Overlord (operation). The Norman operation. History of World War II

June 6, 1944 began the long-awaited landing of troops of the anti-Hitler coalition on the northern coast of France, received the general name of "Suzerain" ("Overlord"). The operation was prepared long and carefully, preceded by difficult negotiations in Tehran. On the British Isles , millions of tons of military cargo were delivered. On the secret front, Abner was misinformed by the intelligence services of Britain and the United States regarding the landing area and many other events that ensured a successful offensive. At different times, both in Russia and abroad, the scale of this military operation, depending on the political situation, was exaggerated and underestimated. It is time to give an objective assessment of both it and its consequences at the West European theater of the Second World War.

Stew, condensed milk and egg powder

As is known from the movies, Soviet soldiers, participants in the war of 1941-1945 called the American tinned meat, condensed milk, egg powder and other food products that came to the USSR from the USA under the Lend-Liz program. This phrase was pronounced with a somewhat ironic intonation, expressing a little concealed contempt for "allies." It invested such a sense: while we are shedding blood here, they linger at the beginning of the war against Hitler. They sit out, in general, waiting to enter the war at a time when both the Russians and Germans will weaken and deplete their resources. That's when the Americans and the English will come to share the laurels of the winners. The opening of the Second Front in Europe was postponed, the main burden of the fighting continued to be carried by the Red Army.

In a sense, everything was exactly like this. Moreover, to reproach FD Roosevelt in that he was not in a hurry to send the American army into battle, and was waiting for this most successful moment, it would be unfair. In the end, as the president of the United States, he was obliged to think about the welfare of his country and act in its interests. As for the United Kingdom, then without American assistance, its armed forces were technically unable to carry out a massive invasion of the mainland. From 1939 to 1941, this country alone waged war with Hitler, she managed to survive, but the onset of speech did not even go. So there is nothing to blame Churchill for anything. In a sense, the Second Front existed all wartime and up to the day "D" (day of disembarkation), it hampered significant forces of the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine. Most (about three-quarters) of the German naval and air fleet were engaged in operations against Britain.

Nevertheless, without detracting from the achievements of the Allies, our participants in the Great Patriotic War always rightly believed that they had made a decisive contribution to the common victory over the enemy.

And whether it was necessary

Indulgent and contemptuous attitude towards allied assistance was cultivated by the Soviet leadership throughout the post-war decades. The main argument was the correlation of Soviet and German losses on the Eastern Front with similar figures for the deaths of Americans, British, Canadians and the same Germans, but already in the West. Nine out of ten killed Wehrmacht soldiers folded their heads in battle precisely with the Red Army. Near Moscow, on the Volga, in the Kharkov region, in the mountains of the Caucasus, in thousands of nameless skyscrapers, the ridge was broken by a military machine that easily defeated almost all the European armies and conquered the country in a matter of weeks, and sometimes even days. Perhaps, the Second Front in Europe was not needed at all and it was possible to do without it? By the summer of 1944, the outcome of the war as a whole was predetermined. The Germans suffered terrible losses, human and material resources were not enough catastrophically, while Soviet military production reached unprecedented in world history turnover. The endless "leveling of the front" (the Goebbels' propaganda explained the constant retreat) was essentially an escape. Nevertheless, JV Stalin insistently reminded the Allies of their promise to strike Germany from the other side. In 1943, American troops landed in Italy, but this was clearly not enough.

Where and when

The names of military operations are chosen in such a way as to encapsulate in one or two words the entire strategic essence of the upcoming action. Moreover, the enemy, even recognizing him, should not guess the main elements of the plan. The direction of the main attack, the technical means involved, the timing and similar details for the enemy necessarily remain a mystery. The upcoming landing on the northern European coast was called "Overlord." The operation was divided into several stages, which also had their own code marks. It began on the day of "D" from "Neptune", and ended with "Cobra", suggesting the advance into the interior of the continent.

The German General Staff had no doubts that the Second Front would be opened. 1944 is the last date when this event could take place, and knowing the basic American techniques, it was difficult to assume that the allies of the USSR would launch an offensive in the unfavorable autumn or winter months. In spring, the invasion was also considered unlikely because of the unstable weather conditions. So, summer. The intelligence, provided by Abwehr, confirmed the massive transportation of technical equipment. The bombers B-17 and B-24 were disassembled to the islands by the Liberty ships, as well as the Sherman tanks, and in addition to these offensive weapons, other cargoes came from overseas: food, medicine, fuel and lubricants , Ammunition, transport means of the sea and many other things. It is almost impossible to hide such a large-scale movement of military equipment and personnel. The German command had only two questions: "When?" And "Where?".

Not where they are waiting

The English Channel is the narrowest place in the water space between the British "mainland" and Europe. It was here that the German generals would start landing, if they decided on it. This is logical and corresponds to all the rules of military science. But that's why General Eisenhower completely ruled out the English channel, planning "Overlord." The operation was to be a complete surprise for the German command, otherwise there was a considerable risk of a military fiasco. In any case, it is much easier to defend the coast than to storm it. Strengthening the "Atlantic Wall" was created in advance throughout all previous war years, the work began immediately after the occupation of northern France and was conducted with the involvement of the population of the captured countries. They acquired special intensity after Hitler realized that the opening of the Second Front was inevitable. 1944 was marked by the arrival at the alleged landing site of Allied forces, Field Marshal General Rommel, whom the Fuhrer respectfully called then "the desert fox", then his "African lion." This military specialist spent a lot of energy on improving the fortifications, which, as time showed, almost did not come in handy. This is largely due to the American and British special services and other soldiers of the "invisible front" of the Allied forces.

Deceive Hitler

The success of any military operation depends more on the factor of surprise and the timely created military concentration than on the balance of forces of the opposing sides. The second front was to be opened on the part of the coast where the invasion was expected least of all. The possibilities of the Wehrmacht in France were limited. Most of the German armed forces fought against the Red Army, trying to contain its offensive. The war moved from the territory of the USSR to the spaces of Eastern Europe, the system of oil supply from Romania was under threat, and without petrol all the military equipment turned into a heap of useless metal. The situation resembled a chess tsuntsvang, when almost any move led to irreparable consequences, and even more so wrong. It was impossible to make a mistake, but the German staff still made the wrong conclusions. This was facilitated by many actions of Allied intelligence, including a planned "leak" of disinformation, and various measures to mislead the agents of the Abwehr and aerial reconnaissance. Mock-ups of transport ships were also made, located in ports far from the real load sites.

Ratio of military groupings

No battle in the history of mankind has gone according to plan, there have always been unexpected circumstances preventing this. "Overlord" is an operation that was planned long and carefully, repeatedly postponed for various reasons, which also did not constitute an exception. However, the two main components that determined its overall success were nevertheless preserved: the landing site for the enemy remained unknown until the day "D", and the balance of forces developed in favor of the adversaries. In the desantation and subsequent hostilities on the continent, 1 million 600 thousand soldiers of the Allied forces took part. Against 6 thousand 700 German guns Anglo-American units could use 15 thousand of their own. One hundred and sixty Luftwaffe aircraft were extremely difficult to intercept almost eleven thousand aircraft of the Allies, among which, for the sake of justice, it should be noted that the bulk of the transport was the Douglas (but quite a few were also " Flying Fortresses ", and" Liberators ", and" Mustangs ", and" Spitfires "). Armada of 112 ships could resist only five German cruisers and destroyers. The quantitative advantage was only with the German submarines, but by that time the means to combat them with the Americans had reached a high level.

Beaches of Normandy

To use French geographical concepts, the US military did not, they seemed difficult to pronounce. Like the names of military operations, coastal areas, called beaches, were encoded. They were singled out by four: Gold, Omaha, Juneau and Sword. A lot of soldiers of Allied forces fell on their sand, although the command did everything to minimize losses. On July 6, eighteen thousand parachute paratroopers (two airborne divisions) were landed from DS-3 planes and by gliders. Such a scale did not know the previous wars, like the entire Second World War. The opening of the Second Front was accompanied by the most powerful artillery preparation and aerial bombardment of defensive installations, infrastructure and places of deployment of German troops. The actions of paratroopers in some cases were not very successful, during the landing, the forces were dispersed, but this did not matter much. To the shore were ships, shielded by ship artillery, by the end of the day on the beach were already 156 thousand soldiers and 20 thousand military machines of various types. The captured bridgehead measured 70 by 15 kilometers (on average). As of June 10, over 100,000 tons of military cargo had already been unloaded to this strip, and the concentration of troops reached almost a third of a million people. Despite the huge losses (for the first day they amounted to about ten thousand), in three days the Second Front was opened. This became an obvious and immutable fact.

Development of success

In order to continue the liberation of the territories occupied by the Nazis, not only soldiers and equipment were required. The war devours hundreds of tons of fuel, ammunition, food and medicine every day. It gives the warring countries hundreds and thousands of wounded, who need to be treated. The expeditionary corps, deprived of supplies, is doomed.

After the Second Front was opened, the advantage of the developed American economy became evident. Allied forces did not experience problems with the timely delivery of everything necessary, but this required ports. They were captured very quickly, the first became the French Cherbourg, it was occupied on June 27.

Recovering from the first surprise strike, the Germans, however, were slow to admit defeat. Already in the middle of the month they first used the FAU-1 - the prototype of cruise missiles. With all the paucity of the Reich's capabilities, Hitler had the resources for mass production of ballistic FAU-2. London was bombarded (1100 missile strikes), as well as the ports of Antwerp and Liege, located on the mainland and used by allies to supply troops (almost 1700 FAA of two types). Meanwhile, the Normandy bridgehead expanded (to 100 km) and deepened (up to 40 km). It was deployed 23 airbases, capable of taking all types of aircraft. The number of personnel increased to 875 thousand. Conditions were created for the development of the offensive already towards the German border, for which the Second Front was also opened. The date of the common victory was approaching.

Allied failures

Anglo-American aviation carried out massive raids on the territory of fascist Germany, dropping tens of thousands of tons of bomb load on cities, factories, railway junctions and other objects. To resist this avalanche in the second half of 1944 pilots Luftwaffe could not. During the entire period of liberation of France, the Wehrmacht suffered half a million losses, and the allied forces - only 40 thousand killed (plus more than 160 thousand wounded). The tank troops of the Nazis numbered only a hundred battle tanks (the Americans and the British - 2 thousand). Every German plane had 25 allied planes. And there was no more reserves. The two-hundred-thousandth grouping of the Nazis was blocked in the west of France. In the overwhelming superiority of the invading army, German units often hung a white flag even before the artillery preparation began. But there were also occasions of persistent resistance, as a result of which dozens, even hundreds of allied tanks were destroyed.

July 18-25, the English (8th) and Canadian (2nd) corps came across well-fortified German positions, their attack choked, prompting Marshal Montgomery to further assert that the blow was false and distracting.

An unfortunate incidental consequence of the high firepower of the American troops was the loss from the so-called "friendly fire", when the troops suffered from their own shells and bombs.

In December, the Wehrmacht launched a serious counteroffensive in the Ardennes ledge, which was crowned with partial success, but there was not much strategically enough to solve.

Result of operation and war

After the Second World War, the participating countries changed from time to time. Some stopped their armed actions, others started them. Some took sides of their former enemies (like Romania, for example), some simply capitulated. There were even states that formally supported Hitler, but did not speak out against the USSR (like Bulgaria or Turkey). The main participants in the war of 1941-1945, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and Britain invariably remained opponents (they fought even longer, since 1939). France, too, was among the winners, although Field Marshal Keitel, signing the capitulation, could not resist the ironic remarks on this matter.

There is no doubt that the Norman disembarkation of the Allied forces and subsequent actions by the armies of the United States, Britain, France and other countries contributed to the defeat of Nazism and the destruction of a criminal political regime that did not hide its anti-human essence. However, it is very difficult to compare these, certainly deserving respects, with the battles of the Eastern Front. It was against the USSR that Hitlerism waged a total war, the goal of which was the complete annihilation of the population, which was also declared by the official documents of the Third Reich. The more respect and bright memory are deserved by our participants in the Great Patriotic War who fulfilled their duty under far more difficult conditions than their Anglo-American brothers in arms.