@ABWorsham:
Had the German 7th Army got the quality of supplies, weapons, man power and labor as the 15th Army in it’s defense of the ‘Atlantic Wall’ could the invasion been repelled?
Is this worthy of a poll question?
What reinforcements would the 7th Army need to repell the Allies? It’s common knowledge that the two static divisions on the beaches were of poor quality. Could another infantry division and the 12th ss been enough to turn the tide?
It would be worth a try, also I think the matter of “If D-Day would have been a success IF certain circumstances may have been diffrent”, like landing not at Tide or Rommel stayed for some reasons in HQ, or …?
@wittman:
Possibly, but I doubt it. The 21st Panzer was unable to make any headway on the 6th because of the Navy disrupting its attacks. Although the US divisions found it hard making any headway on Omaha for most of the day, the beach was cleared by day’s end. The Allied build up was a great logistical feat and the Germans could only throw a weak ring around them.
I find it remarkable that the 352nd went unnoticed. That the Allies’ intelligence completely missed it!
I do not know figures for 7th and 15thSupplies wise, only guess that being closer to Germany priority would have been given to artillery ammo etc. The 15th army also had a large number of Coastal divisions(think 3/5 of the divisions in the West were static and 2 regiment Inf ones), but more regular ones too. Leadership wise, I think there was little difference between the 2 armies. Both Dolllman and Von Salmuth were nothing special. Marcks of the 84th xxx and several of his division commanders were exceptional.
What caught my Attention is:> I find it remarkable that the 352nd went unnoticed. That the Allies’ intelligence completely missed it!<
Do you have a source to it? what do you mean by it? Thank you for your answer upfront.
The 716th ID and the 352nd ID held almost 110 km Frontline together, were 54 km of it belonged to the 352nd ID to observe and cover.
They even shared a Regiment.
Hi a et v.
Have countless books on Normandy. Was my pet subject 15-20 years ago and it is something that has stuck in my head. I am sure I remember the Allies being unaware the 352 was in France. I suppose they thought they were only going to face the 716.
Will try to find evidence for it, but will not be for a few days. Sorry.
If D-Day had failed, and the war in Europe was still raging away as a stale mate in the east, the Americans would have dropped the nuke on Berlin for sure.
Or Bremen/something like it.
I thought you meant it would have landed in the hands of the Germans, not used on them, my bad
To aequitas et v.
Have found the Bigot report for 6th May 44. Either I remembered it wrongly or it was wrongly researched by the author (I know which I think). Allied intelligence was aware of the 352ID, but believed it was east of St Lo. Not on the beaches.
The editor starts by saying"much has been said about the failure of the Allies to detect the German 352nd division".
Williams: Enemy reaction to Overlord.
Worth reading.
Thank you for questioning my statement.
It would have not been the first time any Intelligence missed something on a hot subject. The Ardennes is one of the best examples for it or declaring Soviet roads as good solid Autobahns, too… :-D
Agreed. Intelligence is a fine art, rarely mastered.
I think I remembered something I read, but it was not completely right. I unferstand now that Army Intell expected to meet the 352, but not that early. It was a shock to find them on the beaches. I got it wrong.
It is nice to be challenged, If you can get to the truth by investigation and rereading.
In honor all the men that took part in an epic episode of WW2 lets discuss the divisions that took part in this struggle.
Didn’t the 101st and 82nd do so well on D-Day considering the bad drops they experienced?
Sterling job getting their jobs done on that first day.
A lot of men grew up that night and day and the experience they gained was so necessary in the months to come.
The Germans, what can you say? Allied air power and naval bombardments negated any coordinated counterattack above the regimental level. They held on, but opportunities to exploit the initial weaknesses were lost as time passed.
A great day and hats off to any who were present.
I am sure nightime on the 6th brought relief to many a tired soldier.
