Battles of World War II part 2

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Battles of World War IIpart 2
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Operation Overlord D-Day

• War strategy called for an attack on
  German-occupied France
• The larger objective was to begin an offensive to
  capture Berlin and force Germany to surrender
• This was one of the most organized and highly
  orchestrated military offensives in history

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Operation Overlord

• Dwight D. Eisenhower was made the Supreme
  Commander of Allied forces by General George C.
  Marshall, U.S. Army Chief of Staff
• Eisenhower was put in this position because of
  his unique ability to administer and organize the
  troops under his command
• He also had the great ability to get along with
  everyone.something that most of the WWII
  generals had trouble doing..

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Operation Overlord

• Overlord called for an invasion of the coast of
  France, originating from England, across the
  English Channel
• The most logical place to invade was at the Pas
  de Calais, the narrowest point of the channel
• In battle, logical is not always the way to keep
  the enemy offguard

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Operation Overlord

• Eisenhower and the other planners decided to
  attack at Normandy instead
• They also cooked up elaborate schemes to transmit
  disinformation through double agents and
  compromised spies bolstered by decoy forces
  (plywood planes and inflatable tanks) deployed at
  supposed staging areas along the British coast

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Operation Overlord

• Germans were deceived into thinking that Calais
  was the probable target
• The biggest deception was keeping his most able
  general, George Patton, out of the fighting, in
  England, as the commander of the phantom army
  waiting to invade Calais
• Preparations for the real invasion, involving a
  million troops, together with an unprecedented
  number of tanks, planes, assault craft, and
  ships, were kept under wraps

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Operation Overlord

• The Germans were tricked to spreading their
  defensive forces all along the coastline
• To make sure that German forces were not
  concentrated in any one area, British bombers hit
  the rail lines, bridges, and air fields
  throughout France for the two months prior to the
  invasion

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Operation Overlord

• On June 5, 1944, paratroopers were dropped behind
  the lines to disrupt communications
• Naval artillery began to pound the reinforced
  shore batteries
• At the last minute the weather turned bad
• If conditions were calm enough to land a few
  units of troops, then suddenly kicked up waves
  too high to land more, those caught on the beach
  would be slaughtered

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Operation Overlord

• But to wait for better weather would sacrifice
  the element of surprise, and doom the mission
• At low tide on the morning of June 6, 1944, the
  greatest amphibious invasion in the history of
  the world began

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Operation Overlord
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Operation Overlord
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Operation Overlord
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Operation Overlord