D-Day (CD-ROM Version)

Author: [British] Fuller
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: General Eisenhower of the United States was appointed as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. Nearly 3 million Allied land, sea, and air troops gathered on the island of Britain, preparing to cross the English Channel, land on the European continent, open a second front, and coordinate with the Soviet Red Army on the Eastern Front to pincer the German army. This large-scale operation was codenamed "Operation Overlord." The Allied General Staff thoroughly analyzed the intelligence on the German defenses along the Western coast of France provided by French guerrillas and intelligence personnel, combined with other conditions, and decided to choose Normandy in the northwest of France as the landing site. However, how could the Allied Forces deceive the German army, which had already deployed heavy troops and was on high alert, so that they would not know the true landing site of the Allies? The Allies set up a "deception": the "landing craft," "ammunition depots," "hospitals," "barracks," and "aircraft and artillery" were designed by set designers from British film studios and placed along the southeastern coast of Britain; Allied intelligence officers began collecting detailed maps of the Calais coast of France in various neutral countries; British architects constructed "oil tank docks" in prominent coastal areas, equipped with power plants and oil storage tanks, etc. Additionally, a "million-man" army was transferred to the southeastern coast, ready to attack Calais. The news quickly reached the Western Front Command of the German army. "It seems that the Allies will definitely land on the Calais coast!" The German Field Marshal Rommel, who had been summoned by Hitler to command the defense, confidently determined. He immediately ordered the strengthening of the defenses along the Calais coast. Within days, the seabed was littered with mines, coastal fortifications were built, anti-tank traps and trench fortifications were laid out. Hitler also concentrated the elite 15th Army Group to this area, under Rommel's command. Calais had become a solid and robust part of the German army's "Atlantic Wall." Rommel was very proud and confident. The Allied million-man army was ready to land in Normandy. The scheduled landing date was June 6. Meanwhile, on the other side of the English Channel, Rommel was preparing to drive back to his home in Germany to give his wife Lucy a birthday gift—a pair of beautiful women's leather shoes he had bought in Paris. He sat in an open-top car, looked up at the sky, and saw dark clouds and howling winds. The Air Force weather station reported that the weather in the English Channel had been bad in recent days. Such bad weather would not allow the Allies to launch a cross-channel operation. Rommel felt no need to worry about the situation. He was also preparing to visit Hitler the next day in Berchtesgaden.
On the morning of June 6, over 3,000 British and American transport aircraft and gliders carrying three parachute divisions took off from 20 airports in Britain, flying toward the Normandy coast of France. 4,000 ships and countless landing craft, under air cover, left the heavily disguised British Southern Coast base. The famous "Normandy Landing" began! Until then, the German army was still in the dark. The German Western Front commander, von Rundstedt, who was sleeping, heard an urgent report from the Normandy front: "A British and American air force unit has landed—it looks like a large-scale operation." He replied casually: "Don't be alarmed. Parachute troops are a common tactic used by the Allies to create a diversion and mislead—this is not a large-scale operation." At dawn, 1,136 aircraft of the Royal Air Force dropped 5,853 tons of bombs on 10 German coastal fortifications that had been selected in advance. 1,083 bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force also dropped 1,763 tons of bombs on the German coastal defenses. Allied aircraft of various types bombarded coastal targets and inland artillery positions repeatedly. The sun rose, and the Allied naval battleships began to open fire on the German coastal positions.，，。Normandy Beach became a sea of fire, with the earth trembling. At 6:30 a.m., the U.S. Fourth Division landed on the Normandy beachhead. At 7:20 a.m., the British Second Army, commanded by Montgomery, also landed on the coast. Follow-up troops and equipment continued to arrive on the shore. Rommel, who was at home, received the news and immediately canceled his plan to visit Hitler, driving back but only arriving at the Western Front command headquarters in the afternoon. von Rundstedt and several German generals anxiously reported the situation to Hitler, requesting approval to urgently transfer two elite tank divisions to Normandy. Hitler replied that these two tank divisions could not act rashly and that the situation should be waited out. After speaking, he went to bed for a nap. Despite the constant emergency calls from the Western Front, no one dared to disturb him.
At 3 p.m. that afternoon, Hitler woke up from his nap and was informed by the front that the Allies had landed large numbers of troops and had advanced several kilometers inland. Only then did Hitler wake up from his stupor. He hastily approved the dispatch of armored divisions to support Normandy and issued orders: "We must eliminate the landing enemy and recapture the beachhead before evening." However, it was too late! By evening, the Allied forces had established solid positions in Normandy. By midnight, nearly 10 divisions, along with tanks, artillery, and other weapons, had landed, and follow-up troops continued to arrive.
On June 12, the Allies linked up at several beachheads in Normandy, forming a continuous line. Hitler's vaunted "Atlantic Wall" had been breached! From then on, Fascist Germany was caught in the pincer of the Soviet Union and the Allied forces of Britain and the United States, accelerating its path to destruction. Stalin highly praised the Normandy Landing operation, saying: "In terms of its scale, grand design, and outstanding execution of the plan, there has never been an achievement in the history of war that can compare to it." "History will record this achievement as one of the highest accomplishments." Normandy Landing vividly recreates the bloody battle scenes of the Allied offensive and liberation of the European continent, using accurate and detailed primary sources, clear and realistic battlefield photographs, comprehensive and authoritative historical documents, as well as the accounts and memories of those who experienced the war on both sides, allowing us to travel back in time to June 6, 1944—the "decisive 24 hours" predicted by German Field Marshal Rommel, and the "longest day in history" as called by Supreme Allied Commander Eisenhower.