WI: Rommel At D-Day

Just a quick one, WI, instead of going home for his wife's birthday, Rommel invites his wife and son to Normandy for the day for a sight-seeing tour. How much more effective would the Germans be with Rommel there to command them?
 

mowque

Banned
I think, in the end, it would make little difference. Perhaps he could fight better, but really, the Allies are going to land and they are going to stick. They have better planning, air supremacy, and tactical surprise.
 
No difference? How about them staying the night in a beachhouse at Colleville-sur-Mer and Rommel commanding in person the defence at Omaha?
 
Rommel with Hitler asleep unlike Von Rundstedt would have taken divisional control of the all the German divisions in the West and sent them toward Normandy. What occurs is one final climatic battle at Normandy which the Anglo-American forces are certainly the odds on favorite to win, but in doing so leaves Germany without the reserves for a Battle of the Bulge and the war ends sooner then in the origional timeline with Anglo-American forces potentally taking Berlin by winter.

Once the battle over Normandy is decided Rommel if he is alive is going to surrender what is left of the German Army in the West rather then retreating back to Germany or fighting to the death.
 
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No difference? How about them staying the night in a beachhouse at Colleville-sur-Mer and Rommel commanding in person the defence at Omaha?
Neither here nor there, There'd simply have been more troops landed at Utah and then swung around behind the Germans.

For the rest of it - so the immediate commitment of the various Panzer divisions would have had little chance of throwing off the landings then?
 
Rommel with Hitler asleep unlike Von Rundstedt would have taken divisional control of the all the German divisions in the West and sent them toward Normandy. What occurs is one final climatic battle at Normandy which the Anglo-American forces are certainly the odds on favorite to win, but in doing so leaves Germany without the reserves for a Battle of the Bulge and the war ends sooner the in the origional timeline with Anglo-American forces potentally taking Berlin by winter.

Once the battle over Normandy is decided Rommel if he is alive is going to surrender what is left of the German Army in the West rather then retreating back to Germany or fighting to the death.

Very interesting, this means that the Czech Republic and Poland are the front line nations for NATO.
 
The fact is if the German armor gets near the beach at all, you not only have massive air power striking it. But you have the big guns of the RN and USN unloading everything they have it.
 

Cook

Banned
If Rommel is sight-seeing in Normandy in the first week of June 1940 he is just as isolated from Army Group B’s headquarters outside of Paris as if he was back in Germany. Worse in fact because now he has to make his way across northern France where all road movement is being strafed by the overwhelming allied air forces and where allied paratroopers added an extra dimension to the chaos. That he would take his family to the coast of France, which was subject to intensive bombing at the time and where an invasion was expected at any time and anywhere, is a bit hard to believe.

Had he been there the most he could have done was make his way to one of the Corps headquarters or to 21st Panzer division headquarters and get them moving towards the coast sooner before he himself jumped back in his car for the dash to Paris. The 21st would still have come under the most intense air attacks.
 
his being able to command forces directly might see 21st panzer's battle group actually try to roll up sword beach after they reach the coast (Rommel perhaps telling their commander to ignore 6th airborne's reinforcement drops or promising to arrange for other forces to keep his supply lines secure)

That battle group if it actually got to the assemby areas would cause a stampede since there was an unbeliable traffic jam on sword beach... then in turn they would experience a visit from about 20 angry destroyers which would assumedly be unpleasant
 
then in turn they would experience a visit from about 20 angry destroyers which would assumedly be unpleasant

This is the key point. Italy had already shown what happened to armored formations that tried to attack beachheads with naval gunfire support... the flipped-over Tigers should tell you everything you need to know.

Heck, I recall that the Germans did manage to get one panzer counterattack off during D-Day in an attempt to prevent the British beachheads from linking up... a single supporting battleship stopped them dead in their tracks (literally).
 
his being able to command forces directly might see 21st panzer's battle group actually try to roll up sword beach after they reach the coast (Rommel perhaps telling their commander to ignore 6th airborne's reinforcement drops or promising to arrange for other forces to keep his supply lines secure)

That battle group if it actually got to the assemby areas would cause a stampede since there was an unbeliable traffic jam on sword beach... then in turn they would experience a visit from about 20 angry destroyers which would assumedly be unpleasant

Dont forget the hundreds of angry bees, sorry fighterbombers in the air just waiting for this and battleships acting like landarty. If you think that Point De hoc today is full of holes, try the area were the tanks would go. The result is that the 21st panzers are done as a fightingforce over a month early and Monty perhaps taking Caen without the town destroyed
 

burmafrd

Banned
that is why those that make such a big deal of Rommel not being at his HQ on D-Day miss the point.

By careful plan the Allies had bombed every road and bridge to isolate the landing areas. THe Airborne troops scatered all over attacked everything everywhere; sowing huge seeds of confusion.

French Resistance and allied recon planes were watching all German Panzer forces around the clock. Within an hour of them beginning to move we would have known all about it. Everything available INCLUDING the 8th AF Bombers would have been sent. And if somehow some of them do get to the coast there are all those ships waiting for them to pot shoot.
 
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