Normandy invasion?

Question

If the Germans were smart enough to know that the maginot line was useless. Why did they think the Atlantic wall would kept the allies out of Normandy. Both defenses were basically the same

Answer 1

One could argue that the Maginot Line was not useless at all. It was built by the French to prevent a frontal assault on their eastern front and the Germans never did attack the Maginot Line, they went round it (a cunning plan !).

This is the major difference between the Maginot Line and the Atlantic Wall. The Maginot Line could be by-passed by an attack through the Low Countries, which is exactly what the Germans did - whereas the Allies had no choice other than to mount a frontal assault on the Atlantic Wall. An invasion of any part of the European coast other than where the wall was would have been logistically unfeasible.

Answer 2

The Maginot was defeated by a flanking movement...it served its purpose by blocking a direct attack, it failed to reach all the way to the coast.

The Atlantic Wall was not circumvented. The Atlantic Wall would've been successful, if Rommel had been put in charge earlier...his defences were incomplete by the time of D-day; he was not given tactical control of Panzer Reserves which were held by OKW expecting a Pas de Calais landing; allied air superiority won the Normandy battle. The Atlantic Wall was susceptible to naval and air bombardment, while the Maginot line had deep 'siloed' emplacements of men and artillery. The only reason the Omaha Beach was better defended was due to the overshooting of naval and air bombardment which left most of the defences intact.

What other alternative did the Germans have? The pill boxes, beach obstacles, and gun emplacements did not resemble the Maginot Line. The French had a decade to perfect a deep underground world, complete with electric trains connecting the strong points, underground cinemas and other necessities for the troops. The artillery emplacements were inpenetrable and were not the open bunker style that the Germans had which Rangers and Airborne troops were able to knockout. Rommel did what he could, but the year and half was not enough to resemble the Maginot Line as you claim.

Answer 3

Hindsight is twenty/twenty, and some of these answers prove it. The invasion of Normandy was planned down to the smallest detail to succeed. The largest and most powerful fleet ever assembled delivered an enormous striking force exactly where they were supposed to, and that force landed, established a beachhead and held it against all counterattacks. Revisionists have claimed that Germany could have defeated Bradley's force if only this or that, but the this and that they cite would have had little effect on the outcome. For example, the reason Hitler held his armoured divisions near Calais was because the Allies had convinced him there would be a landing there. Through intelligence and propaganda devices they had created that conviction in the enemy's mind. A dead English officer had been allowed to wash ashore in Spain, carrying documents showing that the invasion would land near Calais. General George Patton and the Third Army were stationed near Dover, creating the very tangible illusion that his force would be the spearhead. On the days the invasion was under way squadrons of RAF bombers were dropping tinfoil strips over the Channel that showed up on German radar as an invasion fleet headed for Calais. The German artillery actually opened fire on it! Yes, Hitler was convinced that Patton would come ashore at Calais. Yes, he held his armour in reserve. That was part of the plan! Let us assume that the Axis (Germany had allies, too) had ignored the misdirection and moved their armour to Normandy. The Allies had excellent intelligence and alternative landing sites available. If Hitler had massed his armour at Normandy Bradley could have landed at Calais instead. We enjoyed the advantage of knowing where we were going to strike and when. The Germans had to defend the entire coastline. Finally, after the landings Hitler did release his armour. The Royal Air Force blew up the Samaur Tunnel and prevented the panzers from reaching the beachhead. That, too, was part of the plan. The Allied planning and execution was not flawless, but given the resources available to the enemy they were unstoppable.

Answer 4

Rommel knew that the much vaunted Atlantik Wall was not impregnable, but to throw the Allies back into the sea he needed sufficient armour nearby to use against them. Von Rundstedt disagreed with this, arguing that the Germans should let the Allies get ashore and then annihilate them before they could build up enough strength. Hitler played both men off against each other and reserved the Panzer divisions to himself. As others have said the Maginot line could be outflanked, the Atlantik wall could not, but the Allies did have surprise on their side.

Answer 5

because we tricked the germans that the invasion was somewhere more north. the allies spent about a good year tricking hitler that the invasion was somewhere else. some of the generals believed that normandy would have been the more likely spot. another factor was Rummel left normandy. he went back home to be with his wife for her birthday. without rummel nobody really knew what to do. the germans could have easily destroyed the allies invasion with the tiger tanks they had in the area. but only 2 people had the power to control the tank divisions, rummel and hitler. sine rummel was back home the only one who could control the tigers was hitler, but since he was still asleep when the invasion was happening nobody dared to wake up. since the tiger tanks couldn't go anywhere they were sitting ducks for our diver bombers. so the germans could have easily stopped the invasion, but the command structure was what kept them from doing anything.

the allies would have gotten there either way, we were already in italy once they broke through they could have easily gone toward germany.

Answer 6

Their defense almost worked. Americans were slaughtered on Normandy Beach as the Germans just killed them at will. History has been kind to Eisenhower as being a genius for that invasion, but we lost more men there than in some wars we have fought. Like Iraq!!

Chow!!

Answer 7

The defense was the only option seeing as it was the logical place for the allies to invade. The paratroopers is what finished them. They could not defend both the sea and deep into land.

Answer 8

I'm sure both countries were equally optomistic.

I would think approaching from the ocean is more difficult, since you're much more visible.

Answer 9

Wasn't a mistake; they just mistook where the landing was to occur

Answer 10

too much going on in the east for them to adequately defend the west