The German defenses were also well-sited for crossfire, which caught American troops extremely well.
A key reason why the Germans did not hold: 352nd Infantry Division had everything in "the front window." It had no mobile reserve to counterattack. If they had been able to do so, they might have driven the Americans into the sea.
Peter Tsouras makes that suggestion in his book, "Disaster at D-Day," in which Rommel's wife has a big headache, so Erwin heads up to Normandy to look around on June 5 instead of to Herrlingen. While there, he decides to move the 12th SS Panzer Division forward during the night of June 5/6, and when the Americans land on Omaha, they meet the fanatical SS men and their armored vehicles. The rest, as they say, is "alternate history."
__________________
"My intensity is intense." -- Roger Clemens
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." -- Winston Churchill.
"I am not a hero. The heroes are all dead. I am a survivor." -- Sgt. William Guarnere, Easy Company, 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Check out my little contributions to World War II history at my web pages: World War II Plus 55
or http://davidhlippman.wildbillguarnere.com |