Li Ningyu is not surprised at all that the Allied Powers Group has such an idea. It would be strange if they did not have such an idea. But if the Far East Group wants to become the dominant power, does it still need them to weigh the pros and cons?
Therefore, after analyzing the concerns of the Allied Powers, Li Ningyu decided to divide his troops into two groups. He personally led the First Corps to France on the Western Front, but not to fight Germany, just to open up land passages with the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
, this way countries such as the Netherlands will not be captured by the German army.
The Second Corps, under the command of Zhang Dahu and Bai Yulin, trapped the Italian army and encroached step by step, waiting for the best opportunity to engage in a decisive battle.
After determining the actual deployment of the Far East Army, the British and American authorities held another meeting in Washington. This time it was decided to implement a comprehensive landing on the European continent, directly confirming the plan to open a second European battlefield. The British and American Allied Forces Command also
Immediately began to formulate a plan for the Normandy landing. After determining the landing site, based on the experience and lessons of previous landing operations, three conditions for the Normandy landing site were found.
The first point is naturally the combat radius that fighter jets taking off from British military airports can be deployed. The second point is that the ferry distance must be as short as possible. The third point is that there must be a large port nearby. At the beginning, based on these conditions, there are three
The three areas that are more suitable are the Constantine Peninsula, Calais and Normandy.
However, after further comparison, the terrain of the Constantine Peninsula is narrow and it is not convenient to deploy large land forces, so it was rejected first. Calais and Normandy have their own advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of Calais is that it is the closest to the United Kingdom, only 33 kilometers.
It is also close to the German mainland, but the disadvantage is that the German army has the strongest defense here. The defenders are all elite army troops with complete and solid fortifications. There are no large ports nearby and there is a lack of inland transportation lines, which is not conducive to the landing of the British and American coalition forces.
Finally, the development of the depth line is carried out.
Although Normandy is far away from the British mainland, its advantages are: first, the German defense here is weak; second, the terrain there is open and 30 divisions can be deployed at the same time; third, it is only 80 kilometers away from Cherbourg, the largest port in northern France, so
After several trade-offs and comparisons, the British and American coalition chose Normandy, and then began to formulate a specific landing plan, using "Overlord" as the main code name for the combat plan and "Sea King" as the code name for related naval operations.
The initial plan of the British and American coalition forces was to land three army divisions on three 32-kilometer-wide beaches between Carentin and Caen, and then simultaneously airdrop 12 infantry brigades on Omaha and Juneau beachheads as the second
The echelon planned to use 8 divisions to occupy the French port of Cherbourg within two weeks.
However, the British and American coalition forces knew that the biggest problem in the entire plan was the port of Cherbourg, and how to solve the logistics supply of the army troops before occupying the port of Cherbourg. You must know that Normandy has mostly windy and turbulent weather during May and June.
Logistics supply simply cannot be guaranteed by landing on the beach, so this seems to be an insurmountable difficulty. However, when the British and American coalition forces were helpless, Rear Admiral Hughes, a representative of the British Navy, half-jokingly said in the meeting: "Since there is
If there is no natural port, we will build an artificial port ourselves!”.
So his casual suggestion solved the problem faced by the coalition forces, and there was no other better solution at the time, so it was approved.
So at the subsequent Anglo-American-Soviet meeting in Tehran, the coalition decided to launch the "Overlord" operation. U.S. Army General Eisenhower was also appointed as the Supreme Commander of the European Expeditionary Force. After Eisenhower arrived in London and took office, he immediately read Morgan's landing plan, but
However, he believed that the assault front was too narrow and lacked sufficient assault force in the initial attack, so he put forward his own modifications, requesting that the landing front be expanded to 80 kilometers, and the first echelon be increased from 3 divisions to 5 divisions.
, the number of landing beaches has also increased from 2 to 5, and the number of airborne troops has increased from 12 brigades to 13 divisions. This opinion is supported by the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces.
After the outline of the "Overlord" plan was revised, it became a specific combat plan. However, with the change in the plan, the demand for landing ships also naturally increased. In order to ensure that there are enough landing ships, the British and American Allied Forces Staff Committee decided to postpone the landing date to June
The beginning of the month.
Due to the postponement of the landing date, the specific plan has only begun to be revised. A large combat plan is a complex process, not to mention the issue of coordination. Therefore, each arm and branch of the British and American coalition forces have put forward different requirements according to their own needs.
and conditions. For example, the Army requires landing at high tide, which can reduce the time the troops are exposed to the beach, while the Navy requires landing at low tide to minimize damage to the landing craft from obstacles, but the Air Force requires
There must be moonlight, so that the airborne troops can easily identify ground targets. Finally, after repeated arguments and careful consideration, and a relatively scientific plan that was suitable for each military service, the British and American coalition decided to land between high tide and low tide.
However, because the tidal times of the five landing beaches are different, five different landing times are stipulated, and some are arranged on the days of the full moon. In this way, the airborne landing time is 1 am, which meets the above conditions for landing.
The purpose of this landing campaign is to cross the English Channel, seize a strategic landing site in northern France, and successfully open up the second battlefield in Europe. The ultimate goal is to defeat Germany and create conditions for victory. If the plan goes according to plan, the campaign will be launched in Normandy.
After landing, the landing site was immediately seized. After the 12th day of landing, the landing site was expanded to 100 kilometers wide and 100 kilometers deep.
In the plan, two U.S. paratrooper divisions were airborne on the right wing of the landing site. Their role was to cut off the German reinforcements from Cherbourg and coordinate with the British troops to land on the Utah beach. In this way, one British paratrooper division was airborne on the left wing.
The crossing point of the Conn Canal can be captured, and then the first batch of 8 reinforced battalions will land on the 5 beaches of Normandy, and begin to establish landing sites. After the British and American coalition forces consolidate and expand the landing sites, subsequent large forces can go ashore, and the right-wing troops will capture them first.
At the port of Cherbourg, the left wing troops developed towards the area from the Conn River to Saint-Lô.
And the main task is to cover the attack of the right wing troops. The second stage is to advance to the Oka, Bayeux, Izini, and Carentin areas. The third stage is to capture Brittany, advance to the Seine River area, and finally go straight to the Seine River area.
In Paris, France, Eisenhower held the first meeting of the British and American Expeditionary Forces. In the meeting, after the general outline of the landing operation was clarified, Li Ningyu's subsequent series of actions completely canceled the most important military meeting in World War II.
, because the Far Eastern Army also needs the port of Cherbourg.