What are the strength of the Germans at Calais and Normandy during WW2?

Question

I understand that there were 2 million allied troops landing at Normandy beach.

Answer 1

As Yankee_Sailor has pointed out, the figure of 2 million can only relate to the eventual numbers of United States and British Commonwealth troops in Western Europe: his figure of 150,000 in the initial landings is approximately correct. One of the problems of invasion by sea is that it is very difficult to land enough men and their supplies to ward off an immediate counterattack.

I do not know the exact numbers of German troops in France in 1944. It probably depends quite a lot upon how you define them. For instance, the Atlantic Wall was garrisoned by largely low grade soliders, e.g. ones wounded on the Eastern Front, whereas mobile usints would be brought up after the invasion.

However, the real issue in landing allied troops in 1944 did not relate to the numbers of troops but the quality of the defences. The Germans had built massive fortifications in the Calais area including huge concrete gun emplacements at Cap Gris Nez
armed with fifteen inch battleship guns (the British had large guns called Winnie and Pooh near Dover, but they were not nearly as well fortified). No country could have afforded to continue such fortifications all round the French coast e.g. to Normandy. In addition, the land between Calais and Dunkerque is marsh (it is dyked like Holland), and that further West from Calais to Boulogne and beyond has chalk cliff on the coast. Not good for invasion purposes. In addition to the strength of the defences, Calais is sufficiently nearer Germany than Normandy, with consequent implications for the speed with which Germany could bring up reinforcements to oppose the landings.

Not least, the Germans expected the landings to be near Calais. The value of surprise in warfare is not to be underestimated. The Allies took huge efforts to maintain surprise. For instance, the invasion was planned from Dover Castle, in the front line opposite Calais (within shelling distance of those guns at Cap Gris Nez). Who would choose such a crazy location if they were not going to invade across the Straits of Dover?

Answer 2

Without getting into specifics, I can tell you that the Nazis employed divisions all along the Channel in what was called their Atlantic Wall. Due to an allied deception campaign, they believed an invasion would occur at the narrowest part of the Channel, which was at Calais. Normandy, while still relatively well fortified, was not as well defended. Most of the armor was in the Pas-de-Calais area. Normandy had merely one Panzer division in reserve in Normandy, and only Hitler himself had commitment authority.

Answer 3

in addition to the above:

while there were EVENTUALLY 2 million Allied soldiers ashore, that took a period of several months.......the initial landings were a total of 6 divisions on the beach and three airborne behind the lines....actual numbers of Germans at or near the shore and actual numbers of Allied on the beach was pretty even at 150,000 for the first three weeks......and it was touch and go till July when the Americans outflanked the Germans on the right and started the drive across France..

Answer 4

While the first two responses are good I also want to add one point. There were some battle hardened German soldiers defending the Atlantic Wall,most of Germany's best soldiers were either dead or about to die from fighting in Russia. Many of the soldiers on the western front by then were reservists and old men.

Answer 5

Among others, they had some troops on the ground who were battled-hardened veterans. They had control of the road system and "inside lines," making it much easier for them to shuffle their forces back and forth as needed (though they didn't take advantage of this). They had dug-in defenses, and a prepared defensive position. More, but that will give you a good start.