Why The Allies Struggled To Break Out After D-Day | Normandy '44: | War Stories 

Agreed

Absolutely! They deserved better planning and leadership. ‘Murcan enlisted men were quite good by late ‘43. But their officers were as awful then as they later proved-to-be in Korea and Vietnam,

No doubt nervous but like most of that age range believed they were immortal. It turned them into real men very early in life

My dad lied about his age and got away with it til after Caen. He was 16.

Crazy how they regret it now because what your nation has become, I can send you a link of multiple WW2 vets crying saying this isn't what they fought for, this isn't the America they fought for. It's heartbreaking to hear them say that, You know people demonstrate at veterans parades on how it's wrong?!? Wtf is wrong with the US

Just needs to fine-tune his collaborative skills; replying to valid points with "but" without acknowledging them and badgering your conversational partner aren't the greatest habits.😊

Correct. For example, the price paid by ‘ordinary’ French folk in delaying the arrival of 2nd SS Panzer Division (Das Reich) in Tulle, Oradour-sur-Glâne and a host of other towns and villages was immense. Our French companions-in-arms deserve our respect. Moreover, the fate of hundreds of women, children and babes-in-arms deserve our tears. Les Français n’ont jamais été et ne seront jamais des lâches.

Fantastic!

I couldn't find Episode 2. Know where I can find it?

Yep. Remains of the British one (Gold Beach?) were still visible when I last visited. It was fully operational for ten months April 1945 - despite only being designed to last until the September tides. The American one lasted less than two weeks…

British lost and lost (Dieppe, dunkirk), the British were m losing the war until the Americans stepped in and saved you (again), and oay your bills aince 1917. How about the British grow a pair and handle thier own fight and stoo taking my taxes.

Typical British blaming Euro-problems on Americans.

@@broncoteno7181 Unworthy of serious response, poppet. Nothing for your sort here. I should move on before you do yourself a mischief. Toodlepip.

@@broncoteno7181 you must be related to the Whittakers

I'm not sure what narrative you've been exposed to, but those of us that have always been students of history have always understood that our ultimate victory came at a horrible price, on both sides.

@@stargazer5784 Absolutely correct. I’ve had a ‘pop’ at America on this site. But I’m very, very grateful that our two nations fought side-by-side and, if required, will do so again. It’s ok to have an argument. Friends do that from time-to-time. Best wishes to you and yours.

Quite. The Americans on the ground were appallingly let down by their airforce.

​@@robertcottam8824The USAAF was overwhelmed just trying to build up their forces enough to effectively bomb mainland Germany at that point during the war. The RAF, through no fault of their own, was conspicuously absent during the early stages of the African campaign as well... The Luftwaffe was a very formidable opponent in Europe that had to be dealt with there, before allied air power could be relegated to supporting operations in Africa. Nothing about this war was easy, and the German forces weren't chumps.

@@stargazer5784 The Germans certainly weren’t chumps - although their garrison troops (particularly at Utah) were pretty dreadful. But back to the air: North Africa (Sicily and mainland Italy) are irrelevant here. The fact is that for a multitude of reasons, American soldiers, both airborne and seaborne, were badly-served by the USAAF. The paras were dropped all over Normandy completely ruining their operation; troops on the ground weren’t adequately supported from the air. Poor training, overconfident, insufficient numbers… The mess-up of the airborne landing was down to poor navigation and poor pilots. That simple. Best wishes

@pierredecine1936 Citroën not Renault.

Well only one Tiger was blown upside down. A Tiger I of Schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 during the carpet bombing preceeding Operation Goodwood. This was the only example in Normandy. All other pictures were after they had been bulldozed off roads and tipped over, such as the picture of Eisenhower passing a flipped over King Tiger. I take your point though.

I think it’s fair enough in the interests of balance. Despite being planned and commanded by Brits - Montgomery, Ramsay and Tedder - despite British and Canadian soldiers making up the majority; despite the bulk of air support being British - rising to 75% of the naval forces… ‘we’ are often completely overlooked in American sources. Nobody doubts the outstanding contribution made by the Americans during Overlord - particularly by the chaps on the ground. What is galling is the general disrespect towards blokes like my Uncle Jeff who landed on Sword Beach and fought all the way to Luneberg Heath. Most Brits with an interest in WW2 could name Omaha and Utah beaches. Be honest: how many Americans could name Gold, Juno and Sword? The Brits are having a bit of a pop on this site. It has not been unusual for Americans to have had a pop on others. However, we are allies and our militaries serve wonderfully well together to this day. I recall with pride that when the USA was attacked on 9/11 my country honoured its commitments to yours.

Fair enough, thanks for writing back.

@@MrNcgy In turn, thank you for forgiving my grumpiness/‘chippiness’ I reiterate: I have nothing but admiration for all those lads - from all the allied nations - who experienced and overcame fear in ways that are - literally - unimaginable to those of us who haven’t. NB: Off topic, I can’t think of a single feat-of-arms during WW2 that bettered Midway… Friends are allowed to have a spat… Sincere best wishes.

@@robertcottam8824 Yeah Midway was IMO the best victory the U.S won in WW2, defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy at the peak of their powers. Then of course the Soviets smashed the German army at Moscow in 1941 and the Brits took on the Luftwaffe in 1940.

@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- I take your point. I suppose I was thinking of a single feat-of-arms occurring on a single day. Sort of like a set-piece battle of old: Trafalgar, Blenheim, Salamanca… Sincere best wishes

The site isn’t. But some of our American friends have tried to make it so. Please offer them, as I do, thoughts and prayers. 🙏🙏

Hmmm. But better planning, on the part of the senior American officers would have helped. Thank goodness that Patton was kept well away. Can you imagine the b*lls-up if ‘Ole Poltroon’ had o’ been on the ground before July? 🙄

Those Poles were excellent soldiers weren’t they?

so what is the excuses for Cherbourg and St Lo both US targets both very late getting captured.

@@johndawes9337 they didnt want to make the British and Monty look to bad, so they took extra time to let Monty catch up

I’ve been a history fanatic almost my entire life, and nothing in history is more enjoyable than debating with the Brits about Montgomery. The British think he’s up there with Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon. We Americans despise him. Personally, I think he was a perfect example of the Peter Principle in action. He was promoted past his level of incompetence and it showed. In hindsight, Eisenhower should have spent some political capital, talked to Churchill, and put his foot down. There should have been some way to put Montgomery in a position where he could have still gotten a little of attention but while doing a lot less harm.

@@ditto1958 bashed Rommel 5 times.planned OVERLORD and in charge of all ground troops till 1st sep and at St Vith Ike had to beg Monty to tale over the 1st and 9th US armies over the heads of US officers..he was the best general in the ETO if you think you can name a better one who and why?

@@KrisBurns22yawn

I remember, back in the early 70s, hearing an American veteran yelling - as American tourists sometimes do - “And then the Americans came and saved all Europe!” at what I presume was his family. This occurring at Arromanches - Gold Beach - seemed a bit rude to me. When you asked your silly question of that British veteran, he would have thought that you were rude, too but, being polite and reserved, as we Brits tend to be in person, he wouldn’t have let you know this. Montgomery was responsible for planning the landy bit of Operation Overlord, dear boy. That you Americans messed up two of your three landings (Omaha and the airborne drop) would seem to be down to poor performance by the Americans. Tellingly, the Brits/Canadians did fairly well with all four of theirs - despite having having the harder tasks. Try to be a little less crass next time, there’s a good chap.

@@robertcottam8824 That was a rude thing to say. I like the British and thought they were admiral in their struggle against the Nazis. I am not a tourist and never been to the Island, the man was a naturalized citizen and seemed to like the conversation we had. We both had some laughs and shared a picture of bear drinking to our alliance. Now ask why he left England.

@@randywise5241 I intended to be rude on this occasion. A gentleman NEVER gives offence unintentionally. I like Americans very much. However, Hollywood has created a rather lopsided canvas of the actualité of Normandie. When stereotypes continue to be perpetuated, this can become rather irritating - particularly after fifty odd years of study. Attitude having been explained, I wish well to you and yours. Incidentally, one expects the gentleman to whom you refer left England because he didn’t like the weather in autumn. That’s the usual reason. Can’t say I care for it myself. Toodles.

'I remember asking an old British vet how Montgomery plans in Normandy went wrong?' Why would you ask that? Montgomery undertook to get the allies to the Seine by D+90. He got them there by D+78.

@@thevillaaston7811It cost the lives of lots of Canadians in failed tries before they broke out. Explain how well it went to them.

Then don’t. Toodlepip.

GOOD! It would be a sacrilege NOT to take him there, given his military background.@paddyleblanc

Think up a photogenic commercial and you could crowd-fund mass production overnight.

Try some fiber supplements or maybe a salad first.

I hope you appreciated it all three times

@@drumpfisidiot5021 I mean I definitely appreciated it more the first time

First for me

Woohoo! Delete comments from Brits! That won’t cut bratwürst on the Rieperbahn of proper brawlin’, my ‘Murcan darlings… Toot toot!

Why would Bradley an Army Group Commander be jealous of Patton an army commander?

@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-Because Bradley was an incompetent career politician more than a General. He was the main reason Patton was not included on D-day

@luckyandgrateful8190 Patton's Lorraine campaign was the worse handled campaign of 1944/45.

@@luckyandgrateful8190 The reason why Patton was excluded from Normandy for over a month or so was quite simple. He could not be trusted to follow orders. When he was allowed ashore in September with his 3rd Army with orders to head West into Brittany and capture the deep sea ports that were there, he disobeyed them and headed east on his own ego trip....!

@@claude626uk US historian Roger Cirillo actually said in a presentation on here - Defeating the Desert Fox by Nigel Hamilton (2012) *"We ran out of Gas because Patton didn't take his objectives"*

Montgomery had no jurisdiction to order First Allied Airborne Army and RAF to accept his suggestions and they didn’t. Montgomery argued for double missions flown on day one, for closer drops to Arnhem and for coup de mains on the bridges. The air commanders refused all of this. Consequently, Arnhem was not Montgomery’s battle to lose technically speaking. Deep down he may have felt the same way. It was planned mainly by the Air Force commanders, Brereton and Williams of the USAAF, though I’m not letting Hollinghurst of the RAF off here. His decision not to fly closer to Arnhem doomed 1st Airborne. It was Bereton and Williams who: ♦ decided that there would be drops spread over three days, defeating the object of para jumps by losing all surprise, which is their major asset. ♦ rejected the glider coup-de-main on the bridges that had been so successful on D-day on the Pegasus Bridge and which had been agreed to on the previously planned Operation Comet. ♦ chose the drop and and landing zones so far from the Bridges. ♦ Who would not allow the ground attack fighters to take on the flak positions and attack the Germans while the escort fighters were protecting the transports, thereby allowing them to bring in reinforcements with impunity. ♦Who rejected drops south of the Wilhelmina Canal that would prevent the capture of the bridges at Son, Best and Eindhoven by the 101st because of “possible flak.“ From Operation Market Garden: The Campaign for the Low Countries, Autumn 1944:ty John Peate

'STill i think he is overrated and had been sackes after Market Garden ( too maby deathes even cilivians in the hongerwinter ) But Curchil l becjed him up ..' MARKET GARDEN freed a lot more people than were kiled in the 'hongerwinter'.

Why would he have been sacked after Market Garden? Were Patton, Bradley or Hodges sacked after the Hurtgen Forest and Lorraine failures, which were far more costly than Market Garden? Was Eisenhower sacked after his broad front failed all through autumn 1944? Shouldn't somebody out of Eisenhower, Bradley or Hodges have been sacked for allowing the Germans to push the Americans into a retreat in the Ardennes, inflicting nearly 100,000 casualties? Market Garden was actually the fastest allied advance against German opposition in the entire September 1944 to February 1945 period. Nearly 100km of German held ground taken in just 3 days and liberating hundreds of thousands of Dutch civilians. Please, be thankful for what Montgomery did for your country.

@thevillaaston7811 Mind boggling that this Dutch person is belittling the commander who liberated the Netherlands.

What you have to know is the Politicians and Top Marshals surrendered . Not the people ,The Resistance , the Marquis, the Free French Forces who fought from Africa to Sicily to to Italy , from Operation Dragoon into Southern France

@@Rusty_Gold85 And, of course, they were absolutely needed in the immediate aftermath of the war. It was right to treat them as equal partners for that reason as well. The French have always made for outstanding soldiers. If things had kicked off with the Russians straight after the termination of hostilities with the Germans, French soldiers would have been expected to do a lot of dying… Finally, in terms of Realpolitik, it was vital to have a ‘western’ majority on the UN Security Council. Best wishes

Certainly better than any produced by the USA in either world war.

Monty planned the land operations for Operation Overlord, Melinda. (British) Admiral Ramsay planned the naval part and (British) Air Marshal Tedder handled the air. That’s why it succeeded so spectacularly. Best wishes

Under Montgomery as C-in-C of all allied ground forces, the allies moved 600 km in 3 months June to September 1944 from the Normandy beaches to Brussels, Belgium. Under Eisenhower as C-in-C from September the allies barely moved 100km for the next six months, with even a retreat in the Ardennes.

Montgomery was a great general. Brought Normandy in ahead of schedule and with less casualties than predicted.

@@johnpeate4544 And rescued the Americans in the Ardennes.

Hmmm. He did win the North Africa campaign and commanded Operation Husky. He was one of the three major planners of Overlord - along with Air Marshal Tedder and Admiral Ramsay. He stopped all the major counter-attacks from east of the landing beaches… He steadied the line north of ‘The Bulge’, too and led Operation Varsity - the biggest airborne assault in history, crossing The Rhine, sealing off Denmark (and The North Sea) from the Russians… So he was quite a major figure. Ghastly person, probably a sociopath, certainly overbearing. But he was a very good general. Pip pip!

"Ghastly person" Even that is way exaggerated. Montgomery actually got on fairly well with even most of the American commanders he worked with. Only a select few really bitched about him.

Maybe you could explain his ranking in this then. In fact while you're at it, can you name a single Allied commander in the ETO who won more, more significant battles against more of the enemy than him, without ever losing one? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TmSQriq0zTcx.html

Montgomery brought Normandy in ahead of schedule and with 20% less casualties than predicted.

I think you have mis-spelled 'Patton'...

I'm just gonna leave this here 45:06

provide a link saying Caen was a D Day target..also if you think Monty was a POS what are your thoughts on Bradley Cherbourg was a D Day8 bit that was over a month late as was St Lo D Day +5 but not taken till very late July..MG was not Monty planned by Brereton and Williams

Not this again.... Please do yourself a favour and look up *"Was Saving Private Ryan right to Blame Monty?" by OTDMilitaryHistory.* An excellent well established Canadian Historian has already debunked all of the revisionist nonsense about Caen.

@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- I’m afraid Americans seem to be almost pre-programmed to blame Monty. Otherwise, they’d have to admit that they messed up in North Africa, Sicily, Falaise. the Ardennes… pretty much everything, really. And why don’t they read books rather than watching films?

@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t-0AxubQEWM.html

Why this fixation with real estate? The importance of Caen was not the town itself, but the fact that it was a route centre. The requirement was that the route centre, not the town, be denied to the Germans. The result was that eight Panzer Divisions and three Tiger Batallions were drawn into the battles around Caen, (where the British & Canadians fought them to a standstill) rather than being able to counter attack the beachheads, or move westward to oppose the US forces.

Last time I checked the British succeeded, considering Monty's original projections for Normandy were, to advance into Paris within 90 days, they did it in *77 days* .

Americans messed up two of their three tasks during Overlord: airborne and Omaha. They were given the easiest, western side with the two easiest beaches, further away from counter-attack and with no built-up/urban obstacles to worry about and STILL they messed-up. Dreadful pilots and navigators for the drop (+ officers in the 82nd and 101st that couldn’t read maps). Appalling naval operations and support - some might label it as something less than brave - by the American navy. If it hadn’t been for the Brits and our wonderful Canadian friends, Overlord would have failed. The Canadians were wonderful in both world wars. In from the start; well-trained with educated, efficient officers and disciplined men. At Juno, they had the toughest beach on DDay. They absolutely nailed it.

Yet the canadians failed at dieppe!

@@angloaust1575 Hmmm that was 1942, darling and the Canadians were not to blame. As always, they performed with great skill and heroism. Put Dieppe down to the dolt, Mountbatten and our ridiculous (British) class-system.

What a daft comment….

@BunyipToldMe Well based on these casualties it was clearly the Germans who got slaughtered at Caen. Army Group B Weekly casualty reports 6th June - 13th August 1944 6th June to 25th June - 43,070 2nd July - 62,603 7th July - 80,783 16th July - 100,089 23rd July - 116,863 27th July -127,247 6th Aug - 148,075 13th Aug - *158,930* Compared to British and Canadian losses of 83,000 men. Source - James A. Wood. (2007). Army of the West: The Weekly Reports of German Army Group B from Normandy to the West Wall. pp 64, 78-79, 101, 113, 126, 166, 156, 191.

Americans doing so well? your thoughts on Cherbourg and St Lo

@@johndawes9337 At least the Americans were able to close their half of the pincer, while the English could not! If they had it would have put Germany out of the war. Falaise (fail), Caen (fail), Goodwood (fail) and not forgetting Monty's biggest, Market Garden(fail). Leave it to Uncle Sam.

@@BunyipToldMe oh dear..Falaise, Bradley stopped Patton without informing Monty..Caen was not a fail 80% of the enemy armour was there and was badly mauled by the Brit and Canadians,,Goodwood took 7 miles of enemy land again no fail..now the big one MG was Montys idea but not his plan Brereton and Williams did that..Ike demanded it sadly Gavin messed it up..

@@BunyipToldMe leave it to uncle sam..Metz and the Hurtgen forest are great examples of not doing that

What language is this?

Troll

'Title of this video should be “British they/them general continues to lose and beg America to save them”' Why? That did not happen.

@@thevillaaston7811 Dunkirk, san nazare, Malta, north Africa, the entire north African campaign, port Moresby, market garden, the entire Atlantic ocean (and supplies America was sending). The British lost every battle other than Battle of Britain (arguably still a loss) that the Americans didn’t save them. Can you name any successful British only WWII campaigns?

@@broncoteno7181 Have it your own way. When did the British 'beg America to save them'?.. 'Can you name any successful British only WWII campaigns?' Can you name any successful American only campaigns in the Second World War? 'The British lost every battle other than Battle of Britain (arguably still a loss)' The idea that the Battle of Britain was 'arguably still a loss' is absurd. The Germans went into the Battle of Britain with 2,550 aircraft in order to to give Germany the aerial superiority it would need for an invasion of Great Britain. When the Battle of Britain ended on 31st October, 1940, Britain had won a resounding victory, the most important allied victory of the entire war, in which Germany lost 1,977 aircraft. The German airforce would never be as powerful again in relation to its opponents, and the tasks it faced, as it was in the summer of 1940, both in quality and quantity. Half of the German fighter Aces of the entire war fought in the Battle of Britain. By the middle of the SIX war (1942), four of the six aircraft types that the Germans used in the battle were obsolete - a state of affairs that their own Hossbach Memorandum of November 1937 had predicted. Just over eight months after the Battle of Britain ended, Germany invaded Russia with just 2,400 aircraft. Before you decide to answer this comment, consider this... What do you think the chances are that you will know more about this subject than me?