If sufficient shipping was available, would there have been a simultaneous Overlord and Anvil/Dragoon operation June 6th or would the extra shipping have been used to increase the initial assault load for Overlord (would the geography of Normandy allowed this)? What would have been the effect of either option on the follow up campaign in Europe?
Band Beach Someone asked about 'Band Beach' previously - had a possible answer on the Warships1 board. http://p216.ezboard.com/fwarships1discu ... ic&index=1 This could have been done by cancelling the Marianas invasion/liberation (Operation FORAGER), which landed four divisions on Saipan almost simultaneously with OVERLORD; the order would have had to have been given in the spring of 1944, at the latest, to get the requisite shipping from the Central Pacific to the ETO. So add the shipping for four divisions from FORAGER to the six from OVERLORD and there's ten divisions' worth of assault shipping, easily - probably a little more, given that the Pacific shipping were larger ocean-going ships, and so presumably could have carried and unloaded more men and equipment going across the Channel than across the Pacific. As far as additional landings in Normandy, the allies surveyed the beaches to the east of what became SWORD (codenamed BAND) and presumably could have landed a seventh division there, which would - along with the three+ landed in ANVIL, historically - totals ten, more or less. Which could lead to the Anglo-Canadian landings being on JUNO, SWORD, and BAND, with the Americans on Utah, Omaha, and Gold, respectively. The likely additional assault division would have been the US 9th Infantry, which was second only to the US 1st Infantry Division in terms of amphibious and combat experience by the summer of 1944. So it could have been done, and the Germans would have been well and truly hosed, facing army/corps-level landings in two such widely divergent regions. I'd be surprised if the build-up stage prior to the Normandy breakout would have lasted as long, given the additional shipping available in the Channel, the larger frontage of the beachheads, and the need for the Germans to respond to two widely divergent axes of advance simultaneously. That being said, such a simultaneous assault presumably would have led to the Germans freeing up 15th Army from the Pas de Calais that much earlier - unless the FORTITUDE personnel were REALLY, REALLY good. Having the French Mediterranean ports in hand a couple of months earlier than historically would have helped significantly with the supply and reinforcement schedules, as well, of course. That being said, the 21st AG would still need Antwerp and the Scheldt... All in all, I'd expect Paris and Brussels could have been liberated a month earlier than historically, and the Allies would have closed up to the Rhine by the New Year, rather than in 1945... And the Germans could very well have decided against a winter counter-offensive, husbanding their strength for the spring fighting along the Rhine. The impact in the Pacific, of course, is that the Central Pacific and Southwest Pacific offensives are both delayed by several months, and XX Air Force does not begin hitting Japan until well into 1945 ... plus the Filipinos and Guamanians have to suffer Japanese occupation for most of 1945.
Great info, PMN1, thank you very much! I was the one asking about Band beach a long time ago, but nobody here had ever heard of it. Now I know! There would have been no simultaneous Anvil operation, if ships were available they'd have been used for Overlord. It was not the Allied intention to liberate France, but to defeat the German army in the west and capture the Ruhr area. More force would have been added to the blow that was most likely to reach that goal the most efficiently.
Anvil was upposed to be simultaneous with Overlord. It was the combination of Anzio and the decision to add more divisions to first wave of Overlord that led tot he nine week delay in Anvil-Dragoon.
