Term Paper on "General Omar Bradley in the Battle of Normandy"

Term Paper 7 pages (2213 words) Sources: 7 Style: Turabian

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Omar Bradley in the Battle of Normandy

General Omar Bradley was an significant figure in the World War II and particularly for his participation in the Battle of Normandy. During World War II he was the commanding officer of the U.S. 12th Group. At the time when the war had begun he was a commanding officer at the School of Infantry and took the lead of the divisions that were being trained at the academy.

Bradley was one of the Allies' main commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II. In 1943 he served in North Africa under the orders of George S. Patton. In 1944 Omar Bradley had a major participation in the battle of Normandy commanding the forces that would disembark on the beaches of Utah and Omaha, (code names given by the U.S. Army to the key sites on the shores of Normandy).

He supervised the troop training and the planning of the assault strategies during the months that preceded the invasion. Unlike other officers of his time, Bradley was polite and considered with his soldiers, which earned him the esteem and respect of the troops.

The battle of Normandy, known as Operation Overlord, was the invasion of Europe, undertaken in the Northwest side of France, occupied by Nazi Germany. The disembarking was executed by the Allied forces in summer of 1944.

The Allied army concentrated in land in Europe an army that, after liberating France, would reach the very centre of Reich. The preparations for this operation began in Grand Britain in 1942; however the invasion could was delayed because they needed time to prepare and gather all the necessary equipment and men to undertake an operation of such proportions (Windrow, 2001).

In 1944 the Wehrmacht had its forces scattered in a big war with many fronts: Africa had been lost to the Allies that had taken Sicily afterwards, and from there, the rest of Italy, where strong combats were fought. In the east front the situation was stressing against the Red Army that was reaching Poland.

At the beginning of that year the Nazi army confronted a problem that would lead to their ulterior lose of power: they had conquered more territory than they could defend (Ambrose, 1995) and the Allies would take advantage of this situation to find a strategy to attack their weak points. In spite of the danger of spreading the army over such a large land, Hitler proceeded to defend every single territory, even at the risk of losing control over the conquered portions or weakening his power by spreading his troops.

The Operation Overlord involved the U.S. And British army, supported by auxiliary troops of Canadian, French, Polish and other nationalities to assault the beaches of Normandy (Windrow, 2001).

Originally the mission was scheduled to begin on June 5 but due to meteorological adversities it had to be moved to the next day. On the night of June 6, the day known as D-day, ten divisions, American, British and Canadian, stood between Orne and Vire (Ambrose, 1995). Although they did not achieve all the projected objectives and conquered a lot less territory than planned, they installed bridgeheads that in the following days would serve to disembark 250.000 men and 50.000 vehicles.

The entire operation developed from June 6 until august 25. Almost three million soldiers crossed the English Channel from England to the Normandy region. This operation is still considered the greatest sea invasion in history.

This operation can not be analyzed as an isolated episode, but it must be studied as part of a major group of events that took place during the war. The battle of Normandy was influenced by all the factors that happened around that period, before and after, and it was part of a chain of actions that would lead to the final direction of the war.

Geographical factors played an important role in the strategies that made the Allied Army chose this particular site for their invasion (Davies, 2007)

The coast of Normandy that the Allies had chosen to disembark is formed by over a 90% of beach. The low tide uncovers up to 500 meters of sand beach, with only a few portions of rocks. The slopes of land are covered by tall bushes. This terrain is very undulated and covered by prairies for cattle grazing, and fields. Those lands are fenced by tall walls made of piled stones or bush plantations. Wild tall bushes cover the top of the uncultivated hills. The undulating roads are surrounded by bush or stone ramparts. The weather is very rainy, which causes the land to be traced by a number of small rivers and streams.

From the military point-of-view this landscape presented a few advantages. The enemy defenses placed on the slopes by the coast were a good attack target for the war ships. The camps far away from the coast made a good target for the exploring planes.

With modest redoubts built on the side of the hills and with machine guns and artillery of medium reach the Allies could beat the troops that advanced up the hill from the beaches that disembarked during the low tide or the ships that advanced during high tide. Heavy artillery placed 10 Km from the shore could control the entire beach being linked by telephone to the observation posts on top of the hills.

The Allied strategy consisted in disorienting the German commanders about the real force they counted on for the operation. The Allied Army was formed by 1,750,000 British soldiers (Windrow, 2001), 500,000 American soldiers, 44,000 from other countries.

On the morning of D-day General Bradley was aboard the cruiser USS Augusta where he positioned himself in a steel cabin where he could command the operation during the bombardment on D-day. While a few typewriters lined on a row, Bradley and his staff of officers gathered around a long table in the centre to dialogue and plot the strategy to follow.

Most of that morning Bradley positioned himself on the bridge and stood next to Task Force Commander Admiral Kirk to view with binoculars what was taking place on the landings.

On June 10 General Bradley and his men went ashore from the cruiser to establish headquarters. The three corps he commanded were directed at the two American targets of invasion: Utah and Omaha Beach. The Normandy beachhead breakout was the beginning of the Operation Cobra that he planned in July.

The first attack was called "Operation Perch" that attempted to conquer the German flank in Villers-Bocage, being stopped by a German counterattack. The difficulty of provisions, due to the storms of the 17 and 23 of June delayed another operation. Caen was severely bombed and the zone of the Orne River was occupied in the Charnwood operation, between the days 7 and 9 of July.

One last major offensive was produced in Caen under the command of General Dempsey with three armed divisions, called Operation Goodwood, from 18 to 21 of July that captured the rest of Caen and other high lands to the south.

After that, the Spring Operation, directed by the Canadians, from 25 to 28 of July, ensured the limits of what had been previously conquered. An important element in Montgomery's strategy consisted in forcing the Germans undertake their reserve forces on the east side of the operation site to allow a break in the beachheads of the west side.

The Operation Cobra released on July 24 by the U.S. army, under the command of General Patton was very opportune with the advance of the division in Coutances on July 28, after penetrating the enemy lines.

Patton advanced rapidly from Normandy to Le Mans and went back north just outside Alanson. The Germans were trapped in a circle ready to close near Chambois. Bradley's force came from the south to close the circle and trap the German army. They only succeeded partially to achieve their plan, but still the German army suffered a great loss during their retreat.

The target of the German operation was to break the lines of the 12th group, under the lead of General Omar Bradley and defeat the right flank of the 21st group under the lead of Marshal Montgomery. The final objective was to trap 35 divisions of Allies probably creating another Dunkerque.

Hitler thought that a venturous offensive through the U.S.A. sector would trap Montgomery's forces and would open a political breach between British and USA troops. He hoped that this would create enough tension in London and Washington to open the possibility of an amnesty negotiating the western front. Therefore, Hitler's blow was addressed to the Allies' high command. He thought that Roosevelt and Churchill would need to consult to face his attack and that this delay in turn would give the Wehrmacht the necessary time to give the final blow to the Allied front. Hitler did not think that Eisenhower would have enough authority to decide for himself.

Hitler… READ MORE

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