2 front was opened. War is big business

The second front, much needed by the USSR during World War II, was opened only in June 1944. This is despite the fact that on the part of the allies in the person of Great Britain and the United States, war on fascist Germany was declared much earlier, in 1939 and 1941, respectively.

A number of historians attribute this to the insufficient readiness of the allies to wage war on a full scale. For comparison, in 1939 the British Army had just over a million soldiers, six hundred odd tanks and fifteen hundred aircraft. All this in contrast to the more than four million soldiers in the German army, more than three thousand tanks and more than four thousand aircraft.

In addition, during the retreat at Dunkirk in 1940, the British had to leave a large number of military equipment and ammunition. According to the admission made by Winston Churchill, at that time there were no more than five hundred field guns and about two hundred tanks left in all of Britain.

In the US, things were even worse. The regular troops numbered only about half a thousand people, who were part of 89 divisions.
The German army at that time consisted of full-fledged, well-equipped 170 divisions.
However, the allied countries began to rapidly arm themselves and by 1942 already had enough a strong army to help the Soviet Union.

Stalin repeatedly turned to Churchill with a request to open the Second Front, but the head of the British government found various reasons for refusing.

During the Second World War, Great Britain chose the Middle East as the most significant direction for its activities. According to the military command of the country, the landing landing troops in France was unpromising and could divert the main forces from more important tasks.

After the winter of 1941, the food question arose in Britain. Deliveries from a row European states were impossible.
Since the shortage of goods could be filled with supplies from India, the Near and Middle East, Churchill did his best to strengthen the defense of this direction, in particular the Suez Canal. The threat to this region at that time was very great.

Another reason for the unhurried opening of the Second Front was also the disagreement between the allies. In particular, the tension was noticeable between Britain and France.

During his visit to Tours, where the evacuated French government was located, Churchill expressed his fear that the French fleet would fall into the hands of the Germans and proposed sending ships to Great Britain. France refused.

In the summer of 1940, the head of the British government proposed to the French a daring plan, according to which France would practically unite with Great Britain. The government of the Third Republic refused the prime minister, evaluating this proposal as an attempt to take possession of the state's colonies.

Final disagreement in the relationship of the two allied states introduced an operation code-named "Catapult", which assumed that Great Britain would capture the entire French fleet or destroy it so that the Germans did not get it.

The United States at that time was also busy with something else, namely the war with Japan, which at the end of 1941 carried out an attack on the base at Pearl Harbor. The response to the Japanese attack took a whole year.

In the autumn of 1942, the American army began to implement a plan to capture Morocco, called "Torch". As expected military government USA, the Vichy regime, with which it still had diplomatic relations, surrendered without resistance. The main cities of the state were taken in just a few days. Following this, the United States entered into an alliance with Britain and France and launched offensive operations in Algeria and Tunisia.

According to Soviet historians, the Anglo-American coalition deliberately postponed the opening of the Second Front, waiting for the USSR, exhausted from the war, to cease to be a great power. Even offering assistance to the USSR, Churchill still spoke of him, only as a "sinister Bolshevik state."

The allies took a wait-and-see attitude, counting on the weakening of the forces of both Germany and the USSR. The decision to open the Second Front was made when it became quite obvious that the Third Reich was losing ground.

Many historians wonder why, despite the fact that the advantage in military force was clearly on the side of Germany, the German army allowed the British landing force to retreat during the “Dunkirk operation”. Presumably, Hitler's troops were ordered to let the British leave.

There is also an opinion that the American tycoon Rockefeller, whose main goal was the oil market, had a significant influence on the entry and participation in the war between the United States and Great Britain. In particular, for the development of the military industry German economy just before the start of the war, the Schroeder bank created by Rockefeller was responsible.

Until a certain point, Rockefeller was interested in Hitler's Germany, and repeated opportunities to remove Hitler were cut short.
Participation in the hostilities of Great Britain and the United States became optimal only when it became clear that the Third Reich would cease to exist.

Despite the fact that Great Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, and the United States in 1941, they were in no hurry to open the Second Front, which was so necessary for the USSR. Let's single out the most popular versions of the reasons for the delay of the allies.

unpreparedness for war

Many experts see the unpreparedness of the allies for a full-scale war as the main reason for such a late opening of the Second Front - June 6, 1944. What could, for example, oppose Germany to Great Britain? In September 1939, the British army numbered 1 million 270 thousand people, 640 tanks and 1500 aircraft. In Germany, these figures were much more impressive: 4 million 600 thousand soldiers and officers, 3195 tanks and 4093 aircraft.

Moreover, during the retreat in 1940 of the British expeditionary corps at Dunkirk, a significant number of tanks, artillery and ammunition were abandoned. According to Churchill, "in fact, in the whole country there were hardly 500 field guns of all types and 200 medium and heavy tanks."

Even more deplorable was the state of the United States Army. By 1939, the number of regular troops was slightly more than 500 thousand people, with 89 combat divisions, of which only 16 were armored. For comparison: the Wehrmacht army had 170 fully equipped and combat-ready divisions.
However, in a couple of years, both the United States and Great Britain significantly strengthened their military capabilities and in 1942, according to experts, they could already provide real help USSR, pulling significant forces of the German army from East to West.
When requesting the opening of the Second Front, Stalin relied primarily on the British government, but Churchill, under various pretexts, repeatedly refused the Soviet leader.

Fight for the Suez Canal

The Middle East continued to be a priority for Great Britain at the height of the war. In British military circles, an amphibious landing on the coast of France was considered unpromising, which would only divert the main forces from solving strategic tasks.

The situation by the spring of 1941 was such that the UK was no longer enough food. Importing food products from the main suppliers - the Netherlands, Denmark, France and Norway, for obvious reasons, turned out to be impossible.
Churchill was well aware of the need to maintain communications with the Near and Middle East, as well as India, which would provide Great Britain with much-needed goods, and therefore he threw all his forces into the defense of the Suez Canal. The German threat to this region was quite large.

Allied divisions

An important reason for delaying the opening of the Second Front was the disagreement of the Allies. They were observed between Great Britain and the United States, which were solving their geopolitical tasks, but still more contradictions emerged between Britain and France.
Even before the surrender of France, Churchill visited the government of the country, which was evacuated to Tours, trying to inspire the French to continue resistance. But at the same time, the Prime Minister did not hide his fear that the French Navy could fall into the hands of the German army and therefore offered to ship it to British ports. From the government of France followed by a decisive refusal.
On June 16, 1940, Churchill proposed to the government of the Third Republic an even more daring project, which practically meant the merging of Great Britain and France into one state on enslaving terms for the latter. The French regarded this as an undisguised desire to take over the country's colonies.
The last step that upset the relationship between the two allies was Operation Catapult, which involved the capture by England of the entire available French fleet or its destruction in order to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy.

Japanese threat and Moroccan interest

At the end of 1941, the attack of the Japanese Air Force on the American military base in Pearl Harbor, on the one hand, it finally placed the United States in the ranks of the allies of the Soviet Union, but on the other hand, it pushed back the opening of the Second Front, as it forced the country to concentrate its efforts on the war with Japan. For a whole year pacific theater military action for american army became the main arena of battles.
In November 1942, the United States began to implement the Torch plan to capture Morocco, which at that time was of the greatest interest to American military and political circles. It was assumed that the Vichy regime, with which the United States continued to maintain diplomatic relations, would not resist.
And so it happened. In a matter of days, the Americans took over major cities Morocco, and later, having united with the allies - Britain and the Free French, continued successful offensive operations in Algeria and Tunisia.

Personal goals

Soviet historiography almost unanimously expressed the opinion that the Anglo-American coalition deliberately delayed the opening of the Second Front, expecting that the exhausted long war The USSR will lose the status of a great power. Churchill, even promising military aid Soviet Union, continued to call it the "sinister Bolshevik state."
In a message to Stalin, Churchill writes very vaguely that "the chiefs of staff do not see the possibility of doing anything on such a scale that it could bring you even the smallest benefit." This answer is most likely due to the fact that the prime minister shared the opinion of the military-political circles of Britain, who argued: "the defeat of the USSR by the Wehrmacht troops is a matter of several weeks."
After the turning point in the war, when a certain status quo was observed on the fronts of the USSR, the Allies were still in no hurry to open the Second Front. They were occupied with completely different thoughts: would the Soviet government agree to a separate peace with Germany? The Allied intelligence report contained the following words: “A state of affairs in which neither side can count on a quick complete victory, in all likelihood, will lead to a Russo-German agreement."
The wait-and-see attitude of Great Britain and the United States meant one thing: the allies were interested in weakening both Germany and the USSR. Only when the fall of the Third Reich became inevitable did certain shifts take place in the process of opening the Second Front.

War is big business

Many historians are perplexed by one circumstance: why german army allowed the British landing force to retreat almost unhindered during the so-called "Dunkirk operation" in May-June 1940. The answer most often sounds like this: "Hitler received instructions from the British not to touch."
Doctor political science Vladimir Pavlenko believes that the situation around the entry of the United States and Great Britain into the European arena of the war was influenced by big business represented by the Rockefeller financial clan. the main objective tycoon - the Eurasian oil market. It was Rockefeller, according to the political scientist, who created the "American-British-German octopus - the Schroeder Bank in the status of an agent of the Nazi government" is responsible for the growth of the German military machine.
Until the time, until the time Nazi Germany Rockefeller needed. British and American intelligence agencies repeatedly reported on the possibility of removing Hitler, but each time they received a go-ahead from the leadership. As soon as the end of the Third Reich became obvious, nothing prevented Britain and the United States from entering the European theater of operations.

The decision to create a second front against Nazi Germany in Western Europe during World War II was made by representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain after negotiations in London and Washington in May-June 1942. On the Tehran conference 1943, the Western Allies pledged to open a second front in May 1944.

The second front was opened on June 6, 1944 as a result of the landing of the Anglo-American troops in Normandy - Normandy landing operation under the code name "Overlord" (eng. overlord - the supreme lord, ruler). In terms of the scale and number of forces and equipment involved, this was the largest landing operation of the Second World War.

The operation was characterized by the achievement of secrecy in preparation and the surprise landing of a large group of troops on an unequipped coast, providing close cooperation ground forces, air force and naval forces during the landing and during the struggle for a bridgehead, as well as the transfer of a large number of troops and materiel across the strait zone in a short time.

The coast of Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands was defended by the troops of the German Army Group "B" under the command of Field Marshal Evin Rommel, consisting of 528 thousand people, two thousand tanks, 6.7 thousand guns and mortars, supported by aviation consisting of 160 aircraft. Their positions were poorly prepared in terms of engineering.

The Allied expeditionary force under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower consisted of over 2.8 million people, about 10.9 thousand combat and 2.3 thousand transport aircraft, about 7 thousand ships and vessels.

These troops outnumbered the grouping of German troops opposing them in ground forces and tanks three times, artillery - 2.2 times, aircraft - more than 60 times, warships - 2.1 times.

The plan of the Normandy landing operation provided for the landing of sea and air assault forces on the coast of the Bay of Seine and seizing a bridgehead 15-20 kilometers deep, and on the 20th day of the operation to reach the line of Avranches, Donfront, Falaise.

From the end of April 1944, Allied aviation carried out systematic raids on important enemy targets in France and during May-June disabled a large number of defensive structures, command posts, airfields, railway stations and bridges. During this period, strategic aviation delivered massive strikes against German military-industrial facilities, which sharply reduced the combat effectiveness of German troops.

On the night of June 6, simultaneously with the passage of amphibious assaults, allied aviation attacked artillery, resistance centers, command posts, as well as enemy concentration areas and rear areas. At night, two American airborne divisions were landed northwest of Carentan and one British airborne division northeast of Caen, which quickly broke the weak resistance of the enemy and provided significant assistance. amphibious assault in the landing and capture of bridgeheads. The passage of landing detachments across the English Channel in stormy weather turned out to be unexpected for the German command, which only when they approached the shore began to put their troops on alert.

At 0630 hours on June 6, following massive air strikes and naval artillery fire preparations, the landing began. allied forces on the Norman coast. The German troops defending it, having suffered significant losses from aviation and naval artillery fire, offered little resistance. By the end of the day, the allied forces captured five bridgeheads with a depth of two to nine kilometers. The main forces of five infantry and three airborne divisions landed on the coast of Normandy, consisting of over 156 thousand people, 900 tanks and armored vehicles, 600 guns. The German command reacted very slowly to the landing of the Allied troops and did not put forward operational reserves from the depths to disrupt it.

Having concentrated up to 12 divisions on the captured bridgeheads in three days, the Allied forces resumed the offensive on June 9 to create a single bridgehead. By the end of June 12, they occupied the coast with a length of 80 kilometers along the front and 13-18 kilometers in depth and increased the grouping of troops to 16 divisions and several armored units (equivalent to three armored divisions). By this time, the German command had pulled up three tank and motorized divisions to the bridgehead, bringing the grouping of its troops in Normandy to 12 divisions. It has taken failed attempt cut the grouping of allied forces between the Orn and Vir rivers. Lacking proper air cover, the German divisions carried big losses from allied aviation and lost combat capability.

On June 12, formations of the American First Army launched an offensive from the area west of Sainte-Mere-Eglise in westbound and on June 17 they reached the western coast of the Cotentin peninsula, captured Carter, on June 27 - Cherbourg, on July 1 they completely cleared the peninsula of fascist troops.

The offensive of the Anglo-Canadian troops, undertaken on June 25-26 to capture Caen, did not reach its goal. Despite the powerful fire support of aviation and artillery, they failed to overcome the resistance of the Nazis and only slightly advanced west of the city of Caen.

By June 30, the Allied bridgehead reached 100 kilometers along the front and 20-40 kilometers in depth with the Anglo-American troops stationed on it, 23 airfields were equipped for basing tactical aviation. They were opposed by 18 German divisions, which had suffered heavy losses in previous battles. The constant air strikes of the allies and French partisans on their communications limited the possibilities of the German command to transfer troops from other regions of France.

The main reason that did not allow the reinforcement of the Wehrmacht troops in the west was the offensive Soviet troops in Belarus.

During July, the troops of the American army, continuing to expand the bridgehead, advanced into southbound 10-15 kilometers and occupied the city of Saint-Lo. The British directed their main efforts to capture the city of Caen, which their troops captured on July 21.

By the end of July 24, the allies reached the Lesse line south of Saint-Lo, Caumont, Caen, creating a bridgehead about 100 kilometers along the front and up to 50 kilometers in depth.

As a result of the operation, the Allied Expeditionary Forces, having absolute dominance in the air and at sea, captured a strategic bridgehead and concentrated a large number of forces and means on it for a subsequent offensive in North-West France.

Losses Nazi German troops amounted to 113 thousand people killed, wounded and captured, 2117 tanks and assault guns, seven submarines, 57 surface ships and combat boats, 913 aircraft.

Allied troops lost 122 thousand people, 2395 tanks, 65 surface ships and ships, 1508 aircraft. About 800 ships during the landing during the storm were washed ashore and damaged.

(Additional

unpreparedness for war

Moreover, during the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk in 1940, a significant number of tanks, artillery and ammunition were abandoned. According to Churchill, "in fact, in the whole country there were hardly 500 field guns of all types and 200 medium and heavy tanks."

Even more deplorable was the state of the United States Army. By 1939, the number of regular troops was slightly more than 500 thousand people, with 89 combat divisions, of which only 16 were armored. For comparison: the Wehrmacht army had 170 fully equipped and combat-ready divisions.
However, in a couple of years, both the United States and Great Britain significantly strengthened their military capabilities and in 1942, according to experts, they could already provide real assistance to the USSR, pulling significant forces of the German army from East to West.
When requesting the opening of the Second Front, Stalin relied primarily on the British government, but Churchill, under various pretexts, repeatedly refused the Soviet leader.

Fight for the Suez Canal

Allied divisions

An important reason for delaying the opening of the Second Front was the disagreement of the Allies. They were observed between Great Britain and the United States, which were solving their geopolitical problems, but even more contradictions emerged between Great Britain and France.
Even before the surrender of France, Churchill visited the government of the country, which was evacuated to Tours, trying to inspire the French to continue resistance. But at the same time, the Prime Minister did not hide his fear that the French navy might fall into the hands of the German army and therefore offered to send it to British ports. From the government of France followed by a decisive refusal.
On June 16, 1940, Churchill proposed to the government of the Third Republic an even more daring project, which practically meant the merging of Great Britain and France into one state on enslaving terms for the latter. The French regarded this as an undisguised desire to take over the country's colonies.
The last step that upset the relationship between the two allies was Operation Catapult, which involved the capture by England of the entire available French fleet or its destruction in order to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy.

Japanese threat and Moroccan interest

The attack of the Japanese Air Force on the American military base at Pearl Harbor, carried out at the end of 1941, on the one hand, finally placed the United States in the ranks of the allies of the Soviet Union, but on the other hand, it postponed the opening of the Second Front, as it forced the country to concentrate its efforts on the war with Japan. For a whole year, the Pacific theater of operations for the American army became the main arena of battles.
In November 1942, the United States began to implement the Torch plan to capture Morocco, which at that time was of the greatest interest to American military and political circles. It was assumed that the Vichy regime, with which the United States continued to maintain diplomatic relations, would not resist.
And so it happened. In a matter of days, the Americans captured the major cities of Morocco, and later, having united with the allies - Britain and the Free French, continued successful offensive operations in Algeria and Tunisia.

Personal goals

Soviet historiography almost unanimously expressed the opinion that the Anglo-American coalition deliberately delayed the opening of the Second Front, expecting that the USSR, exhausted by a long war, would lose its status as a great power. Churchill, even while promising military assistance to the Soviet Union, continued to call it a "sinister Bolshevik state".
In a message to Stalin, Churchill writes very vaguely that "the chiefs of staff do not see the possibility of doing anything on such a scale that it could bring you even the smallest benefit." This answer is most likely due to the fact that the prime minister shared the opinion of the military-political circles of Britain, who argued: "the defeat of the USSR by the Wehrmacht troops is a matter of several weeks."
After the turning point in the war, when a certain status quo was observed on the fronts of the USSR, the Allies were still in no hurry to open the Second Front. They were occupied with completely different thoughts: would the Soviet government agree to a separate peace with Germany? The Allied intelligence report contained the following words: "A state of affairs in which neither side can count on a quick complete victory will in all likelihood lead to a Russo-German agreement."
The wait-and-see attitude of Great Britain and the United States meant one thing: the allies were interested in weakening both Germany and the USSR. Only when the fall of the Third Reich became inevitable did certain shifts take place in the process of opening the Second Front.

War is big business

Many historians are perplexed by one circumstance: why the German army allowed the British landing force to retreat almost unhindered during the so-called "Dunkirk operation" in May-June 1940. The answer most often sounds like this: "Hitler received instructions from the British not to touch."
Doctor of Political Sciences Vladimir Pavlenko believes that the situation around the entry of the US and Great Britain into the European arena of war was influenced by big business represented by the Rockefeller financial clan. The main goal of the tycoon is the Eurasian oil market. It was Rockefeller, according to the political scientist, who created the "American-British-German octopus - the Schroeder Bank in the status of an agent of the Nazi government" is responsible for the growth of the German military machine.
For the time being, until the time Hitler's Germany was needed by Rockefeller. British and American intelligence agencies repeatedly reported on the possibility of removing Hitler, but each time they received a go-ahead from the leadership. As soon as the end of the Third Reich became obvious, nothing prevented Britain and the United States from entering the European theater of operations.

To the 70th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy (Operation Overlord)

The solemn celebration of the 70th anniversary of the start of Operation Overlord corresponds to the ideas embedded in the public consciousness of the West that only after June 6, 1944, a turning point occurred in World War II, and the liberation of Europe from Hitlerism began. Admission to these celebrations was evidence of a positive or negative evaluation any country, regardless of its historical role in victory over Nazi Germany and her allies.

Therefore, against the invitation of the President of our country, which made a decisive contribution to the victory, a vicious campaign was launched in the West. On the other hand, Poroshenko, who had not yet been sworn in, was unconditionally invited to the celebrations, whose victory in the elections became possible, in particular, thanks to the revelry of neo-Nazi forces in Ukraine.

Why was the front in Western Europe considered "second"?

No such celebrations with the invitation of heads of governments and participating states anti-Hitler coalition has never been held on the occasion of the anniversaries of the battles near Moscow, Stalingrad and on Kursk Bulge which really became a turning point during the Second World War. No wonder. Western media usually keep silent about such dates. in school textbooks Western countries it is practically impossible to find references to these battles, as well as to the military operations of the Red Army in general. The front, which was opened by the allies of the USSR in Normandy and then called the "second" all over the world, is now thanks to many years of efforts to process public consciousness portrayed as decisive in the battles of 70 years ago.

The concept of "second front" was first used by Stalin in his message to Churchill on September 3, 1941, in which he returned to his earlier proposal to open "a front against Hitler in the West (Northern France) and in the North (Arctic)". Pointing out that the Soviet Union was "in front of deadly threat Stalin wrote: "There is only one way out of this situation: to create a second front somewhere in the Balkans or in France this year."

This concept was constantly used by Churchill, starting with his answer to Stalin on September 6, 1941. And soon the words "second front" became common, because the Soviet-German front was considered the first, or main front. The correctness of such assessments, which were formed back in the years of the Second World War, is evidenced by the data given by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences G.A. Kumanev. He wrote: "Of the 1418 days and nights of the existence of the Soviet-German front, active operations continued here for 1320 days, while in the West European - 293." Kumanev noted that the length of the Soviet-German front ranged from 3,000 to 6,200 km, while the length of the Western front was 800 km.

"From total number of the casualties suffered by the fascist German army in World War II, more than 73% are accounted for Eastern front". Kumanev also pointed out that on the Soviet-German front, Germany and its allies lost over 75% of their aircraft, 74% of their artillery, 75% of their tanks and assault guns.

The myth of the impassable Atlantic Wall

It should also be taken into account that during the three years of the war the "second front" was abstract concept not reflecting reality. The Western allies of our country were responsible for this state of affairs. Rejecting Stalin's proposals to open a second front, Churchill invariably referred to the invincibility of the German defense along the English Channel. In the autumn of 1941, he wrote: "Only in France alone, the Germans have forty divisions, and the entire coast for more than a year was fortified with purely German zeal and bristled with guns, barbed wire." Churchill argued that the implementation of the British landing would be in the hands of Hitler and would bring harm not only to England, but also to the USSR. He wrote: "To undertake a landing with large forces would mean suffering a bloody defeat, and small raids would only lead to failures and would cause much more harm than good to both of us."

True, whenever the Allies discovered that the Red Army could enter without them into Western Europe, they stopped talking about the difficulties of landing across the English Channel. So it was after the start of the counter-offensive of the Red Army during the Battle of Moscow, and then after Battle of Stalingrad. However, when the Germans went on the offensive, the Allies again recalled that a landing across the English Channel could be a disaster for the Allies and even for the Red Army. Therefore, they retracted their obligations in Churchill's message to Stalin of July 18, 1942, that is, at the height of the offensive of the Nazi troops that began three weeks ago, and then in the message of Roosevelt, which Stalin received on June 4, 1943 after the Red Army left Kharkov and Belgorod and the beginning of preparations by the Germans for Operation Citadel. Only after November 1943, when the Red Army continued its offensive along the entire length of the Soviet-German front, did the Allies renounce their obligations that they had given at the Big Three conference. Then, in Tehran, they informed Stalin about the preparations for a landing operation in northern France, called "Overlord".

It would seem that in the two years that have passed since the allies announced to the whole world their intention to open a second front, the Germans could actually make their defense along the English Channel impregnable. However, this was hindered by the demands of the Soviet-German front. German Lieutenant General B. Zimmermann wrote after the war: "Despite the fact that supreme command did everything possible to strengthen the West with both troops and weapons, all the measures taken in 1943 were only a drop in the ocean, since the East urgently demanded new forces ... Therefore, the Germans failed to create operational reserves in the West! The construction of the Atlantic Wall was still far from being completed ... If the Atlantic Wall had been built with the expectation of a mobile defense, then, perhaps, it would have acquired decisive importance, but this did not happen, and therefore the wall only required "garrisons". who, in fact, were completely helpless here.

Despite the fact that German intelligence had comprehensive information about the imminent Allied invasion, the military leadership of the Reich continued to keep its main forces on the Soviet-German front.

By June 1944, there were 165 of the most combat-ready divisions there. 59 less combat-ready Wehrmacht divisions were scattered, according to the general and historian Kurt Tippelskirch, along the entire coast "from Antwerp to the Bay of Biscay." According to him, these divisions had no more than "50% headcount". American General Omar Bradley recalled that the German divisions "were extremely heterogeneous. Seventeen divisions were field and were intended for counterattacks. However, most of them have long been left without transport, except for the most necessary. Therefore, they did not have the mobility required in mobile warfare. twenty four divisions coastal defense were also extremely heterogeneous in composition and had even less mobility due to lack of transport. The rest of the divisions were training formations, staffed mainly by recruits.

Relying on the power of Anglo-American military equipment

In preparation for Operation Overlord, the Allies used the enormous potential of the US and British military industries. Thanks to this, the Allies had an undeniable advantage over the Germans in air force. By the beginning of the invasion, wrote Tippelskirch, “the Allies had at their disposal 5,049 fighters, 1,467 heavy bombers, 1,645 medium and light bombers, including torpedo bombers, 2,316 transport aircraft and 2,591 gliders. At the same time, only 500 German aircraft were concentrated on French airfields , of which only 90 bombers and 70 fighters were in full combat readiness."

This advantage was strengthened by targeted actions Anglo-American aviation. In January 1944, Allied aviation destroyed 1311 German aircraft, in February - 2121, in March - 2115. The English historian Max Hastings wrote: "However, it was not the loss of aircraft that was more catastrophic for the Luftwaffe, but the loss of experienced pilots, which grew much faster than replenishment them ... By June, the Germans no longer had enough pilots or aircraft to offer no more than token opposition to the Allied invasion of France.

The Allies also took care in advance of the destruction of fuel for German aviation. In May 1944, they launched raids on synthetic fuel plants.

As a result, the supply of aviation alcohol to the Luftwaffe fell from 180,000 tons in April to 50,000 tons in June and to 10,000 tons in August.

B. Zimmerman pointed out: “The superiority of the Western Allies in aviation turned in the spring of 1944 into their complete air supremacy. The time came when the Anglo-American aircraft began to destroy not only military facilities, but also industrial enterprises. All the most important railway junctions have turned into heaps of ruins; the entire transport system of the western regions fell into unimaginable chaos. The message could now be maintained only with the help of various tricks and temporary measures. The outer ring of the Paris railway junction was subjected to such air strikes that sometimes it was completely out of order for several days ... The actions of enemy fighter-bombers, penetrating far inland, excluded any possibility of traffic on the roads during the day and caused heavy losses among the troops and civilians ".

As the German Admiral Marshall noted, "on the day of the landing, the Western Allies lifted up to 6,700 aircraft into the air, which were opposed by only 319 German aircraft."

Hastings believed that "the victory of the Americans in the air battle over Germany was achieved many weeks before the first soldier of the Allied armies set foot on the French coast."

A huge advantage was achieved by the allies and at sea.

Marshall wrote: “Before the landing itself and during it, 317 enemy minesweepers cleared almost all German minefields. Under the cover of light ships and with the support of powerful fleet formations, which included 6 battleships, 23 cruisers and 104 destroyers, enemy landing craft approached coast of Normandy, having previously destroyed the weak forces of the outposts of the Germans.

In three years, 4,600 landing craft were built in Britain. Already after the landing, the British and Americans began, according to Marshall, to build "artificial ports, using for this purpose 60 specially equipped merchant steamers, 146 giant 6000-ton floating caissons and up to 100 floating breakwaters and piers. All this was lowered to the bottom near the coast and turned into an artificial barrier 8 km long.

The leaders of the operation took a long time to choose the most suitable conditions for the landing, in accordance with the state of the sea, moonlight and many other circumstances. It seemed that everything was prepared for a brilliant victory. The predominance in military equipment and material support, constant many months of training, during which the soldiers were familiarized with the conditions of the landing, convinced many of them that the victory over German troops will be swift and devastating.

Private Lindley Higgins recalled that before the invasion "we really believed that at any moment the whole Reich was about to collapse. We believed that as soon as we landed on the other side, all the Fritz would raise their hands."

The generals also shared confidence in an early victory. They also believed that this victory was to lead to a new triumph for the United States and Great Britain. As O. Bradley recalled, in March 1944, General George Patton, supporting the proposal to create Anglo-American clubs, said: "The idea underlying the organization of such clubs is very timely, because, undoubtedly, we are destined to rule the whole world" . Patton's words received wide publicity.

Day-D

The leadership of the expeditionary corps appointed "D-day" -

The start date for the operation is June 5th. D. Eisenhower recalled: "All Southern England was packed with troops waiting last command. There were piles of military materials and a mass of military equipment all around, ready to be transferred across the English Channel ... All this powerful force was tense, like a compressed spring, ready to right moment rush across the English Channel for the greatest amphibious operation in history." However, "as the prospects for decent weather grew worse and worse, tensions among commanders was growing."

From the morning of June 5, as Eisenhower recalled, "our small camp was shaken by gusts of wind that reached almost hurricane force, and the rain seemed to fall like a solid wall." It was impossible to even think about the beginning of the operation. However, the meteorologists promised: "By the next morning there will be a hitherto completely unforeseen period of relatively good weather, lasting about thirty-six hours." Eisenhower recalled: " Possible consequences further delay justified the great risk, and I quickly announced the decision to proceed with the landing on June 6 ... None of those present expressed their disagreement, on the contrary, a certain enlightenment appeared on their faces, and each without further ado went to the command post to immediately radio his troops decision that will set them in motion."

Describing the first hours after the start of Operation Overlord on the morning of June 6, 1944, Kurt Tippelskirch wrote: “After dawn, aircraft and ships bombarded the northern coast of Normandy from the Ory River to the Grand Vey Bay and further with a hail of bombs and shells. They suppressed German batteries , destroyed defenses, swept away wire fences, destroyed minefields and damaged mine lines of communication. Under the cover of this hellish fire, landing craft approached the shore. "

However, contrary to the forecast, the weather remained bad. Tippelskirch wrote: “The storm force of the northwest raised the tide level higher than expected, the waves began to overwhelm the barriers near the coast. The raging sea threw small landing craft like shells, many of them were thrown onto reefs or capsized. on the water amphibious tanks, with the support of which the infantry had to go ashore.The barriers set up near the coast, in a storm, could not be completely removed, so they caused significant losses. on beach".

Tippelskirch admitted that "eight regiments, fully manned according to the wartime staff and concentrated at five landing points, went on the offensive against one and a half times weaker German divisions stretched along the entire coast of Normandy, of which only a part could engage in battle in the areas directly attacked points. And yet, despite the clear predominance of the Anglo-American forces, the Germans managed to organize counterattacks. Thanks to this, as Tippelskirch noted, "the Americans in their landing areas throughout the day did not go beyond the captured narrow bridgeheads. It was especially hard for the two regiments advancing in the Vierville area: they ran into the 352nd division here ... The advancing Americans suffered heavy losses, and at times it even seemed that they would not be able to hold on."

However, in his memoirs, Dwyat Eisenhower stated: "The landing was quite successful." He only vaguely mentioned the bad weather on the day of the invasion and the "exceptionally fierce battle" that unfolded on one sector of the front.

Although combat missions were generally completed, many soldiers realized for the first time how great the difference was between those who planned the operation and those who carried it out. Their thoughts were reflected by the writer Irwin Shaw in his novel "Young Lions".

“People on the scene,” I. Shaw wrote, “were not consulted about the duration of air preparation. Forecasters did not instruct them about the rise or fall of the tides in June and the possible likelihood of storms. They did not sit at meetings that discussed how many divisions could be lost to reach the desired milestone by 16.00 ... They see only helmets, vomit, green water, geysers from explosions, puffs of smoke, crashing planes, blood plasma, underwater obstacles, guns, pale, meaningless faces, a random crowd of drowning people who are running and falling and all this has nothing to do with what they were taught since they have left their occupations and their wives to put on the military uniform of their country... When a man on the scene is injured or his neighbor is injured, when a sailor on the bridge shouts in a high-pitched girlish voice: "Mama!" because there is nothing below the waist, then it seems to the person on the scene that he is in a terrible mess and he cannot imagine that 80 miles away there is a person who foresaw this trouble, prepared it and now can report ... .that everything is going according to plan."

Informing Stalin on June 7 about the progress of the operation, Churchill wrote: “We crossed with small losses. We expected to lose about 10 thousand people. We hope to have on the shore tonight most a quarter of a million men, including a significant number of armored forces unloaded from special vessels or made it ashore under their own power.

Secondary front?

For almost 50 days (June 6 to July 24) the Allies continued to build up their forces on the French coast, only partly moving forward. During this time, 2,876,439 US, British and Canadian troops were landed in France and great amount military equipment. On July 25, an offensive was launched deep into the European continent.

August 24 English American troops entered Paris, and Ernest Hemingway, who accompanied the American troops as a war correspondent, described his excitement when he saw through his binoculars "a gray and as always beautiful city."

American General Omar Bradley wrote: "By September 1, Western front a pitiful handful of demoralized enemy soldiers remained ... We marched victoriously along the roads of Europe, full of optimism and bright hopes ... The defeat of the enemy east of Paris was so crushing that our troops, rushing forward on 2.5-ton trucks, began to the rapid advance was a harbinger of an imminent transfer to the Sino-Burmese-Indian theater of operations. This feeling of optimism embraced even the staffs, whose officers tirelessly took into account vehicles and talked about the possibility of getting home for Christmas."

However, as Bradley admitted, “September 1944 is marked on our calendars as the month of great bankruptcy ... Our dash to the Rhine was unsuccessful, and with it our cherished dream for a speedy surrender of Germany."

Why, then, did the Anglo-American troops, significantly superior to the German ones in terms of the degree and quality of armament, "stuck", according to Bradley, "in the steel teeth of the Siegfried Line"? This was largely due to the "human factor", primarily low military and psychological preparation to the fighting of American soldiers and officers, who made up the majority of the expeditionary force.

Hastings wrote: “Some American formations were dangerously unprepared; they were led by commanders who were not competent enough to carry out the task that was to be solved ... From the first to last day war, the American army could never be mistaken for anything other than what it really was - civilian people in military uniform... Where in the German army officers accounted for only 2.86% of the personnel, in the American army they were 7%, and many of them had never even been close to the front."

Hastings noted that, once in the armed forces, everyone who could afford it tried to get into those branches of the military that were not associated with actions on the battlefield. He wrote: "During the Second World War, young Englishmen from the privileged strata of society still gravitated towards infantry and tank regiments, while their American counterparts preferred more prestigious appointments in aviation, in the management of strategic services, on administrative positions in the army or in the diplomatic department.

Service as an officer in combat units on the front lines never became fashionable among young Americans...

The army suffered many losses due to poor possession of weapons and, oddly enough, the insufficient armament of the soldiers. Hastings remarked: "The amount of ammunition for small arms in a German infantry company was more than twice that in an American infantry company: 56,000 rounds and 21,000." Only after the war did it become clear that they did not want to overload the American soldier with ammunition at the expense of food, which he carried in a duffel bag.

Having 2 times less ammunition than the Germans, the American soldiers received much more significant food rations than the German ones. Max Hastings wrote: "The daily ration of every American soldier in Normandy was six and a half pounds, compared with a little over three pounds for a German soldier." At the same time, the Americans were determined "the size of sweets in one ounce, biscuits in two ounces and one packet of chewing gum for each person." As a result American soldiers it was difficult to pass with their stuffed duffel bags where the distance between the walls was small and they scolded the English carriages for having too narrow doors.

And yet, despite the concern for food supplies, Americans, as in all wars in which they participated since the Revolutionary War, did not tolerate the conditions of uncomfortable, military life and were often sick.

German marksmanship and disease caused significant damage to the American army. According to Tippelskirch, "the American infantry continuously suffered significant losses, moreover, many were out of action due to illness. The drain of manpower gradually assumed such proportions that the command, in order to increase the combat strength of its divisions, had to ... replace the male personnel in headquarters, except for the military, by women, as well as to remove excess service personnel from the Air Force units.

Despite the fact that the Allied forces on the Western Front significantly exceeded the German ones (in terms of personnel, the ratio was 2: 1, in armored forces - 4: 1, in aviation - 6: 1), the German army launched an offensive on December 16, 1944 on the Belgian plateau Ardennes. Explaining the motives of the German actions, the English historian Chester Wilmont argued: "The German offensive in the Ardennes was military in nature and was Hitler's response to the failure of the Allies to use their opportunities in the fall. But it also had a political goal, since Hitler sought to split Great Union, force the Allies to sign a compromise peace and keep the Russians out of Germany."

Ch. Wilmont called this offensive the "Pearl Harbor of the war in Europe." The Allied defenses were broken, and the American units in Bastogne were surrounded.

A large number of American aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Many prisoners were captured, among whom was the future American writer Kurt Vonnegut. On January 1, 1945, the Germans went on the offensive in Alsace.

Then Churchill's famous appeal to Stalin for help in the form of military operations on the Soviet-German front followed. For the sake of the Western Allies, it was decided to speed up the offensive of the Red Army in January 1945. The Germans again transferred the bulk of their forces to the East. However, despite mass surrender the Germans to the allies and secret negotiations with Himmler about surrender to the Western powers, the Anglo-American troops were clearly lagging behind in their advance towards the center of the Reich compared to the Soviet troops,

that “the Russian armies will undoubtedly capture all of Austria, and enter Vienna. If they also capture Berlin, will they not have an overly exaggerated idea that they have made an overwhelming contribution to our common victory, and might this lead to them to a frame of mind that will cause serious and very significant difficulties in the future? political point We should move as far east as possible in Germany, and in the event that Berlin is within reach, we must undoubtedly take it.

And although in his desire to stop the Red Army, Churchill was even ready to resort to help German soldiers, giving the order not to disarm them, but to keep them at the ready (Operation Unthinkable), these efforts were made too late and did not lead to anything. General Patton's dream that an Allied triumph would demonstrate the US and UK's right to rule the world proved illusory. Although the Western Allies were able to liberate France and Belgium and then occupy the western part of Germany, the contribution of the second front to the defeat of Hitlerism was obviously less significant than the contribution of the Red Army.

Special for the Centenary