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JUNE 1944
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6th -
Normandy Invasion: Operation 'Overlord'
Following approval
of the outline plans for the Allied landings in
France at the August 1943 Quebec Conference,
detailed preparation was put in hand for putting
ashore three divisions on the Normandy coast
between the Rivers Vire and Orne. Supplies were
to be carried in initially through two 'Mulberry'
artificial harbours. When Eisenhower and
Montgomery arrived on the scene they insisted on
a five-division assault, including one on the
Cotentin Peninsula to speed up the capture of
Cherbourg. The extra shipping and landing craft
needed meant pushing the date from May to 5th
June. Unseasonably bad weather postponed the
actual landings to the 6th. After gaining
bridgeheads in Normandy, Eisenhower's aims were
to build up enough strength for a decisive battle
in the area, before breaking out to take the
Channel ports and reach the German border on a
broad front. Meanwhile, the right flank would
link up with Allied forces coming up from
southern France. A further increase in strength
would be used to destroy the German forces west
of the Rhine before crossing this major barrier
and encircling the important Ruhr industrial
centre. The final advance through Germany could
then follow. Vital to all these steps was the
opening of enough ports to bring in the
reinforcements and vast amount of supplies
needed.
Supreme
Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force - US Gen
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Deputy
Commander - Air Chief Marshall Sir
Arthur Tedder
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Allied Naval
Expeditionary Force
Adm Sir B Ramsey |
21st Army Group
Gen Sir B Montgomery
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Allied Expeditionary Air
Force
Air Chief Marshall Sir T
Leigh-Mallory |
Gen Montgomery remained in command
of ground forces until September 1944 when Gen
Eisenhower assumed direct control. For the
purposes of 'Overlord', RAF Bomber Command and
the Eighth US Air Force were placed under the
operational direction of the Supreme Commander to
add to the aircraft of the Allied Tactical Air
Forces.
From
his headquarters outside Portsmouth on 1st June,
Adm Ramsey took command of the immense armada of
ships collected together for Operation 'Neptune',
the naval part of 'Overlord'. |
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Landing Areas: |
Normandy
coast on the SE edge of the Cotentin Peninsular
("Utah"),
and between Rivers Vire and Orne
("Omaha", "Gold",
"Juno", "Sword") |
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21st
Army Group - Gen Montgomery
Five US, British, Canadian infantry divisions,
followed by one US infantry and one British
armoured division, total of 130,000 Allied troops
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Forces landing and areas of
departure: |
US
Beaches
US First Army - US Gen
Bradley
"Utah"
Beach - US 7th Corps from Dartmouth area
"Omaha"
Beach - US 5th
Corps from Portland area
"Omaha" Beach
follow-up:
one US
infantry division from Plymouth area |
British
& Canadian Beaches
British Second Army - Gen
Dempsey
"Gold" Beach
- British 30th Corps from Southampton area
"Juno" Beach
- Canadian forces of British 1st Corps from
Portsmouth area
"Sword" Beach
- British 1st Corps from Newhaven area
follow-up:
British
armoured division from Thames area |
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Naval Task Forces and Commanders (RN refers to both Royal and Dominion
Navy vessels) |
Western
Rear-Adm A G Kirk USN |
Eastern
Rear-Adm Sir P Vian
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Assault Phase |
Warships |
Warships |
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Battleships |
3 US |
3 RN |
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Cruisers |
10 (5 RN, 3 US, 2 French) |
13 (12 RN,
1 Allied) |
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Destroyers & escorts |
51 (11 RN, 36 US, 4 French) |
84 (74 RN, 3 French, 7 Allied) |
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Other warships, incl. minesweepers
& coastal forces |
260 (135 RN, 124 US, 1 Allied) |
248 (217
RN, 30 US, 1 Allied) |
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Total Warships |
324 (151 RN, 166 US, 6 French,
1 Allied)
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348 (306 RN, 30 US, 3 French,
9 Allied)
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Major Amphibious Forces |
Landing
& Ferry Vessels |
Landing
& Ferry Vessels |
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LSIs, landing ships & craft |
644 (147 RN, 497 US) |
955 (893
RN, 62 US) |
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Ferry service vessels & landing
craft |
220 (RN & US) |
316 (RN
& US) |
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Totals incl. Warships |
1,188 |
1,619 |
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Grand Total |
2,807 |
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Plus minor landing craft |
836 |
1,155 |
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Naval &
Maritime Forces
The two Naval Task
Forces totalled 672 warships for assault convoy
escort, minesweeping, shore bombardment, local
defence, etc, and 4,126 major and minor landing
ships and craft for initial assault and ferry
purposes: a grand total of 4,798. To this can be
added the following:
(1) Home
Command for follow-up escort and
Channel patrols, plus reserves:
1 battleship (RN);
118
destroyers and escorts (108
RN, 4
US, 1
French, 5 Allied);
364 other warships including coastal
forces (340 RN, 8 French, 16
Allied).
(2) Western
Channel Approaches A/S Escort Groups
and reserves:
3 escort carriers (RN),
55 destroyers and escort
vessels (RN).
(3) Merchant
ships in their hundreds - mainly
British
liners, tankers, tugs, etc to supply and
support the invasion and naval forces.
(4) British 'Mulberry'
harbour project of two artificial
harbours and five 'Gooseberry' breakwaters
including:
400
'Mulberry' units totalling 1.5 million
tons and including up to 6,000-ton
'Phoenix' concrete breakwaters;
160 tugs
for towing;
59 old
merchantmen and warships to be sunk as
blockships for the 'Gooseberries'. All
were in place by the 10th June.
(5) Specially
equipped British vessels for
laying PLUTO - Pipeline Under The
Ocean - across the Channel from the Isle of
Wight to carry petroleum fuel.
The assault forces
sailed from their ports of departure on the
5th to a position off the Isle of Wight, and
headed south through swept channels down 'The
Spout' towards Normandy. Two midget submarines
were already on station off the British sector,
ready to guide in the landing craft. Partly
because of elaborate deception plans, partly
because of poor weather, both strategic and
tactical surprise was achieved. The invasion was
not expected in such weather conditions and
certainly not in Normandy. The Germans expected
the Pas-de-Calais with its much shorter
sea-crossing to be the target although realised
that diversionary landings might be made in
Normandy.
Soon after
midnight on the morning of the 6th, the
invasion got underway with the US 82nd and 101st
Airborne Divisions dropping behind 'Utah' beach
and the British 6th Airborne between 'Sword'
beach and Caen. At dawn, after heavy
preliminary air and sea bombardments, and with
complete Allied air supremacy, the landings went
ahead. Royal Marine Commandos Nos 47, 48 and 41
took part in the assaults on the British and
Canadian beaches. Against varying degrees of
resistance, the toughest on 'Omaha', all five
beachheads were established by the end of the day
and 150,000 Allied troops were on French soil.
'Omaha' linked up with the British and Canadian
beaches by the 8th, and two days later -
the 10th - 'Utah' made contact with
'Omaha'. On the 12th, 330,000 men and
50,000 vehicles were ashore.
As US Seventh
Corps fought its way across the Cotentin, the
rest of US First Army thrust forward around St
Lo. Further east the British and Canadian Corps
of British Second Army battled their way around
Caen against fierce German counter-attacks. By
the 18th the Americans had reached the
western side of Cotentin and Seventh Corps headed
north for the port of Cherbourg.
Between the 19th
and 22nd, violent Channel gales wrecked
the US 'Mulberry' harbour off 'Omaha' and
seriously damaged the British one off 'Gold'
beach. Many landing craft and DUKWS were lost and
a total of 800 driven ashore. Only the British
harbour was repaired and the need for Cherbourg
became even more important. By the 27th,
with strong gunfire support from Allied warships,
the port was in US hands. Although the
installations were wrecked and the waters heavily
mined, the first supply ships were discharging
their cargoes by mid-July.
As Cherbourg fell,
British troops of Second Army started a major
attack to the west of Caen (Operation 'Epsom')
but were soon held by the Germans.
By the end of
June nearly 660,000 men had landed in France.
Although the Allies were well established on the
coast and possessed all the Cotentin Peninsular,
the Americans had still not taken St Lo, nor the
British and Canadians the town of Caen,
originally a target for D-day. German resistance,
particularly around Caen was ferocious, but the
end result was similar to the Tunisian campaign.
More and more well-trained German troops were
thrown into the battle, so that when the Allies
did break out of Normandy the defenders lost
heavily and lacked the men to stop the Allied
forces from almost reaching the borders of
Germany. |
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Normandy Beaches -
In spite of the vast number of warships lying off the
Normandy beaches and escorting the follow-up convoys,
losses were comparatively few, although mines, especially
of the pressure-operated variety were troublesome:
6th - Destroyer
"WRESTLER"
escorting a
Canadian assault group to 'Juno', was badly damaged
by a mine and not repaired.
8th - Frigate "LAWFORD" on patrol in Seine Bay, also
after escorting an assault group to 'Juno', was
bombed and sunk.
9th - Old light
cruiser "DURBAN" was expended off Ouistreham as one of
the 'Gooseberry' breakwaters. Sister ship, the
Polish-manned "DRAGON" was damaged in early July and joined her
in this final but important role.
12th - By now
the battleship "Warspite", the ship that ended the war
with the greatest number of Royal Navy battle
honours, had left her gunfire support duties off the
Normandy beaches to be fitted with replacement gun
barrels. On passage to Rosyth, Scotland she was
damaged by a mine of Harwich and out of action until
August. Then she returned in the support role
bombarding Brest.
13th -
Escorting a follow-up convoy to the beaches,
destroyer "BOADICEA" was sunk in the English
Channel off Portland Bill by torpedo bombers.
18th -
Battleship "Nelson" was slightly damaged by a mine as she
fired her guns off the beaches.
21st -
Destroyer "FURY" was mined and driven ashore in the gales
that played havoc with the Mulberry harbours. She was
refloated but not repaired.
23rd - Adm
Vian's flagship, the AA cruiser "Scylla", was also mined in Seine Bay.
Seriously damaged, she was out of action until after
the war and then never fully re-commissioned.
24th - Mines
claimed another victim. Destroyer "SWIFT's" back was broken and she went
down five miles off the British beaches.
25th - As
cruiser "Glasgow" in company with US warships bombarded
Cherbourg, she received several hits from shore
batteries and was out of action for the rest of the
war. Nine days after carrying King George VI on a
visit to Normandy, cruiser "Arethusa" was slightly damaged by a mine
or bomb while anchored off the beaches.
Three US destroyers
and a destroyer escort were also lost off Normandy in
June.
Channel Patrols -
Attempts by German light forces to interfere with
invasion shipping had little effect and they suffered
heavy losses. However, on D-day, torpedo boats sank the
Norwegian destroyer "SVENNER". Then on the night of the 8th/9th
another force of destroyers and torpedo boats tried to
break through from Brest but was intercepted by the 10th
Destroyer Flotilla of 'Tribals' off Ushant. Destroyer "ZH-1" (ex-Dutch) was damaged by
"Tartar" and torpedoed and sunk by
"Ashanti", and "Z-32" driven ashore by the Canadian
"Haida" and "Huron" and later blown
up.
Western Channel
Approaches - Aircraft of Coastal Command and Escort
Groups of the RN and RCN on patrol at the west end of the
English Channel and its approaches were ready for any
attempt by U-boats to reach the 'Neptune' ships. Only
schnorkel-equipped boats dared try, and the few that did
had little success. In June they lost 12 of their number:
off the Channel, aircraft sank five including "U-629" and "U-373" in one day, the 8th,
to one RAF Liberator of No 224 Squadron (Flg Off
K. Moore). Two more went down in the Bay of Biscay as
they returned from Atlantic patrol. Warships accounted
for the remaining five, but two frigates were sunk and
other escorts severely damaged:
15th - Frigate
"BLACKWOOD" was torpedoed off Brittany by
"U-764" and sank in tow off Portland Bill.
15th - Frigate
"MOURNE"
was sunk by "U-767" off Land's End.
18th - Three
days after sinking "Mourne", "U-767" was caught off the Channel
Islands by destroyers "Fame",
"Havelock" and "Inconstant" of
14th EG and sent to the bottom.
24th -
Destroyers "Eskimo" and Canadian
"Haida" of 10th Flotilla, together with a
Czech Wellington of No 311 Squadron, sank
"U-971"
off Ushant.
25th - Two
U-boats were lost off Start Point in the English
Channel - "U-1191" to frigates "Affleck" and
"Balfour" of the 1st EG, and "U-269" to "Bickerton" (Capt
Macintyre) of the 5th EG.
27th/29th - Two
days after badly damaging corvette "PINK" (constructive total loss) on
the 27th and sinking two merchantmen, "U-988" was caught and sank off the
Channel Islands by frigates "Cooke",
"Domett", "Duckworth" and
"Essington" of 3rd EG and a RAF Liberator
of No 224 Squadron.
Normandy to Berlin is continued in
Western Front June 1944-May 1945
link to
D-Day Museum, Portsmouth
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