Загадка операции «Оверлорд"

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The selection of a site for the invasion was critical to its success and was perhaps the Allies biggest advantage, since the Germans were forced to guess as to the location of the site and therefore had to defend everywhere, thus not completely defending anything, to paraphrase Frederick the Great18. The weather, the moon, and the tides were some of the biggest factors in the selection. The weather had to be moderately calm, the moon had to be at least half-full the night before so the paratroopers could work effectively, the tide had to be low and rising to expose all of the beach obstacles and the date had to be after June 1st, so that enough transport ships could get over from the States to make the assault effective and to allow the troops another month of training.
These factors all came together during five days in June, the 5th, 6th, 7th, 19th and 20th. Eisenhower then decide June 5th would be the date with H-Hour19 slated for dawn, which was about 0630 in the morning. The next problem was where to invade. The most important requirement was that there be wide, flat beaches with easy exits that sheltered the artificial harbors the Allies had built. The artificial harbors that were built for use after the invasion to land troops in Normandy were created out of sunken ships (for a breakwater) and large wooden piers. They were code named Mulberry harbors Another important requirement was that it not be too heavily defended, and out of range of the strong Panzer Divisions. It also ad to be in range of the fighters and bombers based in England.
The most logical site that met these requirements was Pas-de-Calais, which is very close to the airfields in Kent and not far from the English seaports. This choice was also the most illogical because the Germans had made this the only finished portion of the Atlantic Wall at that point and armed it with very heavy guns. The Allied planners then looked to the north and found only the easily-flooded regions of Flanders. When they looked to the south they found the less heavily defended regions of Normandy and Cotentin. The Contentin peninsula was too narrow and easily flooded as well as having unsheltered beaches for the Allied planners liking. Therefore, Normandy and the nearby city of Caen were selected as the site of the invasion.

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As COSSAC developed that plan, the question of where to land posed problems. The site would have to be within the range of fighter aircraft based in Great Britain but also on ground flat enough to construct the airfields that would become necessary once the invading force moved off the beaches and out of the range of its initial fighter support. The landing zones themselves would have to be sheltered from prevailing winds to facilitate around-the-clock resupply operations and would have to possess enough exits to allow the invading force to proceed inland with as little difficulty as possible. Similarly, the area behind the beaches would have to include a road network adequate to the needs of a force that intended to move rapidly. Since the region would ultimately form a base for the drive across France toward Germany, a series of large ports would also have to be close enough to facilitate the unloading of the massive quantities of supplies and ammunition that would be necessary to sustain the attack.

The most appropriate location, COSSAC's planners decided, lay directly across the English Channel from Dover in the Pas de Calais region. The area fulfilled many of the Allies' requirements and offered a direct route into the heart of Germany. Since the enemy had recognized that fact, however, and had already begun to construct heavy fortifications along the coast, an alternative had to be found. The most suitable stood farther to the west, along the Normandy coast near Caen and the Cotentin Peninsula. That region contained major ports at Cherbourg and Le Havre and offered a gateway to ports at Brest, Nantes, L'Orient, and St. Nazaire. Allied planners believed that the Germans would undoubtedly sabotage Cherbourg, forcing the invaders to place heavy initial reliance upon the MULBERRIES, but the damage could be repaired and the region itself was less strongly defended than the Pas de Calais.

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