290 replies to this topic

[Guest_Niko Power WGA_*]

Tankers.

 

On June 6th, 1944, the Allies began Operation Overlord. The objective to this operation called for the invasion of north-west side of Europe. This consisted of landing troops onto the beaches so they can establish a beachhead on the shores of Normandy. The assault phase of the Operation Overlord was called Operation Neptune. It started on D-Day and marked the beginning of The Battle of Normandy. Operation Neptune continued until June 30th, 1944. This ended with the Allies having a strong foothold in Normandy. This continued their push through and eventually ending the operation on August 19th, 1944 as they crossed the River Seine.

 

Operation Neptune was the first phase of one of the biggest operations in military history. As time goes on we learn more about what happened during that time. This comes from stories for veterans, historians, photos, and recently discovered artifacts. For this activity, we would like to have you go through and find a photo from Operation Neptune or D-Day that interests you most. You can find any photo online as long as it is from the operation. From there, we would like for you to add a couple of paragraphs for why the photo speaks to you.

 

Those who participate and meet the criteria above will receive 500 gold following the close of the event.

 

Rules:

• All players are welcome to join the contest but each player can submit only one entry.
• Entries must be written exclusively for this contest.
• Entries must comply with the moral, ethical, and legal standards, as well as with the Forum rules.
• Wargaming gains exclusive rights to the contest entry when you post it on the forum, as outlined in the “10. User Generated Content” section of the Terms of Service. 

 

The submission deadline is June 8th at 06:00 PST (June 8th 13:00 UTC).

Edited by Niko Power WGA, 03 June 2015 - 06:57 PM.

[King Stephen101]

How do you submit your entry?

[Darkday 44 44]

is this ok

Attached Files

•   2015-06-05_12.44.53.jpg   38.7K

[Guest_Niko Power WGA_*]

King Stephen101, on 05 June 2015 - 09:49 AM, said:

How do you submit your entry?

 

Darkday 44 44, on 05 June 2015 - 09:53 AM, said:

is this ok

 

This doesn't qualify. You need to find a photo. Then write to paragraphs at least about it's place in Operation Neptune/D-Day. 

 

King Stephen101, on 05 June 2015 - 09:49 AM, said:

How do you submit your entry?

 

You can upload a photo in this thread directly and add your paragraph under it. 

[AdNoctum82]

In the months leading up to the Normandy landings both the United States and the United Kingdom were rapidly working to develop and field specialized armored vehicles (in many cases modified and retrofitted tanks) which were to be employed in specialized roles on D-Day. Of the many types put to use on the beaches were the myriad variants of the Churchill heavy infantry tank. Due to its size, great tractability and easily accessible side doors, the Churchills lent themselves to usage as AVRE or Armored Vehicle, Royal Engineers. More commonly known as the "funnies," these were indispensable in the establishment of an Allied beachhead.
The most common of the funny Churchills were the Bullhorn/mineplough, Fascine/Mat layer, Log-Carpet roller, Crocodile (flamethrower) and Ark (bridgelayer). Although the Ark, which had its turret removed for clearance, was unarmed, all the remaining versions were still combat capable in one form or another. The Crocodile was armed with the flamethrower as well as the standard 75mm main gun and all the remaining variants mounted a 290mm spigot mortar which fired a 40 pound demolition charge called the "dustbin." Whether bridging gaps, clearing mines, destroying fortified concrete emplacements or simply acting as a rolling command center for the Royal Engineers, the Churchill "funnies" were valuable contributors to the success of the invasion and consequently, to the victorious culmination of hostilities. To the soldiers and engineers of the 79th Armored Division, thank you from your friends and allies in the "colonies."

 

I hope this is correct and qualifies.

Edited by AdNoctum82, 05 June 2015 - 05:03 PM.

[oopsiezz]

     Operation Neptune was the largest seaborne invasion in human history!

 

The initial landings on the beaches of normandy were code named Operation Neptune with the larger operation to invade further in-land was famously code named Overlord. Allied forces numbering over one hundred and fifty thousand attacked a fifty mile long stretch of Normandy’s beaches in over five thousand ships and landing craft. A total of seventy five thousand and two hundred fourteen  British & Commonwealth troops attacked in three beach sectors designated, Gold, Sword & Juno.

    

 While United Sates forces attacked Omaha & Utah beaches with a strength of fifty seven thousand five hundred men. Of these men it’s estimated that up to and possibly more then nine thousand men lost their lives during the attack, with casualties being heaviest amongst the Airborne troops and on Omaha beach.
     
     The allied air cover was provided by approximately twelve thousand aircraft and was proceeded with a massive air and naval bombardment of the defensive fortifications along the beaches and on the cliffs. Operation Neptune was completed on D-Day and by D Day+5 the beachheads were secured and over three hundred thousand allied troops pushed inland through the Nazi defences. 

[XBattleAxeX]

 

June 6th, 1944: the largest fleet in history landed Eisenhower's Allied army on the beaches of Normandy against Erwin Rommel's Nazi German defenses. The story of the greatest naval armada seen in world history is still not widely known. Operation Neptune was the greatest naval operation ever undertaken, especially if looked at from the number of ships involved - over 7,000. 

How these troops got to the beaches; how the German defenses were bombarded by gunfire; how the soldiers were reinforced; how the wounded were evacuated back to England etc. all seems to be overlooked.

The naval planners of Operation Neptune main focus was to place a large number of Allied forces in mainland Europe. The land based operations were left to the generals, but the admirals had figure a way for troops and their equipment to be transferred safely from Britain on to a very hostile shore. They had to find enough suitable beaches and assemble enough ships to transport  the troops across the Channel. They also had to organize protection for the convoys. Landing craft had to be prepared and crews trained to deliver the troops and evacuate the wounded. Even more ships had to be found to re-supply the troops that were onshore. Then, when the assault phase was over, the US and Royal navies had to continue to support the advance with larger caliber guns, tanks etc.The engineers built new artificial harbors and artificial breakwaters to land and off load the supply ships. They also built a 60 mile fuel pipe line under the ocean, These incredible accomplishment are generally overshadowed by the land combat aspects of the invasion. When people think of D Day, they think primarily of troops storming the beaches and fighting their way inland. There is so much more to the story.

 

I am a Process Control/Automation Engineer, this photo speaks to me as a small example of the scope of this invasion. The planning, logistics and execution of this invasion boggle my mind, especially given the relatively short time frame in which they managed to successfully accomplish this task.

[mutatedspecies1]

 The tanks going ashore from landing craft in the background have just begun their arduous task of the beginning of the invasion on D-day.This is from Omaha beach after it had been secured with the lives of many brave men.However with armor finally coming ashore it was a great relief and valued support for the troops moving inland from the beach.
   We all know the task that the tanks were given and the trials they endured but with courage and resolve the armored troops began their journey into battle and history and they have our respect and admiration for the job they did and did well.
 

[SirDieALot53]

A Wehrmacht soldier mans his position overwatching the beaches of Normandy while explosions rain around him

 

 

 

     While I am of course deeply grateful to the sacrifices of the Allied forces for defeating tyranny and freeing the peoples of Europe, I am also aware that most writers in this contest are going to focus on the Allied side.  Therefore I am going to write about their enemy who, of course, were human too and mostly made up of patriotic young men simply following orders.

 

     German forces defending the Atlantikwall on D-day against the Allied Operation Neptune were spread thin and made up of mostly inexperienced soldiers, as most of the elite divisions had been sent to the Eastern Front to fight against the Soviets.  There was also much confusion amongst German ranks about where the landing zone would be, due to Operation Bodyguard, an Allied attempt to disguise the true landing point of Normandy. 

 

     German forces also suffered from a lack of armored Panzer support, as Hitler’s stubbornness and splitting of Panzer command among various groups prevented their efficient use for counterattack.  Wehrmacht soldiers fought tenaciously against the vastly superior Allied attackers, inflicting heavy casualties.  German losses could not be replaced however and the defenders were eventually killed or captured, allowing the Allies to establish a beachhead and ensure Operation Neptune was a success. 

 

    The photo I have chosen speaks to me in how harrowing a task the German defenders faced. One quote I read said that out of 25 men who stepped up to man a coastal gun, 18 were killed.  Facing such dire odds must have been incredibly nerve wracking and its amazing the German defenders fought so well.  Hopefully, World War II is the last war to ever be fought on such a vast scale.

Edited by AnarchYxDieALot, 05 June 2015 - 05:25 PM.

[Orthrus007]

 

We all know how much we love this fantastic game.

But we must always remember the young heroes,

that lost their lives on the beaches of Normandy and the rest of  world war II.

 

(Picture: A M7 that sank during D-Day lies on the ocean floor.)

[DARTH TETRIS]

So I think this qualifies, as Operation Neptune officially ended after the Mulberry Harbors were made on June 9th.

One of the biggest hurdles to the invasion of mainland Europe was logistical support. A reason Normandy was not considered a high possibility of invasion was the lack of a deep water port that the Allies could offload support and supplies to.  A British engineer, Maj. Beckett, along with many others, came up with what amounts to a portable pier, breakwater, and harbor to create a deep water port for the allies. Two of these were made, one at Omaha beach and the other at Gold beach.

There was a floating roadway pier, anchored to the sea floor that lead out to the floating dock pier. These dock piers were protected from the channel by concrete blocks that were floated over from England and then sunk to create the breakwater.  The initial invasion and the creation of the piers were in breakwaters created by scuttling a small fleet of ships.  All this allowed the Allies to move the necessary equipment and manpower into France to sustain the invasion.  While the Omaha beach harbor was not properly set up (the Americans cut corners in order to have it assembled faster) and therefore was destroyed in a storm, the Gold beach harbor outlasted its expected use and allowed the landing of 2.5 million men as well as supplies and vehicles.

One small story I remember from watching the History channel, was of a Royal Engineer corporal who was tasked with riding one of the concrete blocks as it was towed across the English channel. He and a few other men were there to monitor the block and make sure nothing was going wrong. He realized, as the highest ranking person on the block, that he was essentially the captain of the vessel. What strikes me most about it is that during a war, with the invasion underway and all that was going on, that that thought would come into his head. It also, while not the most glorious of vessels, must have been pretty cool to be "sailing" across the channel on a huge floating block of concrete.

[King Stephen101]

 

The photo above shows a Sherman Crab Mark II minesweeping flail tank. To me this reflects both the impact technological innovations can have on warfare and how generals have often suffered from a ‘cultural lag’ and been reluctant to utilise new technology.

Major General Percival Hobart sought to overcome the sort of problems experienced during the disastrous amphibious landing at Dieppe in 1942.  Armoured vehicles had been held up by mines, concrete bunkers & breech walls. Hobart created a new breed of modified tanks, often referred to as “Hobart’s Funnies”. These made a vital contribution to the Normandy landings (codenamed Operation Neptune) but it was not the first use of modified tanks. The Scorpion flail tank (a modified Matilda tank) had already been used during the North African campaign to clear paths through German minefields and Soviet T-34 tanks had been modified with mine-rollers. Hobart produced a wide range of modified tanks, a third of which were offered to the Americans. The Crocodile tank was a Churchill tank fitted with a flamethrower, which had a range of 109 metres AVRE assault vehicles had a 29-calabre petard mortar capable of firing a 18kg (40-lb) projectile (known as ‘flying dustbins’ 137m. The Crab was a Sherman tank equipped with a flail to clear mines.

 

The most famous of Hobart’s funnies was the Duplex Drive (DD), nicknamed Donald Duck tanks, which were Sherman and Valentine tanks fitted with a watertight canvas allowing them to be launched from a landing craft several miles from the beach. On the British Sword Beach, at the eastern end of the invasion area, the DD tanks worked well, as the sea was reasonably calm. At Omaha Beach almost all of the tanks launched offshore were lost, contributing to the high casualty rate and sluggish advance from that beach. DD Tanks were designed to operate in waves up to 1 foot (0.3 m) high; however, on D-Day the waves were up to 6 ft (1.8 m) high. These were much worse conditions than the tanks had been tested in and hence they were swamped. Tanks at the other four beaches suffered no such problems.

 

While Hobart’s Funnies greatly enhanced the success achieved by British and Canadian forces, General Omar Bradley has been criticised for his reluctance to utilise them. While Bradley did take some DD tanks, he decided against using any of the other designs due to concerns about training and organisation. Bradley was particularly reluctant to utilise any of the funnies based on the Churchill tank due to worries about adding the logistical complexity of having a new tank model as part of their inventory. We will never know how many American lives could have been saved on Omaha beach if Bradley had made more use of the range of “Funnies” available. 

[XBattleAxeX]

Deleted

Edited by XBattleAxeX, 05 June 2015 - 06:32 PM.

[SenseiP]

Operation Neptune was the cross-Channel crossing phase of Operation Overlord. Operation Neptune placed all naval issues under the command of Admiral Bertram Ramsey whose command skill had already been seen in 1940 with the part he played in the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk.

Ramsey knew that such a vast assault would place a huge strain on the Royal Navy simply in terms of the number of boats/ships required.

Ramsey’s plan was relatively simple on paper. It was assumed that the vast aerial power of the Allies would ensure that the fleet would be free from a German attack from the air. Therefore, the whole armada would be spear headed by a flotilla of 287 mine sweepers that would clear the way for the ships behind them. Behind them would be 138 warships that would bombard the German beach defences in Normandy itself. The troop carrying convoy would then sail from southern English ports protected by an escort of frigates and corvettes. Over 4,000 landing craft had been assembled and these were in need of protection.

Ramsey also had to organise the movement of 146 pieces of the Mulberry Harbour across the Channel by using a large number of tugs. This structure was of such great importance to the Allies, that no mistake could be made – and Ramsey had a very specific timetable to keep to.

Edited by SenseiP, 05 June 2015 - 06:19 PM.

[frizelfrazled]

 

As a boy I always was fascinated with the balloon "thingies" on D-Day, or there after.  What were they?  What purpose did they serve?  Where they radio controlled?  Well, here you go -

"The Convoy Protection" - During the crossing, the orders given to the officers over the warships were clear: they had to open fire on all the planes flying over the fleet at low altitude, friendly OR enemy.  Allied pilots were of course warned.
To protect the various ships of the allied armada of any air attack at low altitude, the majority of the ships had a flying balloon, a dozen of meters above their structure. This barrage balloon was connected to the ship by a steel wire rope.  It wasn't the balloon which prevented the air raids but rather the steel wire rope, in which was likely to cut the wings of the planes flying at low altitude to attack the armada.  We've all seen them in hundreds of photos.  Now you know. 

[ULTcommieKILLER]

[GamerPro201]

 

 

 

In total over 4,000 ships and a further 3,000 light crafts took part in what was the largest seaborne inv

 

This photo shows the very small lane almost 7000 ships had to use in order to get the amount of supplies necessary to invade France. The Normandy landings were Code named Neptune, actually refers to the the landing operations for the June 6th invasion. More specifically, refers to the cross channel crossing phase of overlord.

 

Operation Neptune placed all Naval operations under the command of Admiral Bertram Ramsey. Issues of U-Boats, bad weather, german Bombers, Ship turn around times all were his major planning considerations.

Other Operations include: Operation Bodyguard attempted to mislead the Germans as to the date of the landings.

                                          Operation Fortitude North attempted to have the Germans mass their forces near Norway

                                          Operation Fortitude South attempted to believe that the main attack was to be at Calais, France

                                           Operation Taxable attempted to fool German Radar

 

 

 

In total over 4,000 ships and a further 3,000 light crafts took part in what was the largest seaborne invasion of all time.

 

 

 

 

asion of all time.

[ULTcommieKILLER]

Sorry my post isn't in text but I can't just copy pasta the whole thing over so its an image. Hope that's okay

[Brotagne]

A modified M4 Sherman titled the Duplex Drive Tank was designed to aid in the D-Day Landings

 

    In order to assist the landing infantry and deal with heavy fortifications, the Allied forces decided to invest in Amphibious Assault Craft, more specifically, Amphibious Tanks. Since the invention of tanks. engineers had been working on making tanks buoyant to cross rivers and engage the enemy. Up until the 40's, these efforts resulted in failures. In 1944, this technology was successfully applied to a British Valentine Tank which could cross small bodies of water, but it was noted to be venerable to machinegun fire. after some modifications to the system and an M4 Sherman, the Duplex Drive or DD Tank was created.

    Nicknamed the Donald Duck Tank, these vehicles were used on D-Day as well as the Allied invasion of southern France and the British crossing of the Rhine. As for the vehicle's service on June 6, 1944, it was rather a travesty. The beach landings on Sword, Gold, and Juno were more or less successful as only 22 DD tanks did not reach the beach. the remaining tanks were able to destroy their predetermined targets. As for the landings on Utah and Omaha, the DD tanks did not fare as well. On Utah Beach, 27 of the 28 tanks made it to the beach only after losing a LST (Landing Ship Tank Medium) carrying 4 DD tanks. These 27 remaining tanks though were scattered 2000yds up and down the beach as a German deployed smoke screen obscured the beach. 29 DD tanks were launched on Omaha Beach, but  3 miles from the beach. Keep in mind, the other tanks were launched no more than 1000yd from the beach. During this 3mi trek, the tanks were battered by waves 6 times their designed limit, hit by 7.92X57mm machine gun fire, and artillery, which reduced the fighting force from 29 tanks, to 2 by the time the tanks landed.   

[ROGUExMaGiiKz]

Does a poem count?