LESSON TERM EURO FRIDAY THE 18 TH OF SEPTEMBER
GOAL : first session on the d day
WORD OF THE DAY
Getting involved( s impliquer)
To condone = (to) agree with
Turn a blind eye on( ne pas vouloir regarder les choses en face)
STEP 2 TER EURO
PROJECT D DAY 2023
Session 3
MISSION : SO WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PLAN AN INVASION ?A GROUP GAME
DOCUMENTS AT YOUR DISPOSAL :
A map of the defenses on the atlantic wall
A video about dieppe ( already seen but to check why it failed)
A series of questions to be answered
A list of material at your disposal
A map of the tide
A map of the bridges and possible reinforcement tactics for the germans
in spelling :
battle hardened ( aguérri à la guerre)
ex: the germans were battle hardened
(to) trigger = (to) beget = (to) prompt
this attack prompted a prompt response for the other camp
be in fatigues = be wearing a kaki uniform
the GIs were all in fatigues
battle fatigue
the british had been fighting for 4 years so they were experiencing battle fatigue
(to) entail = (to) imply
this attack entailed a massive armada of ships
MISSION : today you have to design a plan to liberate France and put to end to WW2
Have a look at the different documents available and decide with your team on the various questions here :1 POINT FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER and 1 if the justification is well phrased even if wrong .
1. Location of the landing AND WHY ?
2. Type of weather necessary
3. Type of beaches necessary : pebbles or sand AND WHY ?
4. Moment of day for the landing AND WHY ?
5. Habour or beach
6. Where to go next ? paris ? other cities ?
7. Low tide or high tide ?
8. Landing alone or other type of operations before ?
9. Once landed how to ensure supplies ?
10. Type of boats to take the men on shores
11. One military commander or only one suprême commander ?
12. Do we involve the French or not ? do we involve the french resistance ?
D DAY SESSION 3
LANDING OR BOMBING
WHAT ARE THE OTHER STRATEGIES POSSIBLE ? WHO SHOULD WE ATTACK FIRST ?
STEP 1 WHY choose germany and not japan ?
THE AMERICANS MIGHT HAVE CHOSEN TO REGARD THE CAMPAIGN IN Europe as a diversion from their struggle against the main enemy japan.
Still they were persuaded to commit their chief strength in the west .
Not only that but it was the americans who were impatient to confront the germans while the British right up to the eve of D day were haunted by the greatest misgivings about doing so
Chruchill was in favor of another alternative landing in Portugal
Churchill was very uneasy about the whole operation up to feb 1944
« it may well be the most ghastly disaster of the whole war « »Chrurchill
So there were Dissensions between the warlords.if the americans had not been that resolute it would never have happened before 1945.
Still from the beginning Roosevelt and his chief of staff asserted from the beginning the priniciple of Germany first
THEY ACCEPTED THAT GERMANY WAR-MAKING POWER WAS BY FAR THE MOST DANGEROUS AND THAT FOLLOWING HER COLLAPSE THEN JAPAN WOULD FOLLOW
So they decided on A CROSS CHANEL INVASION
THE BRITISH ACCEPTED ANVIL, THE LANDING IN THE SOUTH OF France AS WELL AS OVERLORD
THE TWO PLANS WERE PROPOSED TO STALIN AT THE TEHERAN CONFERENCE IN 1943 SO ANY BREACH WOULD BE A BETRAYAL OF THE RUSSIANS
STEP 2 WHY NOT CHOOSE THE AIR ONLY
THE MAIN CONCERN OF OPERATION OVERLORD WAS TO ENSURE THAT THE FULL AIR FORCE WAS AVAILABLE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR THE FORCES ON THE GROUND
ATTACK ON INDUSTRIAL CENTRES
EISENHOWER INTENDED TO USE THE BOMBERS TO PARALYZE THE FRENCH RAILWAY SYSTEM TO HAMPER GERMAN MOVEMENT OF REINFORCEMENT TO LOWER NORMANDY . this plan was nicknamed THE TRANSPORTATION PLAN
STEP 4 WHERE TO LAND ? why choose normandy ?
a) DISCUSSION : where would you land ? Why not pas de calais ?
THE ATLANTIC WALL
THE ATLANTIC WALL WAS 3 500 MILES LONG RUNNING FROM NORWAY TO DENMARK AND ACROSS THE NETHERLANDS BELGIUM AND France TO THE BAY OF B ISCAY
IT WAS FORTIFIED WITH CONCRETE DEFENCES MANNED BY THE GERMA ARMY
THE MOST OBVIOUS PLACE FOR A LANDING WOULD HAVE BEEN CALAIS IN NORTHERN France JUST 25 MILES ACROSS THE CHANNEL FROM THE BRITISH PORT OF DOVER So they decided to land in the area that was the longuest distance across the channel : the beaches of normandy to surprise the enemy.
BUT THE: beaches had to be within range of air support flying from england
The army had to be resupplied once it landed so needed to have an area where unloading operations could take place.
The Pas de calais was the Shortest route to the heart of germany but too heavily defended
The cotentin would have been too easy for the germans to bottle up the invaders within the peninsula and the marshes( les marais) there made it unpractical
And Brittanywas too far away beyond the reach of dominant air cover
SO Why normandy ?
1) Fortifications there were not too strong
2) the area was away from the Great german reserve forces.
3) The normandy area offered a number of suitable beaches on which to land.
4) The radius of air cover ( effectively the range of a spitfire 150 miles ) was limited enough
BUT normandy had no deepwater ports so how to get fresh supplies.
This had led the germans to believe that normandy was not a threat as an invasion site.
But what they did not anticipate is that the french ports could be be attacked by the rear and then captured after a successful landing on the beaches
DO NOT FORGET THE TRIP TO NORMANDY NEXT FRIDAY
