bad tactics that were used by the americans and the germans during the normandy invasion?

Question

for my project i needthe defects of the weapons and tactics of the axis and allies

Answer 1

Mistakes were made on both sides, but ultimately, the Germans made more (evidenced by the successful Allied invasion).

Germans
1. Elastic vs. Static Defense
Hitler's strategy was to defeat the allied invasion on the beaches. He wanted strong defensive belts (mines, barbed wire, machine gun bunkers, etc) right on the beach. Hitler proposed this type of strategy throughout the war in every theater. Suprisingly, or luckily, it actually worked in a few instances on the Eastern Front; specifically during the Soviet winter offensive of '41 outside Moscow and the defense of Velikye Luke. It would lead to disaster at Stalingrad in '42 but Hitler didn't learn from his mistakes. This type of strategy worked great in WW I, but tactics and weapons had changed in the preceeding 20 years. The problem with that strategy was that it required the Germans to attempt to be strong everywhere, and as the old military maxim goes, "he who tries to hold everything, holds nothing".

Rommel had advocated an elastic defense which would emphasize flexible response. His view was that the beach defenses would be designed to inflict as many casualties as possible and delay the Allies long enough for him to gather the necessary forces in order to counter attack and defeat the invasion. But he was hampered by...

2. Central vs. local command
Hitler wanted personal control of the Armored reserve. He had ordered that they could only be released by his expressed order and he ordered them to be held too far from the coast. When the invasion happened, instead of the Armored forces being available for immediate counter attack, precious hours were wasted waiting on Hitler to give the OK (he was actually taking a nap and had asked not to be wakened), and they had to move a long distance to the staging areas. By the time they arrived, the Allies had secured a foothold.

3. Faulty intelligence
Part of the reason Hitler wanted control of the armored reserve was that the allies tricked him into believing the attack would fall on Calais instead of Normandy. This was due to the poor ability of Germany to establish any type of credible intelligence networks outside of Germany. Some attribute poor german intelligence services to the fact that there was no controlling office, instead, Army intel (The Abwher) often found itself competing against the SD (Gestapo) and SS. These 3 offices were usually at odds instead of coordinating their efforts.

As for the Allies, there mistakes didn't hamper them as much. It is true that the airborne assault was scattered and faulty, but that actually was a benefit as the appearance of paratroopers in so many places confused the Germans as to what their real intention was.

Allied tanks were also outgunned by their german counterparts. But what they lacked in firepower, they made up for in numbers in speed. Although German tanks had larger caliber guns, they were often extremely heavy, slow, and used enormous amounts of precious fuel. Allied tanks, because they didn't possess the amount of armor of the germans, were faster and could disengage from a bad situation and move farther and faster on less fuel. The allies were also able to put more tanks into battle.

The only real tactical allied blunder could be attributed to Montgomery. As was his custom throughout the war, instead of seizing the initiative and exploiting opportunities, he preferred a more patient and set-piece approach which led to the failed assault on Caen against the 12 SS Hitler Jugend Division.

Answer 2

You're entering the field of 'what if', but a huge amount of lives were lost on the beaches.
The Germans might have mined them better and of course they should have used their tanks to repell the enemy. Hitler was the only one who could allow this and he was in bed with a sleeping pill. Leaving that command in Berlin was a Bad Move.

On the allied front: The whole thing with gliders and parachutes wasn't all too effective. It was a new thing back then, so they had to try is, but just recall that nobody lands 10000 paratroopers in hedgecovered fields these days - or in any fields, actually.
The sinking tanks have been mentioned.

I think much better communications would have been cool.
Suppose the guys on the beach could have directed the fire from the warships, or could have talked directly to pilots in the air. That would have given the grunts a lot more firepower.
This, btw, is still an issue today. Even in Iraq and Afghanistan the US airforce does not allow 'land' army personell to direct its actions; they must take a forward air controller with them.

Answer 3

Many of the armored vehicles used by the Allies sank or were disables on d-day, because the amphibious devices added on to them did not work. Also, Sherman tanks were no match for the Panzer's and Tiger tanks, their shells were not very effective at piercing the armor of the German tanks. The Germans, however, were fooled into protecting Calais instead of Normandy, and Rommel wanted to keep his tanks within one day of wither Normandy or Calais, but Hitler would not let him. There is alot more info, but are you more interested in mistakes in tactics, military hardware, or command decisions?

Answer 4

Allies did not understand the terrain they were working in. Hedge rows were expected to be crushed by tanks, but instead the tanks had to go over them. This exposed the underbody of the tank which was not sufficient armored and could be penetrated easily with many German weapons.