D-day landings & hitlers panzer reserves (2 Viewers)

[Louis Badolato]

Not just picking points from your posts but, I would suggest that the terrain itself was a major player in the defense of the bocage area of normandy. The germans were supremaly able to fight the allies in these conditions sticking a panzerschreck tank or artillery barral through a hedge and killing a tank or troops then moving to another location was almsot impossible to tactic against. had the area not been like this I think the invasions and break out would have been much easier.Mitch
Al..

I think allied firepower from sea and especially, air would have meant that any attempt by the germans to move from this untaken beach head would have failed. The troops in that area were not sufficiently strong enough to have folded the other beaches IMO and, the good german units that were in the area would have had too much trouble moving into that area to cause the trouble you state.

The other beaches faced so little defence that they secured themselves quite well. It would have been a headache for the commanders to have to alter their plans but, I don't see how the germans with the units available could have taken the tactical advantage to spoil the invasion
Mitch

The fun part about discussion alternate history is that there is no way of knowing which analysis is accurate. Frankly, in this case, I am glad we never had to find out whether your analysis or mine would have worked out, because in either case a lot of brave Allied lives would have been lost.

 

[lancer]

Mitch, I'm not sure any German move from the area of a failed Omaha landing would have been necessary. All that would have had to be done would have been to hold the shoulders of the successful landings, thus helping to contain these until the Germans could move the troops they needed. I am also not sure that air and sea superiority would have made a decisive difference to the Allied "boots on the ground" success if the Omaha landing had failed leaving two beachheads that were so seperated that they would not be able to join up and support each other. But this is all just speculation, unprovable and JMO. -- Al

 

[fmethorst]

Digging tanks in meters from the beach would have removed much of the flexibility and effectiveness of armored units who doctrinely defended by counterattacking. It would have also required very reliable intelligence on the landing locations to ensure scarce valuable assets weren't mispositioned.

Considering the movement problems the Germans knew they would experience a hybrid solution of positioning their armored forces much closer to the coast but still held as a mobile reserve seems sensible. This still would have required accurate intelligence that command trusted.

 

[Mitch]

Frank..

Digging in the tanks, if your raising the point I made, was rommells idea of having tanks at the beaches. dug in for protection against air attack etc but, not as static hull down type bunkers. He advocated having small numbers as part of the atlantic wall defences ready to move on the landing areas.He initially spoke of 20 or 25 tanks per sector but, as we know this never became part of what he wanted as a defence of the occupied continent
Mitch

QUOTE=fmethorst;403220]Digging tanks in meters from the beach would have removed much of the flexibility and effectiveness of armored units who doctrinely defended by counterattacking. It would have also required very reliable intelligence on the landing locations to ensure scarce valuable assets weren't mispositioned.

Considering the movement problems the Germans knew they would experience a hybrid solution of positioning their armored forces much closer to the coast but still held as a mobile reserve seems sensible. This still would have required accurate intelligence that command trusted.[/QUOTE]

 

[PanzerAce1944]

Yesterday here in the U.S. on the Military Channel they aired a segment on Tiger Tanks and discussed Normandy and Rommels desire to have armor near the beaches.
Again the point was mentioned how Hitler refused the request. According to the program there were 90 Tiger tanks in the vicinity of Normandy at the time. Again under "Der Fuhrer's" control. Lucky for us ! {sm2}