Adolf Hitler made command changes for the Germans too.

He appointed Afrika Korps hero Rommel to command a newly created Army Group B to defend the Atlantic Wall Brittany to the Netherlands against the expected Allied invasion, later known as D-Day. Rommel looked to his defenses. He believed that if the Allies were to be stopped, they would have to be checkmated on the beaches and thrown back into the English Channel on the first day.

Steel-beam beach obstacles were placed so that they were invisible to approaching landing craft at high tide. The beams could rip the bottom out of boat. Four million land mines were laid on the beaches, on beach exits, in the roads leading inland, and in empty fields and narrow trails in the hedgerow country.

The Allied code names for the beaches along the 50-mile stretch of Normandy coast targeted for landing were; Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Omaha was the costliest beach in terms of Allied casualties.

The Allied code names for the beaches along the 50-mile stretch of Normandy coast targeted for lander were; Utah, Omaha, God, Juno and Sword. Omaha was the costliest beach in terms of Allied casualties.

Rommel thought there was a strong possibility the Allied landing would strike the Atlantic Wall in Normandy. But the place he considered most likely to see an invasion was the mouth of the River Somme, on the English Channel coast between LeHavre and Calais, so he concentrated his defenses there.

He guessed wrong… The rest is history.

COMES A Soldier’s Whisper remembering history, one day at a time.

Photo/Text Source: February 2014 Issue America In WWII