THE BATTLE FOR NORMANDY - Flames of War

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'Red Devib' in the Ome bndEehead, Nomandy 1 .
THE BATTLE FOR NORMANDY
by Anthony R. Tucker
Op€mrior 'OYERLORD'
The preliminary stages of O\4RLORD commenced laie on 5 June
1944, with the steady drone of aircraft making their wny across the
English Channel towards the French co6t. The first formations
consisted of bombers, some 1.056 aircraft of Allied Bomber
Command, ed they we.e dnected in panicular at the ten strongest
coasral batteries along the Normedy coastline. Th€irtask had to be
completed by 21,00 houn D- l. in order to clear the area ready for the
incoming vanguard airbome lroops.
w}len the bombers had finished. large fomations of Dakota
transpon aircraft and glid€rs began to app.oach two areas just behind
the Normandy coasr. The Pathfinde6 had taken off Nith about 23.000

0) Bftish Shennan tan*J lEadhg fot enbarkation pints in so,tthem
Enghd. (Potunouth Nees)
(3) Bedlord lonies awaitine embarkation to Notundy Note the
banage bauoon' (Ponnouth News)
gliderbome and parachute troops, consistins of two US Divisions
whose job was to cut otr the Cherbourg Peninsola, and one British
DMsion to s€cure the eastem flank south-east of the coastal town of
Ouistreham. Timing was essential, the 101st md 82nd US Airbome
Divilions had to b€ dropp€d at the base of the Cherboug Peninsula at
0130 od 0230 houls respectively on D-Day. The 6th Bntish Airbome
Division was to land soudrcast of Ouistreham at 0020 hou6. to Fire
vital communication links to the crast and nedby Caen.
By June 1944 the Gernan Wehmacht uder Field-Marshal von
Rundstedt Command€r-in-Chief West. had wen over half a million
men gudding the Europ€an coastline, with about fifty-eight
Divnions stationed in France and the Low Countries. Thev were
drvided inro t$o Army Groups. B (North) and G (Sou$);rh a
Paizer Grcup of about ten Armoured and.Mechanized Divisions
stationed in Belgiu md France. Army croup B crnpnsed the
Fifteenth Anny consnting of twenty,five Divisions stationed in
Belgiuin and north-eastem France, and the Seventh Anny consisting
of sixt€en Divisions stationed in nodh-westem Franc€.
Dredoninandv - Nommdv.
At 0020 hoilr, D-Day 6 June 1944, the quietness of the night was
shattered by loud crashing sounds, as the gliden of th€ 6th Bntish
Anbome Division came dosn by the Caen Cdal bndge at
Benouvile bd $e Ome River bddge near Rdville. The
pamtroopers leapt Irom their glideN and after a short, sharp
exchange with th€ stanled Gernan guards, both bridges were
suc.e$tuIy secured. Other uib of the pdatroopc also succeeded in
destroying the Mervile battery and seizd the four bridges over the
River Dives and its tributaries. The left fldk of the British invasion
beach 'SWORD' was now secrred.
Unfortunately the Americans came to grief due to the $,eather and
Gernan flak. As a result nany of them were scattered for miles. The
101st were to seclre the westem ed of lh€ causewavs ov€r the
flooded ground ne,ar Viervile, which was behind the Amerim
invasion be-ach
'UTAH', they were then to s€ize Carentan. The 82nd
were to land north-west of the 101st, to s€ize Ste-Mere-Eglise and the
bridgeheads across the River Merderet. Despile numerous probl€ms
the Am€ricin.par. aEoops enjoyed reasonable su@s, eEi.g great
Rather surprisingly the Germans were not unftly almed by all
th; adivity. Most inconing infornation was to a l&ge enent
ignored. Also many of then radm stations were blind. Alons the
coast, out of ninety'two radar stations only eighteen wele
operational, and they were to be tunher misled by dunny invasion
fl€€ts, operations 'GLIMMER' and 'TAXABLE.
By now gathered otr the Normandy coast was the largest s€abome
invasion fl€€t in history, conprising; 1,213 warships, 4,126 landing
craft and 1.600 other vess€ls. a1mo6t 7.0m caaft. Due to the different
tide times and bombardment lengtbs the invasion beaches, stretching
ftom La Madeleine in the west to Ouistreham in the east. were to
have their assaults staggered. 'LTTAH'and OMAHA'were to b€
assaulted at 0630 houls, 'GOLD' and 'SWORD' at 025 hours md
lastly 'IINO' at 0745 hours. At about 0530 hours on the nomins of 6
Jur€ a massive naval and aerial bombardment op€ned up alons the
vdous mva$on pom6.
Uth
UTAH to the west, ceDtred roughly on La Madeleine. was assaulted
by General Collins' US 7th Corp6, led by the 4th US hfantry
Division. Their job was to link up with the 82nd and 101st Anbome
Divisions, establishing a bridgehead over the River Vire and the
ne&by qnal ready to liDk up with OMAHA to the est.
Due to the tide the Aflerican Gh went ashore 1,000 yards south of
then lmding zone. Twenty-nine Sherman DD tanks (Duplex Drive
amphibious) spedheaded the assault and were launched 5,0m yeds
from the shore. But ody a little resistance was encountered,
consisting nainly of sna -ams fire- By 0800 houls Pouppevile was
a.tacked, and the 4th US Infantry Division managed to push fou
miles inland brushinE aside most of the resistance ftom the 91st
Geman Infantry Division. By the end of the day the Americans had
successtuIy put ashore 23,0m men, 1.7m vehicles dd 1,700 tons of
(2) The RN loaditg Chulchin bnks and bicycles! onto LCTS pnor b
DDay- (Potunoufi News)
The US 5th Corps led by the 1st US InJantry Division, wa! to attack
this beach, bordered by Vierville-sur-Mer dd Ste-Honorine. The
prelininary bombardm€nt lasted only forty mirutes md
consequendy mey of the German defences were still intact. Also,
the shingle beach w6 bordered by maNhland a:d a high blutr,
making it an ideal fire zone.
Becaus€ of the rough seas dd enemy nre. out of thirty,two
vanguard DD tanks only five cleeed the beach. while out of the
fifty-one lanks landed "dry-shod" eidt were knocked out b€fore
even clearing the s€a. The Gls rd up the shingle b€ach into the
withering fire of the Gernans' 352nd Divilion, which jusl happ€ned
to be on manoeures in th€ area. and unirs of the 716th coastal
Defence Division. Under heary machin€,gun, nortar and arril€ry
fire the Americs were ot to pieces as they staggered fiom the s€a i
denied amour suppon they were mable to clear the b€ach. The

45
--...ll',.* -,.--
@ Shemu DD (Duplex Dn\r'e) tank afloat, pot ibty in the Solqt.
No'c the steeEM operating the tiller Tactical surprie wd achieved
on D Day be.al.je it the watet they wete not iMediateiy recDgtizable
3 tark. (RAC Tank Mwean)
Americans had declined the offer of the Bntrsh 79th Amoured
Division's Funnies' Gpecialised AFVS) and German fire was so
inrense thar out of the Engineers' sixteen bulldozeN put ashore on the
right sid€ of the beach, only two were sewicable. The wreckage began
To make matten wone the GIs were under obsered artillery fre
ftom the bluff. It seemed the assault was tbreatened witb disaster as it
stalled on the shoreline. Mmy surivoE of the fiEt wave were pinned
doM at the sea\ edge, some vainly seeking shelter in the shingle or
surf. Then suddenly a group of eleven destroy€rs closed on lhe codt
and begin to giv€ dnect 6re suppon. By 0900 a few Americans had
reached the top of the blutr and were beginning to move inlmd
to$ards the villases. The Gls suffered an appalling 2,500 casualiies
md had onlr mdaged to get two miles inland. but by nightfall 33,000
m€n eere readv for the otrensive.
Gold
The Briiish and Canadian eastem taik force was to go in on a broad
twenty-five mile front, b€tween Port-en'Bessin and Ouistreham.
GOLD beach centred on Le Hamel and La Riviere was assaulted by
the Bntish 30th Corps led by the 50tb Infantry Division. Their task
wastotake Pon-en-Bessin
order to link up with the US 5th Corps,
thrust for St Leger on the Caen'Baf'eux road and seize Bayeux.
At 0725 assauh unils of the 79th Armoured Division. consisling of
Sheman Crabs (flail tanks) and churchill AVRES (Amoured
Vehicle Royal Engineen) went in. Once again due to the rough sea
the DD tflks had to be landed dry{hod, also to increase problens
the tide rose thiry mioules edly. The AVRES were late and Le
Hmel proved to be heavily defended. the sanatorium had b€en
converted into a Cerman strongpoinl and Gema artilery was
Three Crabs driving for t€ Hamel were kncked out by mti-tank
tue, but a fourtb sped inland allowing o infmtry battalion to reach
Asnel€s south-east of tf, Hamel. When the AVRES arrived thev
proceeded !o clear the beach, and then using their 290mm Petdd
spigot monars shattered the l, Hamel sanatorium- By the anemoon
Port-en-Bessin had been taten.
At k Riviere a Cerman strongpoint succeeded in knocking out
(6) Another 'Fu'ny' the Sheman Cnb Ma* I, llzilitE w h ia tuffet
rcrEned. Maxinw speed *a only 1% nph. (RAC Tan* Mufun|
tso A\aREs. but it wa silened by a Crab and the lown eventually
fell. By 2100 hours Aromanches had fallen, but the drive on Bayeu
had stopped short. even thoud it had been largely abandoned by the
G€rmans. AIso the route west fiom Caen had been captured, but at
the end of the day a si{ mile gap existed b€nleen GOLD dd
OMAHA. About 25.m0 men were Dut ashoie and 50th Division had
punched six miles inldd.
JTINO
The assaulting fonation was the 3rd Canadid lnfantry Division
under the British lst Corys. JTINO beach wd ce.tred on Courseulles
and Bemieres. The Cnnadians were to seize the two towns and dive
for Camiouet airfield west of Caen. In order to ensu€ tbe sea canied
the troops over the reefs, the assault was timed for 0745, bu! becaus€
of the rough sea the assault went in at about 08m hours. The tide
caried the loding claft over the reefs and most of the beach
obstacles, but the retum trips were buddously disasterous. Only
twenty nine DD ranks were launched, twenty-one reaching the
shore, the rest had to be landed dry'shod.
Arnvi.g before th€ir armour the Canadid infotry found many of
the German positionsintact. Under gallingsmall-mfirelheycould
not get off the beach md nany were mown down tryi.g to reach
shelter behind a defence wall at the rear of the beach. Lacking armour
support the Cuadian infantry faltered, but o AVRE managed to
blow a hol€ in the twelve fooi high seawall, andthey began to move
The French-Canadians drove through Bemjeres, but sere held up
at Beny-suFMer. In rhe meantime a traffic jam developed on the
beach, turther slowing down the Ce:dian armour. Even so they
managed to punch seven miles ioland. halting only four miles ftom
C'rprquer arfield. By rhe end ol rhe ddv 21.5m men had been
lan.le.l /n.l rhe bedch linked wrLh the Bntish 50th Division dl La
Riviere.
SWORD beach centred on Lion4urMer. was assaulted by the
British 1st Corps. led by the British 3rd Infantry Division. Their main
- -,- - -5.].645-
i "i'u-* lot"tt* d.'ro" 1d6,.i I
(5) AshemanDD th the canv8 fl@t ereen folded, Iike thit n eas a
fituy opentional tuite tdk. (RAC Tdnk Musellm)
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O) Anencai kndi'e
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craft heading for the

(2) Gemm Patze Wenadie^ di\nouting
curier, Nonatdy 1944.
obj€.tive was to s€ize Caen. th€ Gennans' regional HQ, dd link up
with the bridgehead over the River Ome. H-Hou was 0725, Md the
spedhad DD tarls we.e launched 5,000 yards ftom the shore, out of
fiirty-fou successfully launched ooiy tkee were lost. Despite
German resistanc€, by 0930 houls Hermanville one and a haiJ niles
inland had been @Dtued. but el€menti of the German 21st Parer
Division halted tht adve@ at PeneE.
By 1330 hours a Special Senice Bngade had push€d inland to li'r*
up with the exhausted paratroops, who had beaten off r€p€ared
counter-attack by Cermd Panzer Crenadiers. Fonunately for fi€
paratroopd most of the Germd armour had been divert€d nonh of
Caen.
MajoFceneral Feuchtinger, commander of the 21st PMer
Division, had been ieduc€d to nin€ty tanks out of an original 124, and
did not start noving northwdd! uril l6m hour!. His counter-a$ack
towards Bievile failed and bi! troops were driven eastwards. By the
end of the day Feuchting€r's mour was tunher reduc€d io sevenry
The British in tum were halted at Lebisey a mere two miles f,onh of
Caen. In the nedtime by 1400 the German mobile r€s€rve, the 12th
SS Panzer Division dd the Pder khr Division had at last been
releas€d for action. The 12th SS headed for Caen, but was subjected
to continual Allied air strikes. By rh€ €vening 29,m0 nen were ashore
in the SWORD area-
At the end of D-Day about 150,000 men had been pul ashore. and
the Allies had occupied a front of some thirty miles. There were
though, despite all this suc.ess, grounds for concem. Tbe gains
outlin€d in the O\ERLORD plan for D-Day had nor been achieved.
The thr€e nain bridg€heads were not linked; OMAHA was only a
dangerously small to€hold and ;t was s€paraled by about ten miles of
coast from UTAH. The Second British Army was separated from rh€
First US Army by about s€ven niles, and there was a severe danger
that the 2lst Panzer Division would drive a wedge into this gap.
Casualty fig'rres for the day tend to vary, but roughly the Americans
lost about 4,104 men, th€ B.itish and Canadians 2.796 (Allied
Airbome losses accounted for another 3,149 men). while thc
Germans losl between 4,m0 and 9,000 men.
What of the Geman respons€ So far it had been painfuly slow
due to command probleins and conmunication dela's. Hitler in the
'Wolfs lair' at Rastenburg in East Prussia, was convinced that
Nomandy was not ihe nain Allied invasion, He wd aided in this
delnsion by Allied dec€ption plans, the bonbing of Glais and the
disruption of the northem French rail system. Lieutenant,ceneral
Patton in mllhem Englmd had convinced the Gemds rhar he was
going to land nodr of the Seine- As a result nurnerous cerman
Divisions, esp€cially Arnoured, remained north of ihe Seine for up
to a week aJter D-Day.
The Gemds' position nust not be understimated. Duing May
Nornandy had b€en .einforced with the 91st, 3A and 352nd
Divisions. Arny Group B under Field,Manhal Roinmel could
muster an extra three Infantry Divisiors, with d available ten Panzer
Divisions, although only tbe 21st was in action on D'Day. ft was nol
until7 ed 9 June that the 12rh SS Panzer DMsion dd the Pa@r
l€hr Division had been successtully brcught into action. But due to
the Gemds' logistical and comnand problems they had only eight
Divisions engaged during the first six weeks of the Nornandy
campaign. The Alli€s had anticipated they would b€ fighting hlenryl
None the less it still took until 12 June just to li* up the b€aches in a
continuous fifty mile long ftont.
Momentum could not be sustained during the build up. The
weather began to deteriorate ard on 19 June a stom halted all
shipping in the Channel for th€ next tbree days. The two Mulberry
artitrcial barbours wer€ beginning to disintegrate by 21 June. The one
off OMAHA was sritten off and used ro repair the British one al
Arromanches. The build up vinually ground to a halt, delaying 20,000
vehicl€s and 140,000 tons of stores. A breathing space was graDted to
the Germans, who were able lo reorganise and move *ithout Allied
air interdiction. It would have been an ideal time to launch a
counter'attack, but the opportunity was lost.
The Alli€s had seized the initiative and if they could rnaintain itlh€y
$otrld have rne key to the entne campaign. ceneral Montgomery
declar€d he would hold the German Panzen occupied on the edtem
flank in the Caen-Caumont sector. and wear them doM in a series of
offensives that would look like an attempted break-out. In fie

meantime the Amedcars would secure the Cherbouc Penirsula
ready for lhe r€al bieal-out.
Opentid EIEon
The British plamed to pivot at Rauay dd swing over the River
Odon, driving south+ast in an attempt to isolate Caen. The otrensive
began on 25 June, 8th Corys managed to s€€1re a bridge ftar Baron
dd by 30 June they had a bndgehead two and a har miles wide and
one nile deep. But tough resistanc€ was coming ftom elen€nts ofthe
1st SS, 2nd SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions.
More md more German units were being draqn into the area, by
the end of Jue there were almost eidt PMer Divisions on a twenty
nile ftont, facing the S€.ond British Army betwen Caen and
Caumont. The 12th SS, znd and zlst Panzei Divisiotrs, rle Paser
Irhr Division and the 716th Infantry Division $,ere aI tied up in tne
Caen ea. In the British sector there were 725 Gernan tank, white
in the Ameritu sector there were only 140; Caen had become the key
to the whole batde. The desperately n€eded cerrnan Infantry
Divisions were stitt f,orth of the Seine.
Meanwbile the US 7th Corps fought its way up the Cherbourg
Peninsula and attacked the city on 22 June. Aiter four da's of fiercs
fighnng the Cherboug ganison. about 21,0m men (the rennants of
fou Divisiors), sunendered on % June. By 1 July the Pedtrula had
b€€n mopped up, but the port was not servi@able until mid-Augllsr.
A major problen wd that the Normandy coutryside was ideal for
in depth German defen@. Consisting of snal fields bordered by high
eanh banls topp€d by thick hedgerows. this feature was ofcoule rhe
now famous Noimandy bocrAe. The main danger occlrred when
Alied tank drove over the banLs, exposing rheir thiDly arnoured
undemeaths. A Sergeant Cun; C. Cutlin, of the US 79th Division,
solved the problem. He developed the CuliD Prong or Rtu;ro. Meral
fork or tusks were welded ro the ftont ofthe tants'hul, the tank th€n
sinply uprooted the bdk and hedge instead of driving over it. This
invennon was to greatly id the break-out.
By the second week of July Cerman DivisioDs fton rhe Calais area
were diving in Nornandy. In order to ke€p then in the Caen sector
and to avoid then gaining Dy son of initiative that coutd distodge the
Bridsh dd Canadians, the Second Bdtish Army was to attack
nonhem Caen. On 7 July, 460 bombers flatten€d the Ciry in d dea
4,0m yards long by 1,500 yards deep wirh 2,560 tons of bomb6. TheD
at 0420 hours the following day three Divisions rhrust into northem
Caen, but the GemaIls held on in the south dd south-east of the
City. From 10-15 July the Britisb launched a series of atrack! both
west and east of Caen in order to k€€p the Germans tied doM. By 15
July the nmber of Gernan ta*s in the American sector had o.ly
ffilltky,1fJt"*.*'facinstheBritishandcanadianshad Jn the aftermath
Continued next month
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In the aftermath of World War lll, ourplanet is devastaled.
Alllhe nations ofthe world are thrown back on thei. most
basiccapacilies to survive... yet the urge to endure, to slrive
lorconquest, stillthrives. You choosethe nation, rebuild ils
civilisation, stalus economy and technologies... marshal its
miitarycapabilities anddevelopits combatpowerin aquesl
to rule supreme overthe globe.
The edensive rulebook and the set-up together
cost only e5.00, Turn costs vary according to the
actions laken.
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UNIT 6
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