Dear bodmina-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting question.
To begin with it may be interesting to note that while many people
refer to the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy as "Operation
Overlord", the operation was actually called "Operation Neptune". The
landings were originally known as Overlord, but in September 1943 the
codename was changed to Neptune, thus "Operation Overlord" and
"Operation Neptune" were essentially one and the same, however, today,
Operation Neptune generally refers to the naval assault and
bombardment which began the invasion. Operation Neptune, headed by the
flagship USS Augusta with General Omar Bradley aboard in a specially
built steel cabin, included two major elements:
?Operation Gambit? - the naval portion of the invasion of northern
France ( Operation Overlord ). Gambit involved two midget submarines,
which marked the extreme left and right limits of the British and
Canadian invasion beaches with navigation lights and flags.
TUTORGIG
http://www.tutorgig.com/encyclopedia/getdefn.jsp?keywords=Operation_Gambit
?Operation Maple? - was naval mine sweeping operation in support of
the invasion of northern France ( Operation Overlord ).
TUTORGIG
http://www.tutorgig.com/encyclopedia/getdefn.jsp?keywords=Operation_Maple
Let me start by mentioning a bizarre revelation that has since come to
light in the generations following the invasion of Normandy. We must
take this into great consideration when trying to determine and
separate what actually happened from that which did not, and read into
certain reports exclusions which should have been recorded and
supposedly weren?t:
This article examines why it is so difficult to find reliable facts in
the historical records of Operation Neptune and faults General
Marshall not for embellishing the official report, but for excluding
certain facts from it:
?Marshall was not a serious historian. He was simply a brilliant
combat journalist.... His books should be enjoyed for the considerable
insight they contain. But as a source, they must be used with caution.
. . . Respect but suspect."
WHY DOES THE NYT CONTINUE TO CITE A HISTORIAN THE PAPER DISCREDITED IN
A FRONT-PAGE STORY YEARS AGO?
By Melvin E. Matthews, Jr.
http://hnn.us/articles/1356.html
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Aside from Marshall?s disputed reports, let?s examine some others.
Here are some articles that discuss the successes and failures of
Operation Neptune along with a sample excerpt from each:
This official report by Major Charles E. Tegtmeyer may, in itself,
serve to answer most if not all of your questions. In it he critiques
the invasions?:
Planning Stage
Concentration Area
Embarkation of Personnel and Loading of Vehicles
The Operation
The Medical Mission
COMMENTS AND CRITICISM ON OPERATION ?NEPTUNE?
http://www.warchronicle.com/16th_infantry/officialrecords_wwii/neptunecrit.htm
Source National Archives (College Park, Maryland), Rg. 407, 301-INF
(16) 6-0.1, "History Medical Det", Box 5931.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Again, addressing the planning phase, you can see by this report the
problems with issues that were and were not readily predictable with
any measurable degree of accuracy. Begin with item #10, ?Opening Phase
up to the Capture of Cherbourg? ? Cherbourg and the Bay of Caen being
the USS Augusta?s primary destination and point of initial assault:
?The main limiting factors affecting such as operation are the
possibility of attaining the necessary air situation?
[In actuality however, the main limiting factor had nothing whatsoever
to do with air support, but accessibility, cover and concealment. This
would ultimately prove to be the leading cause of casualties on all
the beach landings]
?Our fighters will also be operating under serious tactical
disadvantages in the early stages, which will largely offset their
numerical superiority.?
[as it turned out this was a major understatement]
??an attempt has been made in this paper to determine the wisest
employment of our own forces and then to determine the maximum number
of German formations which they can reasonably overcome.?
[Obviously the estimates of German troops and the allies? ability to
overcome them were greatly affected by the superior positions the
enemy held, resulting in far greater casualties than originally
anticipated in 1943]
??it is only possible to lift the equivalent of two-thirds of one
airborne division simultaneously??
[This statement was indeed accurate, but deploying the troops into the
areas where they were intended to land ended up being more
unsuccessful than originally hoped for. Therefore the number of troops
inserted into the theater of operation at the time of the initial
assault was dramatically reduced and many units were ultimately
scattered, lost and disorganized.]
?Assuming optimum weather conditions, it should be possible to build
up the force over the beaches to a total by D plus 6 of the equivalent
of some eleven divisions and five tank brigades and thereafter to land
one division a day until about D plus 24.?
[And of course, we all know what happened with the weather that day to
ruin this overly hopeful projection?]
These are just a few examples of what official anticipated versus what
actually happened. Of course General Marshall didn?t mention these
issues in his report of the aftermath.
UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II: The European Theater of
Operations, CROSS CHANNEL ATTACK, by Gordon A. Harrison, Office
of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army,
Washington, D.C., 1951
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/wwii/D-Day/overlord.txt
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This open letters serves to correct some historical inconsistencies.
You may find what you read here very enlightening:
?To preface my analysis I must first point out that I believe the root
cause of inaccurate history about NEPTUNE lies with General S.L.A.
Marshall. Marshall and his historical team as you may be aware, were
charged with recording the history of the Normandy Invasion. Teams
collected information in the form of oral recollections from soldiers
in the field. These reports and official airborne documents were later
the basis for the Regimental Field Studies of the various parachute
infantry regiments that participated in NEPTUNE as well as the basis
for Marshall's own book, ?Night Drop?.?
?The failure of Marshall, to accurately report the NEPTUNE mission
constitutes one of the major historical debacles of WWII.?
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AIRBORNE COMMUNITY ON THE HISTORY OF OPERATION
NEPTUNE ON JUNE 6, 1944
by Randy Hils, USAAF Troop Carrier Historian
http://www.warchronicle.com/correcting_the_record/NEPTUNE_airborne.htm
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This article credits the concerted efforts of the Royal Navy and Royal
Air Force as being instrumental in the successful landing and
deployment of troops and supplies:
?The cargo, on D-Day alone, was 130,000 soldiers, 12,000 vehicles,
2,000 tanks and 10,000 tons of stores. Royal Navy and Royal Marine
personnel manned every landing craft and they were in charge of the
beach parties, directing soldiers to their sectors as they landed and
ensuring orderly disembarkation. The navy continued to supply or to
escort supply vessels, throughout the landings. All attempts by
Doenitz?s U Boats to interrupt the flow of supplies failed, thanks to
the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.?
OPERATION NEPTUNE: THE ROYAL NAVY AND D-DAY
http://www.iwm.org.uk/education/edu-bel/pdf_download/neptune.pdf
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This article addresses some of the readiness issues related to the Operation:
?The three exercises were so completely successful to indicate even
the least experienced groups would be ready for NEPTUNE.? [code name
for the Normandy mission.]?
?The field orders for EAGLE had contained full and specific
precautions against bad weather. Those [orders] for NEPTUNE were to be
notably lacking in such precautions.. Even the requirements for
security and the need to send in the NEPTUNE missions under almost any
conditions cannot fully explain this neglect.?
STEPHEN E. AMBROSE: WORLD WAR II SINS
http://www.b-26marauderarchive.org/MS/MS1741/MS1741.htm
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Here you will find the, now-declassified documents, which served as
the following reports to the President before, during and after the
invasion. You will find these profoundly interesting:
Report of the Eighty-Second Airborn Division, "Operation Neptune," at
Normandy, 6 June - 8 July 1944.
After Action Report, Headquarters, 22nd Infantry, July 21, 1944
After Action Report, 115th Infantry, June 1944
SHAEF Incoming Message from General Eisenhower to General Marshall
concerning the first reports of the Normandy landing, June 6, 1944.
SHAEF Message from General Eisenhower's reporting on the D-Day landing
area, June 8, 1944.
Handwritten message by General Eisenhower, in case of the failure of
the D-Day operation. It is mistakenly dated "July" 5 instead of
"June" 5.
Journal entries from the 16th Infantry Regiment journal, June 6-17, 1944.
D-DAY DOCUMENTS
http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/dl/DDay/ddaypage.html
(A number of photos can also be found using this source)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
One must also take into consideration ?who? is ruling an issue a
success or failure. The French, who desperately wated to be liberated
from German occupation expressed their dissatisfaction with Bradley?s
attack on Cean. General Omar Bradley, who arrived aboard the USS
Augusta and commanded much of the initial attack from his sea-borne
vantage point said this just before the attack:
?"If it becomes necessary to save time, put 500 or even 1000 tons of
[shells into the] air on the place and take the city apart. But after
seeing the ultimate destruction of the town, and feeling the response
of the people, he had only this to say: "For more than four years the
people had awaited this moment of liberation. Now they stared
accusingly at us from the ruins that covered their dead."
?"The leveling of Caen did not bring any military advantage to the
Canadians. The German defense was still intact outside the city, and
the Canadian army still had to crack it."
?According to Professor Rene Streiff, a native of Caen "The
bombardment of July 7th was absolutely futile. There were no serious
military objectives in Caen. All the bombardment did was to choke the
streets and hinder the Allies in their advance through the city."
LIBERATING CAEN
http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/ISSUE/Liberating_Caen.htm
INDIVIDUAL TOPICS ? D-DAY ON THE WEB
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/d-day/2.html
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
RECOMMENDED READING
THE D-DAY SHIPS, NEPTUNE: THE GREATEST AMPHIBIOUS OPERATION IN
HISTORY, John de S. Winser, Kendal, England: World Ship Society, 1994
?Officially, this is: "Record of the maritime involvement, code-named
"Operation Neptune", during the invasion of Europe June/July 1944. A
full description of the planning and preparation with a day by day
chronology of the operation. A complete record of every merchant and
naval vessel involved."
?Unofficially, a compilation of the movements of all Allied ships,
both warships and merchant type during the month of June 1944 to and
from Normandy. Every ship is listed, from battleship to danlayer to
landing craft, along with their date of construction, tonnage, and
flag.?
$28.95 plus S&H from Mariner's International.
BOOK REVIEWS
http://www.usmm.org/bookreview.html
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
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