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Operating Tanks at Omaha first 6 hours
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From: "JEHP" <awot...@gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: Operating Tanks at Omaha first 6 hours
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Is there an easily accessible source that gives numbers for all AFV types
landed,
approximately by time, for all the Allied beaches? I have always been
curious, because by your numbers far more DD's landed on Omaha than I have
been led to believe, especially by Brits commenting on Hobart's "funnies".
What concerns me mainly, and this is by no means meant to be a criticism of
Montgomery, nor the British and Canadians who landed, is that it is always
stated (or at least implied) that the Americans were foolish to have refused
any variant (at least for the initial landings) other than the DD's, yet it
appears (at least to me) that a major problem on Sword and Juno shortly
following the initial waves was a major back-up in getting AFV's landed.
That back up seems to be one of the reasons why the British had problems and
delays just up the road to Caen when they ran into several German strong
points (Hill 110?) that were either missed by allied intelligence altogether
or were severely underestimated by the same. What appears to have happened
(other than the old "stopped for tea" canard) is that there were
insufficient Sherman's (or better yet Fireflies) on hand to support the
infantry units that were held up at these points. I
If I could find specific numbers and types landed and when (vs planned
numbers, types and times) it would be easier to compare the results at each
of the beaches. One thing I suspect as well is that more of the funnies were
needed on Sword and Juno simply because they were more urban in character
than the American beaches. If that were so it would also be nice to see from
AAR's which specialized AFV's accomplished their intended tasks and helped
get the troops off the beach.
Also, given that the Firefly was a superior type, why weren't they massed
rather than spread out amongst the Royal Tank Regiments, especially on D-Day
June 6, 1944?
Please forgive my lack of specificity, but I'm in the middle of moving and
all of my books that recount the DD landings are currently packed away.
thanks,
Jonathan
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