During the planning phase of Overlord the British offered specialised engineering armour to the their U.S. counterparts. Call it pride or over-confidence in their own troops but they refused the help (with the exception of the swimming DD tanks, probably the least effective of the funnies).
On the commonwealth beaches, Juno, Gold and Sword the tanks of Hobart's 79th Division were formed into sections with a mix of carpet laying, mine clearing, fascine carrying, bride laying, flame throwing and bomb firing tanks dependant on the obstacles and terrain identified by physical, covert surveys. The aim was to overcome every type of obstacle that could be encountered on the beaches and in the immediate areas behind the beach as quickly as possible to allow the following troops and vehicles safe and quick egress so the beach head could be extended.
The U.S. were reliant on pure manpower to do the same. On Omaha beach there were 16 teams with 12 men in each whose job it was to manually destroy the beach obstacles using explosives. Of the 16 teams only 5 managed to do their job due to a whole host of reasons and the paths they carved up the beach were not trusted because they were not clearly marked. Once the troops of the first waves reached the top of the beach they struggled to go further because of a shingle bank and minefields.
Do you think if the same system had been employed on the commonwealth beaches had been utilised on Omaha the the name Bloody Omaha would never have applied?
My own personal opinion is that apart from saving a few lives on the morning of 6th the overall effect was next to nothing, but I might be missing something.
On the commonwealth beaches, Juno, Gold and Sword the tanks of Hobart's 79th Division were formed into sections with a mix of carpet laying, mine clearing, fascine carrying, bride laying, flame throwing and bomb firing tanks dependant on the obstacles and terrain identified by physical, covert surveys. The aim was to overcome every type of obstacle that could be encountered on the beaches and in the immediate areas behind the beach as quickly as possible to allow the following troops and vehicles safe and quick egress so the beach head could be extended.
The U.S. were reliant on pure manpower to do the same. On Omaha beach there were 16 teams with 12 men in each whose job it was to manually destroy the beach obstacles using explosives. Of the 16 teams only 5 managed to do their job due to a whole host of reasons and the paths they carved up the beach were not trusted because they were not clearly marked. Once the troops of the first waves reached the top of the beach they struggled to go further because of a shingle bank and minefields.
Do you think if the same system had been employed on the commonwealth beaches had been utilised on Omaha the the name Bloody Omaha would never have applied?
My own personal opinion is that apart from saving a few lives on the morning of 6th the overall effect was next to nothing, but I might be missing something.