Allies land in Northern Germany WW2

Reading the OP as an additional landing, after Normandy, in an attempt to turn the German flank in the Low Countries.

I'd still go for an assault somewhere in Belgium, perhaps to open the Scheldt and seize Antwerp earlier.
 
(Remembers Frisian Island thread of horror and then flees in evident terror)

Suppressing my urge to follow in full escape...

The North Sea has extensive shoals in the south area. Those turn into a line of barrier islands, backed by tidal channels & salt marshes. The latter turn into peat bogs which extend far inland in the Frisia & Jutland regions. Off shore in the shoals & channels the tide and currents are highly variable, and winds a hazard.

All that make navigation of a fleet tricky, & creates problems for manuvering a large landing force inland.
 
If you have an alternate scenario sort of like 'Blunted Sickle', where France holds on, but the Allies have (parts of) Norway, preferably all of it. Especially if Sweden comes in on the Allied side to take Norway. THEN, you could have an invasion south from Swedish ports into eastern Germany and/or Poland. If, like Blunted Sickle, the USSR isn't involved (yet), this might be done as much as a preventative strike on behalf of Free Poland to safeguard its independence from the USSR as it is to smash Germany.
 
Reading the OP as an additional landing, after Normandy, in an attempt to turn the German flank in the Low Countries.

I'd still go for an assault somewhere in Belgium, perhaps to open the Scheldt and seize Antwerp earlier.

Yes, originally I indeed had such scenario in mind.

I informed myself on this topic further: According to German Wikipedia regarding this topic (there is no English or other language article regarding this) there had been the "Friesenwall" (I would translate it to Frisian Wall), which was only partially finished on the North Frisian coast, between Husum and Bredstedt. The German command indeed feared an invasion of the German North Sea coast. It was built on Hitler´s command between 1944 and February 1945, eventually given up due to the near end of the Third Reich. It was planned to be a defense system from the Netherland border to Denmark. There had been trenches, tank traps (four meters deep) and sheltered battle stations. 237 kilometres of tank traps and 250 kilometres trenches had been finished, 4633 Ringstände as well. Thousands of slave laborors from concentration camps were forced to built this wall, many died. Further Hitler Youth , men out of fighting age , Wehrmacht and the Organsiation Tod took part in the construction. However the hole structure eventually was rated as poitless and given up in early 1945. Today there are still remains left along the Frisian North Sea Coast.
 
Last edited:
Hmmm... frequent storms, exposed coast, extensive shoals, shallow channels, tricky tides, off shore mine fields, barrier islands, salt marshes, peat bogs, fortifications, close to German reserves & internal transportation; sounds like a challenge.
 
Top