, which will figure prominently in Operation Cobra and subsequent exploitation. All of those units will eventually be transferred to France
On the British side, they have correctly identified 1st Canadian Army under the command of Crerar. I can’t speak to the accuracy of identification of the subordinate British units in southeast Britain. I suspect many of the divisions are fictitious.
What got the Germans is that what they do know, and is true, led them to believe what the Allies wanted them to believe. The confirmed existence of units that are really there sold them on the existence of parent formations that weren’t. The Germans were led to believe those units that really exist are slated for something other than commitment to Normandy. Those formations will eventually be subject to a higher authority but not in the form the Germans believe. There will be a second army group, but not FUSAG. It will be Bradley’s 12th, which the Germans don’t see coming, created around 1st, 3rd and later 9th armies, which they have identified.
I really liked linking this map to Homer’s post of the German Transocean News Agency release from about a week ago, where the Germans pretty much publicly stated they were still quaffing the Operation Fortitude Kool-Ade.
So while the map is more accurate than not, that bit of how it’s not accurate can make a decisive difference in operations.