Normandy: The Fog of War
Topic: Military History
Much has been made of the fact that on 6 June 1944, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, was absent from Normandy. The commander of Army Group B was on leave in Germany—his wife’s birthday happened to fall on 6 June—and he was due to meet with Hitler before returning to his headquarters. Bad weather and rough seas were predicted for the English Channel, and Rommel judged that there was little chance that the Allied invasion would be launched during the first week of June. This was a reasonable assessment, though it happened to be mistaken. Advised that a brief improvement in weather conditions was likely around 6 June, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force, gave the order to go.
Though it certainly was unfortunate from the Germans’ point of view that Army Group B’s able, energetic commander was absent on the day of the invasion, their command problems went deeper than that. On paper the chain of command seemed clear enough. At the apex stood Adolf Hitler, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. His orders were transmitted via the Armed Forces High Command—Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW. Next in the chain was Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, the Commander-in-Chief West— Oberbefehlshaber West or OB West. From his headquarters in Paris Rundstedt commanded all German forces in France and the Low Countries, including Rommel’s Army Group B along the Channel coast. Army Group B controlled two armies, Fifteenth Army in the Pas de Calais sector and Seventh Army in the Normandy sector.
But in typical Third Reich fashion, this seemingly clear chain of command was in fact a muddle. To begin with, the dispute over tactics between Rundstedt and Rommel led to the dispersal of the strategic reserve: seven panzer and panzer grenadier (mechanized infantry) divisions in the Army Group B area. Four of these divisions were allotted to a headquarters called Panzer Group West, nominally under the command of OB West. The other three were allotted to the XXXXVII Panzer Corps, nominally under the command of Army Group B. One of these, 21st Panzer Division, was designated as Seventh Army reserve, i.e. the army commander could order it into action on his own authority. Moreover, the four divisions of Panzer Group West were in OKW reserve, i.e. they could not be ordered into action by either Rommel or Rundstedt but only by Hitler. Thus of the seven powerful divisions that constituted the main striking power of the German Army in the Normandy area, only one was in position to intervene against the invasion on D-Day itself. The rest were either too far away or outside the control of the commanders on the spot.
The intelligence picture was equally muddled. The German command’s conclusion that the Pas de Calais would be the likely Allied landing site was largely the process of staff analysis and supporting evidence proved difficult to come by. Air reconnaissance coverage was spotty, while the Germans’ intelligence networks in Britain had mostly been penetrated and rolled up or turned. The well-known Allied deception plan, Operation Fortitude, sowed further confusion. This involved the creation of a phantom invasion force under the command of Lieutenant General George S. Patton, supposedly preparing for a landing in the Pas de Calais sector. Thus even when intelligence pointing to Normandy did come to hand, the German command was not completely convinced by it. This air of uncertainty persisted even after 6 June, delaying the redeployment of German forces from the Pas de Calais to Normandy.
On the afternoon of 6 June the 21st Panzer Division mounted a counterattack against the British beaches that briefly penetrated to the Channel coast. But confusion reigned at all levels of the German command, the division had suffered significant losses, and that evening it fell back. The one chance, such as it was, for the Germans to roll up part of the Allied beachhead was missed. Even so, as I described in earlier posts, in the face of a stubborn German defense the Allied plan miscarried and many critical objectives were not reached. What might have happened if Rommel’s proposed defensive layout had been followed must be speculative, but certainly the presence of three or four panzer divisions in the immediate vicinity of the invasion beaches would have posed a serious problem for the Allies. On the other hand, if Rundstedt’s ideas had prevailed, the Allies would have faced the prospect of an encounter battle against a large—and largely intact—force of veteran German panzer divisions, beyond the range of Allied naval gunfire support. Given the substandard performance of many US and British divisions in the actual Battle of Normandy, such an encounter battle was unlikely to have been a walkover. Probably thanks to their overall superiority, particularly in the air, the Allies would have prevailed no matter how the campaign developed—but not all victories are created equal. Costly as it was, the Battle of Normandy could have been costlier still for America and Britain.
Posted by tmg110
at 10:56 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, 29 March 2014 10:12 AM EDT