What If D-Day Didnt Happen

D-Day, one of the most vital battles of WWII. But what if it never happened? What if the allies waited a little longer to start the invasion and gave Germany more time to get ready. Without D-Day, the outcome of WWII would have been completely different as well as the world. The axis would have had a way better chance of actually winning and who knows what would have happened then. The holocaust could have lasted longer, Hitler would have created an empire and some of us might not even be here today if D-Day didn’t happen. The Soviet Union was already under enough pressure and it would have gotten much worse, Germany was working on a bomb that could easily been carried by submarine and hit Britain or Russia. Germany also still would have had a hold in France which would give them easier access to Great Britain. This all could have happened if the allies did not do D-Day.

    In 1943 the allies had made many victories that changed the course of WWII but the end was not in sight. The Soviet Union had won many battles but German forces still remained in Russia and the USSR had already lost many soldiers either from death or them being captured. With all the casualties people became unsure how long the Soviet Union could last, having most of the major fighting against Germany. The US and British armies also made major progress. In November of 1942 they successfully invaded French North Africa and in July of 1943 they invaded Sicily. With all this progress they still didn’t take pressure off Russia. “The Russians constantly pressed the other allies to open a second front and US military leaders had favored an invasion of France so they could push Germany back from the west while Russia could attack from the east.” The planning for the evasion had been going on for years but had always been delayed. “Part of that reason was that the british feared an early invasion which would result in many deaths and would just end in disaster.” This was partially because they remembered how the Germans had defeated them in France in 1940 and the bloodshell of WWI. At the end of 1943 the allies agreed the invasion would be in the spring of 1944. The location was yet to be decided but they knew it needed in close and easy lane so fighter pilots and ships could leave from the british coastline. The planners thought that if they did not have allied fighter jets to cover the troops during the first hours then the invasion would fail. “They thought this to be so important that they sent 5000 planes while the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) only had 169 fighters to cover a larger area.” This gave the allies strength in numbers which was able to be done because peoples first choice was to join the air force because of the better treatments and they had more luxuries. They knew that the shorter distance that they had to travel, it would be easier to transport the troops. This would mean they would need to invade on the French shore facing the English Channel. The Germans though already knew this and set up defences on different beaches they thought the Allies would attack. “The Germans had lined the coast with high-quality artillery units, including coastal artillery that could fire on invading ships, and anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns. Often concrete blockhouses protected the artillery. Other fortifications protected the troops. Networks of barbed wire would make it difficult to attack the German machine gunners firing on the invading Allies. In some places concrete tunnels connected the machine gun and artillery positions.” The problem the Allies had was that they couldn’t attack ports as the Germans showed they could eliminate bigger attacking forces and if the allies even could get thru most of the houses would be German strong points. The planners had already ruled out the beaches that were not wide enough or had high cliffs for soldiers to climb because this would just be a death trap. The German soldiers would have just been able to shoot down on soldiers. The planners had also rejected beaches that were far from good ports as if they won the invasion they would need to work and fight the Germans just to even get to a port which would cause extra, unnecessary work. This left the eastern end of the English channel coast as one of the few remaining options. “One of the best places left to invade was an area in France called the Pas de Calais.” This was the narrowest part of the channel and a short hop from the port of Dover. Besides this area being close to England, this area was also relatively close to Germany. It was especially close to the industrial areas where the factories were. A good invasion of this at the Pas de Calais would put the Allies in a good position to push the Germans back and end the war quickly. This though was the most obvious and logical spot for the invasion so the Germans had already heavily defended it. This made the allies to decide that the invasion would happen along the beaches of Normandy, just west of Caen. “The landings for the invasion would be on five separate beaches which stretched 50 miles along the coast.” This was to spread out the attack and take more land with one invasion instead of attacking one beach and moving as one giant unit. Each beach was given a code name and these code names have become famous and what they have been known as instead of the actual names of the beaches. The British would attack Sword and Gold, the Canadians would land at Juno, and American troops would take Omaha and Utah. Five infantry divisions would attack the beaches, one for each. In addition to this there would be a british airborne division, which included parachute troops and glider-carried soldiers. These soldiers would land east of the beaches to prevent the Germans from attacking the invasion from the sides. There was also two American airborne divisions which would land to the west.

Before the airborne took off, the French Resistance was informed by radio code of the attack.” These three airborne divisions began landing east and west of the beaches the night of June 5, 1944. This officially started the invasion. The British troops, most of which came in and landed by glider, captured several important bridges that would stop German reinforcements from coming in. “These lightly armed troops were supposed to hold this position until the main forces for the invasion came with all the powerful weapons and tanks.” They would also press the Germans from behind. At the western side though, things didn't go as planned. Wind and poor light made it almost impossible for the 101st and 82nd airborne divisions to land in large groups like what was planned out. Many of the troops landed many miles away from their intended drop zones. “The ones that survived from the drop were scattered all along the countryside but many died from