Paper I Wrote D-Day...Operation Overlord

[PingGolferS59 0]

Hello,This is a paper I wrote about D-Day in one of my classes at my school and I would like to share it all with you because I think I did a really fine job on it.The year is 1939 and small towns are overrun by the Nazi Germans, using their fighting tactic, the blitzkrieg. Hitler continued to do this for the next two years, Town after town, country after country until he controlled all non-neutral countries in Europe. In 1942 the United States and Great Britain forces were fighting in North Africa and Sicily poised for an attack on Italy. General Eisenhower was commanding the troops in North Africa and they were fighting the Africa Korps, a corps commanded by commander Marshal Erwin Rommel. April 1942, Operation ?Round? was adopted but the operation plans had been delayed because the armies were already participating in Operation ?Torch?. Operation ?Torch? was the invasion of North Africa. In December 1943 at the ?big three? conference in Tehran, May 1944 was set as the date of the European invasion. Before those plans were already being made by the COSSAC (Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Commander. COSSAC?s first plan for the invasion was know as Operation ?Overlord? which was an attack along the Normandy coast. Operation ?Overlord? was three divisions and two airborne brigades, followed by eleven more divisions to capture Europe. The capturing of a beachhead for troop landing was the single most important task of the operation. This task was required to have success of overcoming the strong German defenses. On most of the beachheads Hitler had set up the Atlantic Wall. The Atlantic Wall was reinforced with massive concrete boxes filled with machine guns. The beaches were also heavily covered with hedgehogs, Belgian gat, log ramps, and wooden posts. The beach that the allies were going to invade was under the command of German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. The allies were also getting ready for their operation one of their first changes was to widen the invasion from three to five beaches to increase the number of land and airborne divisions to right. The next was to obtain command of the strategic air forces and use them to destroy the Germans ability to move their troops. The bombing was known as the Transportation Plan. The Transportation Plan was carried out by more than 11,00 fighters and bombers which dropped 195,000 tons of bombs. The bombs were dropped on railroad networks, German airfields, radar centers, military bases, and artillery batteries to make the way for the allied troops. The selection site of the invasion was very critical but it was the allies? biggest advantage because it made the German forces has to guess on where they would invade first. Factors that helped pick which site they would choose were the weather and the tides were the biggest factors. June 6, 1944 the allied forces had reached the channel known as the ?Piccadilly Circus?. From there, ten channels were being marked and mine-swept by the 225 American, British, and Canadian minesweepers, Both of the two channels leading up to the five beaches. When the allied forces were moving forward the German defenses couldn?t see the allied forces because they had destroyed many radar stations. The allied forces also dropped metallic ribbons in the air that made German radar signals bounce around. Just after 0100 the first air borne and glider troops landed in Normandy. Only eighteen American Pathfinders landed where they were supposed. But most of the pathfinders did manage to set up their Eureka sets, ADF radios, and other beacons to help guide the paratroopers. This was necessary because it was going to be the biggest drop ever of paratroopers almost 20,400 allied paratroopers were dropped. When the paratroopers landed this did manage to capture the most critical of their tasks. Which included bridges across the rivers to cut off German support. Just before the sunrise the beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, and Juno, and Sword became a nightmare for German defenders. The air and naval pre invasion had opened fire. Shell after shell was fired from battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. At H-hour the first troops of the US 4TH Division came ashore at Utah beach. Just about 15 minutes after H-hour more bulldozer tanks were landed and combat engineers came ashore as well. Mostly all of the troops were in the wrong place. But all in all, the landing was a success. The first problem was that the currents had lead ships aside to the wrong sectors but this wasn?t bad because the Germans less heavily defended it. Once everything has landed at Utah beach all three exits leading to the beach were secure. Utah was open and operating and the allied forces began to push inland. Omaha beach was by far the most bloodiest beach in the entire invasion. One reason is because the bombing on the beach was too short and too late. Another reason is the weak Ost battalion troops had been replaced by battle-seasoned troops of the 352nd battalion. Another problem was the Germans using the machine guns in the pillboxes were highly accurate and they were killing and wounding hundreds of allied troops. The Germans began running out of ammo and they were being attacked at all directions and slowly surrendered. The Omaha beach was saved a total of 2.500 died on D-Day, though 10,000 dead had been forecast. Most of the D-Day task that had been set mostly fell short but the allied forces managed to pull though and beat the German forces. The success of the allies on D-Day was attributed to the luck they had. The Germans never really had a plan of attack before June 6. Most people said that the success was attributed to the individuals they took matters in their own hands and made decisions. We will never forget the veterans the fought in World War II and they will always be remembered.

[Damann 0]

wow very long and full of info that should get an A

[lordofthesabbath 0]

I think that was a good paper, alot of good information as well. Nicely done and very well written. Should get an A indeed.