D-Day 70th anniversary thread.

[marco]

can i ask as i'm no expert on d-day, many were shot on the beach as they disembarked the landing craft and made there way to safety at the bottom of the cliffs, why were the german positions not taken out by the RAF prior to the landings or a team of paratroopers droped to the rear of them

 

[another generation]

can i ask as i'm no expert on d-day, many were shot on the beach as they disembarked the landing craft and made there way to safety at the bottom of the cliffs, why were the german positions not taken out by the RAF prior to the landings or a team of paratroopers droped to the rear of them

There was coastal bombing and shelling before the landings. Thought the idea of the paratroopers was to land behind the main coastal defences and to continue inland. If the paratroopers had turned towards the coastal defences, they'd have ended up facing their own forces.

 

[Metal Biker]

can i ask as i'm no expert on d-day, many were shot on the beach as they disembarked the landing craft and made there way to safety at the bottom of the cliffs, why were the german positions not taken out by the RAF prior to the landings or a team of paratroopers droped to the rear of them

Many were, some missed their targets or took out targets which they assumed were right. The Germans did well to camouflage their defences for that very purpose. The same can be said of the landing crafts themselves; navigation issues meant many troops assaulted positions they weren't supposed to.

 

[Skashion]

The purpose of the airborne soldiers was to capture key strategic objectives like bridges, artillery batteries, causeways and crossroads. They weren't there to take the beaches from behind.

As to why they weren't bombed or shelled, they were, and brutally, and were reasonably effective. However, if it was so simple the First World War wouldn't have lasted four years.

D-Day could have been far worse than it was. It could have been a catastrophe but the planning paid off and it was very successful.

People get a false impression because of Omaha but that was a fuck up, most specifically they didn't have Hobart's funnies and they launched the DD swimming tanks at 5,000 yards in unsuitable conditions and young Americans paid the price. However, that was completely unrepresentative. The landings were a big success and the only major setback was caused by arrogant American commanders.

 

[Henkeman]

However, if it was so simple the First World War wouldn't have lasted four years.

I had a mad vision of 50 soldiers hanging off a Sopwith Camel there... ;-)