WWII and the invasion of France?

Question

why were the germans slow to respond to the invasion of normandy? also, why did the allies choose to invade the beaches of normandy?

and, what were some of the accomplishments of Eisenhower, General Pattron and the Tuskegee Airmen?

Answer 1

1. The german high command, particularly Hitler himself. thought the invasion would be at the Pas de Calais area, even after reports of the normandy invasion had reached headquarter. the Normany invasion was thought to be a diversion and therefore the Panzer reserves were not released to Normandy, but rather were kept back...in expectation of a Pas de Calais landing. The allies used a 'ghost' army under Patton to fool the Germans.

2. the beaches allowed for easier assualts via the beaches, and provided a perfect cover or alternative to the Pas de Calais landings.

3. Eisenhower had the ability to unite the various national commands.

4. Patton was used a decoy during the initial invasion, but as commander of the 3rd Army, led the breakout out of Normandy using mobile tank warfare.

5. Tuskegee airmen were the first to break the racial barriers in the air force.

Answer 2

Deception by the Allies had convinced the Germans that the main attack would occur at Calais which was a shorter distance across the English Channel. Hitler was calling the shots from Berlin and forbade the 15th (German) army stationed in Calais to move in the direction of the Normandy invasion. The Allies had chosen Normandy because the Germans had it set in their minds that the obvious point of invasion would be Calais. This was an "end run" around the flank to the south.
Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander and is credited with the overall success of the western front against the Germans, but in fairness - the Russians beat the largest part of the German forces on the eastern front. Patton led the 3rd army for the Allies moving across France to the south of Paris. He had also been an effective American general in Sicily and North Africa. The Tuskegee airmen had an amazing record of defending U.S. bombers from German fighters in the latter stages of the air war over Europe. As I recall, no bombers defended by fighters from this all Black group was ever lost to enemy fighters. That was astonishing success even though the German air force was down to few planes and few experienced fliers by then.

Answer 3

Because at first they thought that it was a diversion and deception for the main invasion which they thought would be in the Pas de Calais. So they withheld their reserves until
it was to late to defeat the invasion on the beaches.
There was a deliberate operation in 1944 by the Allies to deceive the Germans by inventing a ghost army which was apparently ready to invade in the Pas de Calais.
Normandy was chosen because it had suitable beaches for an invading army and it was only a few hours sailing time from England and with in easy range of Allied air cover.

Answer 4

The Germans were slow to respond to the invasion because the generals were waiting for instructions from Hitler, who was sleeping. (I'm not kidding about this.) Hitler liked to stay up late and didn't get up very early. When his staff heard about the invasion they were afraid to wake him up because of his temper. Even after Hitler was aware of the events at Normandy he was reluctant to believe it was the real invasion because he was convinced it would happen at the pas de Calais. The Germans lost lots of time because of this. Thank God!

Wikipedia has an excellent entry on Battle of Normany that provides some great material for your question.

Answer 5

All those questions have very specific answers, (history major from Columbia University), but having said that, we are not the Yahoos' equivilant of CliffsNotes! Do your own homework!!!

Answer 6

Pick Me! You know you wana ;]