World War 2 - D-Day Case

"You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you...I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle." (archives.gov) This quote shows the great amount of planning and passion that was put into the D-day invasion. D-day was the best strategized invasion day in World War II because of the planning, the strategies, and because of the almost perfect execution of plans.

The planning in World War II was far beyond what ever happened before. D-day especially was very well planned out. The first plan was an initial assault by three divisions across a thirty-mile front on the northwest coast of Normandy while the airborne troops took Caen, the crucial capital of Normandy. They realized that this plan was good but was just not enough to take over how they wanted. They re-thought the plan and came up with the actual plan. Commander Montgomery of Britain told the BBC later about his thoughts on the initial plan:

"My plan was to threaten to break out on the eastern flank...in the Caen sector. Now, by pursuing this threat relentlessly, I intended to draw the main enemy reserves and particularly his armored divisions into this sector and to keep them there, and this was to be the job of the 2nd British Army under General Dempsey... Having got the main enemy strength committed...on the eastern flank, my plan was to make the breakout on the western flank, using the 1st American Army under General Bradley... I reckoned we would be on the general line of the Seine within three months--that would be by D+90." (Van Der Vat 25) The plan, also known as Operation Overlord, consisted of landings on many different beaches. They would land on the Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches. The reason they would land in multiple places was to throw off the German defenses. If they landed on one beach they could easily be stopped. They also made sure the Germans thought they were going to land on another beach to throw them off. (Penrose 155-161) This assault would also be a seaborne and air assault. The planes had to fly low to keep out of the defense areas and from the German planes. The attack would happen during the day. The paratroopers were to be another major part of the attack. There were a group of British and a group of American troopers. (Penrose 123-124) They would be dropped at night armed with only the hand-held weapons they could carry. The things that they took were as follows: one olive drab suit under the jumpsuit, a helmet, gloves, boots, a main and reserve chute, a life preserver, rifle, pistol, a trench knife, a jump knife, a hunting knife, a machete, a cartridge belt, two bandoliers, two cans of rifle ammunition, 66 rounds of pistol ammunition, one mine capable of disabling a tank, four blocks of TNT, an entrenching tool, three first aid kits, two morphine needles, a gas mask, a canteen of water, food rations for three days, six fragmentation grenades, two smoke grenades, a blanket, a raincoat, extra socks and underwear, and two cartons of cigarettes. (Goldstein 51) The planes that dropped them would also drop the vehicles and the artillery. (Penrose 123-124)

The strategies were innovative for their time and they made the fights more advanced and deadly. The airplanes were innovative because they flew at night and flew very low. They flew at the perfect speed to get away from any anti-aircraft weapons. (Dank 19) They also used gliders to attack and to bring in supplies. The gliders were used primarily to drop the vehicles and the large artillery. They brought anything that could not be carried to the beach. The use of both of these were very innovative because they brought a whole new side to war. The location was also an important part of the strategy. They attacked at a different location than they let on to which threw off the German troops badly. They also used some great innovation with trenches as cover. The trench was very successful.