LESSON TERM EURO FRIDAY THE 21 ST OF NOVEMBER

 

PROJECT D DAY 2023

TEACHER4S PAPER

 

SESSION 5 teacher session

THE OUTCOME : what if … ?

GOAL : WHAT IF ? A POSSIBLE VERY DIFFERENT OUTCOME

 

WORDS OF THE DAY :

To bear fruit ( porter ses fruits)

Defunct = deceased= dead 

To alienate someone

To bolster = to boost = to galvanise

To be drafted = to be enlisted = to be enrolled

In the rear ( à larrière)

On the spur of the moment ( sur le coup)

To hinder = to hamper= to disrupt ( gener) 

Scorched ( brulé)

Retaliation = retribution= revenge 

(to) retalitae= (to) get a revenge  

By dint of ( à force de)

 

STEP 1 ANTICIPATION

WHAT SHOULD THE GERMANS HAVE DONE TO WIN THE WAR ?

 

WHAT COULD HAVE GONE WRONG FOR THE ALLIES TO LOSE THE WAR ?

TO POSTPONE + TO DELAY

I HAVE MY DOUBTS + I HAVE SUSPICIONS= misgivings

In order to win the war they should have prepared in a better way and more effectively

 

They should have divided their troops in an even way so not put all their eggs in the same basket between normany dan the pas de calais 

THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE A BETTER USE OF SPIES AND DOUBLE AGENTS

THEY SHOULD HAVE RESPECTED THEIR NON AGRESSION PACT AND ABIDE BY THEIR WORDS AND NOT ATTACK THE RUSSIANS

THEY SHOULD HAVE IMPLEMENTED MORE DEFENCES

 

 STEP 2 NOW WE ARE IN 2023 AND WE ARE GERMAN .

HITLER’S SON IS OUR LEADER AND WE ARE UNDER A DICTATORSHIP . YOU ARE AN OPPONENT AND HAVE FLED THE COUNTRY TO AMERICA WHERE YOU EXPLAIN WHY THE ALLIES FAILED.

READ THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS TO UNVEIL WHAT WENT WRONG  AND TURNED  OPERATION OVERLORD INTO A COMPLETE FAILURE ?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/how-close-did-d-day-come-to-failure/zkmd382

 there could have been leaks and operation overlord could have been unveiled 

the supply line also called the red ball could have been defective thus unabling allied forces to have the munitions and the resources needed .

Hitler could have grasped the situation and thus acted accordingly and sent reinforcement in  the right places  

 

STEP 3 TEAM A YOU ARE A GERMAN COMMANDER  AND YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO HITLER WHY YOU HAVE LOST THE BATTLE OF NORMANDY

read and be able to tell your general what went wrong.

1.the recruits on the ground  surrendered very quickly

The troops were composed mainly of  drafted foreigners and injured soliers as the best were on the eastern front in Russia.)Thus the soldiers in Normandy  were nearly worthless as they did not speak German and could not communicate with their commanders and had no sympathy for the Germans

.

2.The German commanders were confused, getting conflicting reports

 

3.The weapons

The German weapons were of higher quality than the Allies ones but after a while the troops could not get the spare parts ( pièces de rechange) needed because of the sea embargo imposed by the Americans

 

4 the weather reports

The various German headquarters were quite confident that there would be no attack in the immediate future  because of the poor weather.

 

5  the absence of commanders

Their senior commanders in Normandy and the cherbourg peninsula  were all away on the night of the landing for a military exercise in the Pas Calais region  which was expected to be the landing site.Rommel himself arrived 14 hours later because he was in Germany at the time of the invasion for a crucial meeting with Hitler and his wife’s birthday.

 

6.The lack of air support :

 the luftwaffe had lost its  strength and its will. So there were  no reconnaissance mission  to confirm the size of the invasion and destroy the RAF planes.

 

7.No German intelligence

Hitler intelligence department  (that is the spies ) were incompetent and  treacherous as there were many double agents in their ranks.

 

8.the efficiency of operation fortitude.

The german chain of command believed that the landing would be in the pas de calais.So did not dare wake up Hitler on the day believing it was not the main invasion  but only a small operation.

 

9.Hitler’s mistrust of his generals

So he divided authority among two generals who hated each other.So the reaction was slow and disorganised which was detrimental.A point in case :Rommel asked for the panzer divisions to come swiftly to stop the invasion.But His orders were not followed by the other general and thus the tanks arrived too late all the more as

some even believed that the Allies had failed because of the positive reports of an allied defeat from OMAHA.

 

11. Hitler was determined the allies should be fought on the beaches .

That is were Hitler got it wrong .Therefore there were no units left to organise a counterattack  in the rear once the allies had managed to get out of the beaches .

 

12.The german troops lacked  training

as they were enjoying their time in France and were busy organising rommel’s Atlantic wall.

 

13. the lack of fuel

Because of American control of the sea .So the germans  had to rely mainly on horses

 

 

 

TEAM B YOU ARE ROOSEVELT  and you are telling your grandkids why you and your army won on D day.

 

 

 

 

From the bbc history channel

1)In his prison cell at Nuremberg, Hitler's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, wrote a brief memoir in the course of which he explored the reasons for Germany's defeat. He picked out three factors that he thought were critical: the unexpected 'power of resistance' of the Red Army; the vast supply of American armaments; and the success of Allied air power.

This last was Hitler's explanation too. When Ribbentrop spoke with him a week before the suicide in the bunker, Hitler told him that, 'the real military cause of defeat' was the failure of the German Air Force.

2) THE BOMBING

Bombing provided the key difference between the western Allies and Germany.

First, bombing forced the German Air Force to divert most of its fighter force to the defence of Germany, and to reduce sharply the proportion of bomber aircraft produced..

second, bombing forced Hitler and the German leadership to think of radical ways to combat the threat it posed. Huge resources were diverted to the production of vengeance, or 'V', weapons, which had a very limited impact on Britain when rockets and flying bombs began to fall in the late summer of 1944. .

thirdly,Bombing provided the key difference between the western Allies and Germany. It played an important part in sustaining domestic morale in Britain and the USA, while its effects on German society produced social disruption on a vast scale

Finally ,The use of bombers and fighter-bombers at the frontline helped to ease the path of inexperienced armies that threatened to get bogged down in Normandy and Italy.

 

STEP 3 A LONG-IN-COMING VICTORY

 

 

 homework: start your revision on D day and the methodology  for the mock exam on the 19 th of december