lesson term euro friday the 18 th of september

 

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