Why Normandy for D-Day?

A lot of thought goes into planning a location for something as large as Operation Overlord (D-Day), here are just a few reasons it was decided upon. Overall, the Allies were looking for something within range of their air power, not too far from the staging ports and wide enough beaches to land multiple divisions. Once you remove the obvious choice, and thus most heavily defended, Calais, the decision was made to go with Normandy.

#shorts#dday#normandy#operationoverlord#ww2#wwii#militaryhistory#omahabeach#utahbeach#swordbeach#goldbeach#junobeach#calais#allies#history#invasion#normandyinvasion#operationneptune

[ryerial]

Can’t imagine the nerve and resolve these men would have to have to jump off those landing craft knowing exactly what say in front of them. An Enemy who wanted nothing more than to see them dead.

[jonathanmckeage]

You've hit the nail on the head and Calais was easy to make the Germans to think that because Dunkirk was just up the coast

[ahulaga]

my grandfather landed at sword beach, he is an amazing man, absolutely my hero. 98 yrs now

[MissJellybean]

My grandpa was at D Day. He was also in Korea and Vietnam. He retired a Sergeant Major. He never talked about it much, but the few times he did talk about it made me appreciate him and all of our service members so much.

[ryanhaggett]

Well done sir. Short sweet with all the major logistical details needed. I've never seen such a simple and succinct explanation of the decision that was made.

[campersr]

That "a little trickery" was probably the most successful smoke and mirrors tactics ever pulled by any millitary at the time

[leejames]

My Grandad, now in his 97th year was part of a naval and combined operations team sent forward of the main task force to clear the route of mines on Omaha Beach. This is in some ways unique as he is British, as was the rest of his party, and Omaha Beach was the objective for predominantly American Troops. A tough day at the office for all.

[iknowsomestuff]

Dont forget most beaches during the Normandy landings actually went off allmost uncontested

[canadianpyro]

Man actually going too Normandy is crazy. I was amazed at how many bunkers are still there and how huge the beach really was. I actually found an unfired bullet when I was looking around in a bunker, it was just in the dirt and had obviously been stepped on a million times but no one noticed it until. It was a rifle caliber, like an infantry rifle. I thought it was pretty cool and I still have it even though it's broken over the years. The casing turned tell dust but the bullet itself is just fine. Big ol chunk of lead. I respect the hell outta any man who fought let alone fought on D day.

[memekrt]

Imagine being part of the first wave in Normandy landings especially in Omaha. Thats one hell of a blood bath.

[lil.dark.one.]

Any man that ran too that beach is honestly a man with no fear. Those men are fucking legends I could never live up too that ever.

[shadowshot]

Band of Brothers In the background, nice touch.

[jaredfullmer]

Once Rommel got up to Normandy from Italy he checked out the beaches and was like “This is where they’ll land.”

[terriblejokefactory]

There were 2 reasons to pick Calais: It was the closest point across the channel and it was the sensible place to land.

The disadvantages of Calais were that it was the sensible place to land.

Normandy's advantages were that it had nicer beaches for a landing and it wasn't Calais.

[str]

"so well defended, "
Well, yes it was, but not as much as pas de Calais. And Normandy also had some of the most ideal beaches to facilitate amphibious landings

[daniellinehan]

Dad landed day 6 and was in action hour and a half later.Thank you Dad.

[astrangeperson]

D-Day was just throwing random stuff and hoping it fucking worked and honestly it still surprises me that it did fucking work

[ghqluct]

I thought it was also because the German defensive line was still being created. Like some structures were done but not everything. Even down to supplies being short for German troops across the entire defensive line. With Erwin Rommel being placed in charge of the defense there was this whole sense of urgency where the longer the Allies waited the worse things could be. If I'm remembering right, the cliffs of Normandy were seen as impassable by the Germans for a landing spot for the Allies, so they focused the construction efforts elsewhere and saved it for last after building some basic pillboxes and artillery buildings.

[Lotek]

One of the german commanders at Normandy was begging over the radio for reinforcements and was told no because "Normandy was just a diversion" He looked out over the sea and saw nothing but ships and planes as far as the eye could see and screamed "There is no way this is a diversion! I have never seen a force so large!" and they still didnt believe him for some time because our counter intelligence was so good.

[DaemonTargaryen]

My grandpa landed in Omaha beach. Said he was too scared to even get off the boat but his sergeant dragged him off. He froze into a ball in the middle of the beach and just hid behind a barrier until gunfire was done. Not everyone ran into action shooting at people. Many literally just froze and hid.