Chapter 114
Chapter 114
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Normandy Landings (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Germans, impressed by Rommel's masterful performance in the Pripyat Marshes on the Eastern Front, dubbed him the "Swamp Fox."
If he could handle the marshes, he could manage France too.
Holding this belief, Hitler appointed Rommel as commander of Army Group B, one of the key defensive forces on the Western Front.
"I trust only General Rommel. Go and make it spectacular."
Having served even in the Führer Guard, Rommel enjoyed Hitler's confidence far beyond that of other generals.
"It is an honor, my Führer. I will not fail to meet your expectations."
Rommel wasted no time upon arriving at the Western Front. He rushed preparations for defense.
First, he reorganized the officer corps, which had been left in disarray by purges.
Whenever he had time, he personally inspected his sector, offering opinions on troop deployments and defensive structures.
On the surface, Rommel appeared perfectly suited to the Western Front.
But inwardly, he was tormented by anxiety.
"My dearest Lucie, I haven't been sleeping well lately. My superiors in Paris and Berlin think everything is fine, but the front lines tell a different story—it's utterly frustrating."
He commanded a ragtag army of untrained rabble, with inadequate defenses, overwhelming enemy sea and air power, uncooperative generals, and unsupportive higher command.
If the enemy landed even in small numbers, it would be over.
As Rommel saw it, Germany's only path to survival was to reinforce this flimsy Atlantic Wall somehow and stop the enemy on the beaches.
Rommel threw himself energetically into assessing the situation and fortifying the Atlantic Wall.
He accelerated mine-laying and doubled the number of beach obstacles designed to thwart landings.
Even so, it still wasn't enough.
To halt the Allies on the shore, more forces needed to be positioned along the coast.
That conviction led Rommel, at a joint service conference, to insist that the main armored units must be stationed directly on the coast.
"Given the power of the Allied air forces that control the skies, it makes sense to disperse the armored units along the coastline, where they won't have to worry about enemy air interference."
"Our Western armored group is positioned near Paris, ready to smash the enemy in one decisive thrust. I absolutely cannot agree to advancing armored divisions to the coast for mere defense. Consider that settled."
Baron Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, commander of the Western Armored Group, strongly opposed Rommel's argument.
Both sides had valid points.
As Rommel argued, positioning armor forward on the coast risked it being neutralized by pre-landing naval bombardment.
On the other hand, Schweppenburg's plan to hold near Paris raised questions about whether timely deployment to the front was feasible under constant Allied air attacks.
With Army Group B's commander—the linchpin of defense—and the armored group commander at odds, the Army got dragged into the debate.
Even Hitler couldn't decide who was right.
Meanwhile, precious time slipped away.
"First, we need to pinpoint the landing site—Pas de Calais or Normandy? Until that's clear, any deployments are pointless."
It was a coin-toss issue, but no one could say for sure where the Allies would strike.
Both areas had their pros and cons.
Pas de Calais was indeed the Allies' prime target in terms of accessibility and convenience.
A landing there would allow British forces to cross the 40 km Dover Strait with ease.
But the defenses concentrated there—troops and fortifications—made it a tough nut to crack.
Normandy, by contrast, had fewer defenders and sparser facilities.
In exchange, it lay more than twice as far from Britain's mainland, complicating air support.
The debate dragged on.
In the end, Hitler rendered the verdict.
"Normandy is indeed vulnerable, so prioritize it."
The Führer's directive settled one issue, but the armor deployment dispute lingered.
After hearing out the generals, Hitler split the difference with a half-measure.
"Disperse half the armored units along the coast, and hold the other half in reserve near Paris."
Whether he saw it as a compromise or not, it was a worse option than committing fully to one side.
Rommel and Schweppenburg both thought it absurd, but neither dared defy the Führer.
With that, the framework of the German defensive strategy on the Western Front took shape.
The core was coastal defense backed by the Atlantic Wall.
Half the armor on the coast, half in reserve for counterattack.
Grumbling though they were, the generals began aligning with the finalized strategy.
And this plan passed through the hands of German intelligence chief Walter Schellenberg, making its way to Switzerland.
Supreme Allied Commander Eisenhower reviewed the German defensive plans and grew confident in the Normandy landings.
'If their armor is split up, picking them off one by one won't be hard.'
A massed formation of ten German armored divisions was formidable, but isolated divisions could be pulverized by air power alone.
The Allied high command hurried preparations for the landings.
As planning advanced, the Allied order of battle took shape.
Two Marine divisions and four Army divisions (plus six more) from Korea, 24 British divisions, and 12 American divisions formed the initial available forces.
In division count, they fell far short of the 65 German divisions in France and the Low Countries, but Allied manpower vastly outnumbered them.
Most German divisions in France were understrength, and their tables of organization were weaker than Allied ones to begin with—one Allied division equaled two or three German ones.
Moreover, many German units weren't pure Germans but so-called Eastern battalions.
These Eastern battalions, formed from conscripted Russian POWs, had low morale and no fighting spirit.
Factoring that in, Allied superiority was undeniable.
Still, the Allies didn't take Normandy lightly enough to charge in without prep work.
Amphibious assaults carried higher risks than most operations, so they needed to bleed the Germans first.
"Let's go with the Korean proposal."
"You think it'll work?"
On April 4, 1944, Allied high command issued orders to resistance groups in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
"Commence sabotage operations across northern France and the Low Countries immediately."
The Germans caught wind of it.
Not through signals intelligence, but because German troops posing as resistance fighters kindly received the orders via radios airdropped by the Allies.
Of course, that alone didn't confirm an Allied landing.
"Hoist anchor and set sail."
The Allies openly launched a massive fleet.
Seeing it, the Germans were convinced a landing was imminent.
"Alert! Alert!"
Klaxons blared in the dead of night. Soldiers scrambled to arm themselves and rush to key roads.
Armed troops were dispatched even to open fields suitable for paratroop drops in the rear.
The Germans prepared as best they could to meet the Allies.
But the expected Allies never showed.
As German morale sagged and they began returning to positions, new Allied orders arrived.
"This Saturday, we return to the Continent. Execute thorough sabotage to disrupt German transport."
This time, they weren't falling for it.
But then dummy paratroopers by the hundreds rained down over multiple areas.
"Paratroops dropping! Sound the alert!"
WEE-OOO-WEE-OOO.
The Germans scrambled again.
From Pas de Calais to Brittany, northern France lit up like a festival.
"Argh, let's just get some sleep."
German troops fumed at the constant false alarms of Allied landings.
But the mind games didn't stop there.
"This area is a potential landing zone and may be bombed. Local residents should evacuate on the specified date."
The Allies scattered pre-bombardment warnings at will.
It seemed idiotic—like tipping off their targets—but the problem was the sheer number of sites.
The Germans grew irritated by the relentless psychological warfare.
"Just come already, anywhere you like."
The Germans activated their spy networks to nail down the invasion timing.
Amid this, their fifth column in Britain sent Berlin an analysis of Allied dispositions.
To verify it, the Germans sent recon flights over England.
The results only muddled their heads further.
"Massive barracks and military gear spotted along the Dover Strait facing Pas de Calais? So there really is an enemy force targeting it."
The catch: massive Allied forces opposite Normandy too.
Was it a feint?
Overwhelmed by conflicting intel, the Germans floundered.
As calls to focus on Normandy mounted, even Hitler wavered.
"My Führer, we should commit more to Pas de Calais defenses."
"Fifteenth Army is already there. We need to bolster Seventh Army over the wider Normandy sector."
High command's confusion rippled to the Western Front.
Western Front commander-in-chief Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who favored Pas de Calais, spoke up.
"Pas de Calais over Normandy! Crossing the Dover Strait is child's play—think about it."
Rommel pushed back in his own way.
"It's Normandy. The enemy will hit the weak defenses there for sure."
Of course, even Rommel wasn't fully convinced.
But claiming the enemy would strike his sector was the only way to gain full control of the armor under him.
Infighting among generals, high command disarray, Allied psyops.
The Western Front Germans were in no shape to counter the Allies.
They needed time to streamline command and reorganize.
"But you've already used your turns."
As the Germans dawdled, D-Day loomed.
They sensed it vaguely.
Just miscalculated the timing.
"With weather this bad, the Allies won't come till late June."
High command figured an assault during the Soviet offensive would favor them, pegging it for month's end.
"So all this Allied activity is just deception? Time to relax and enjoy."
Tension eased.
"While I'm at it, I should take leave and visit my dear Lucie."
Army Group B commander Rommel departed on vacation.
All this, astonishingly, on the eve of D-Day.