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Overlord - 1944 Overlord - 1944 Bracknell Paper No 5 A Symposium on the Normandy Landings 25 March 1994 Sponsored jointly by the Royal Air Force Historical Society and the Royal Air Force Staff College, Bracknell ii OVERLORD – 1944 Copyright ©1995 by the Royal Air Force Historical Society First Published in the UK in 1995 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the permission from the Publisher in writing. ISBN 0 9519824 3 5 Typesetting and origination by Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd Printed in Great Britain by Hartnolls, Bodmin, Cornwall. Royal Air Force Historical Society OVERLORD – 1944 iii Contents Frontispiece Preface 1. Welcome by the Commandant, Air Vice-Marshal M P Donaldson 2. Introductory Remarks by the Chairman, Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage 3. Overlord – The Broad Context: John Terraine 4. The Higher Command Structures and Commanders: Field Marshal the Lord Bramall 5. Air Preparations: Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling 6. Planning the Operation: Lt General Sir Napier Crookenden and Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling 7. The Luftwaffe Role – Situation and Response: Dr Horst Boog 8. The Overlord Campaign: Lt General Crookenden and Air Marshal Crowley-Milling 9. Digest of the Group Discussions 10. Chairman’s Closing Remarks 11. Biographical Notes on Main Speakers The Royal Air Force Historical Society iv OVERLORD – 1944 OVERLORD – 1944 v Preface The fifth in the World War Two series of Bracknell Symposia, Overlord – 1944, was held at the RAF Staff College on March 25th. Again sponsored jointly by the RAF Historical Society and the College, Overlord represented a subject of mammoth proportions which had to be boiled down into one day. That it was successfully accomplished is a tribute to the organisers. The proceedings were chaired by Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage. The morning session painted in the broad picture and outlined the Command structure. This was followed by lectures on planning and preparation and the campaign itself. Of particular interest was an outline of the Luftwaffe’s situation and response – in the face of the largest operational air fleet ever seen. The discussion groups in the afternoon proved lively and most interesting. In this book are the edited papers and a digest of the work of the discussion groups. Gratitude is due to Henry Probert, Geoffrey Thorburn, Sebastian Cox and Peter Love, who not only assisted with the transcriptions of the tapes from the discussion groups but also prepared the synopsis which appears in this volume. Thanks go too to Peter Singleton, John Peaty, Christina Goulter and Peter Mason for their help in transcribing. Peter Singleton and the Air Historical Branch have also been most helpful with pictures. Derek Wood Editor vi OVERLORD – 1944 OVERLORD – 1944 1 1. Welcome by the Commandant Air Vice-Marshal Donaldson MBE Good morning ladies and gentlemen. The Staff College offers a sincere welcome to the RAF Historical Society, in particular its President, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham, and its Chairman, Air Marshal Sir Freddie Sowrey, and indeed to the very distinguished group of lords and knights of the realm assembled here today, and all other members of the Historical Society. I attach great importance to the link between the Historical Society and the Advanced Staff Course of the Staff College because the student body are at about that stage in their ageing process where they are willing to look back a little as well as looking forward. They are now able to consider the implications of some of the RAF’s historical activities and to look at the lessons they can draw from them; and being able to look back in a symposium such as this adds intellectual vigour to their studies of the past and its lessons. So this is a very important part of their course and that is why I attach such importance to the link with your Society. We are also enjoined these days to look at joint operations more and more in our consideration of military and air power, and to look at the joint perspective. We could not have a more joint operation than the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944. So today’s topic is extremely relevant to the studies here at the Staff College. 2 OVERLORD – 1944 2. Introductory Remarks by the Chairman Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage KCB CBE As your Chairman for this study day I have three tasks: to introduce the distinguished speakers; to draw out the main points emerging from the main talks and the group discussions; and thirdly to keep the programme on schedule. We are dealing today with the largest and most complex military operation in history, an operation with endless facets of military skills; and we have only four hours in which to do it. In such a short time we cannot hope to give a comprehensive account of the Normandy invasion. Our aim therefore is to bring out the air lessons of an operation which was above all a joint service affair, and our purpose this morning is to stimulate discussions in the seminar groups this afternoon. The organisers have given much thought to the way we should proceed, and have decided on certain limitations. We shall therefore deal first with the essential background to the campaign, then to the invasion itself, and finally to some of the events up to, but not beyond, the advance to the River Seine. We are obliged to omit whole areas of possible study, including the intelligence background which contributed so much to our success. We have had to take for granted the vast naval effort so essential in the assault and later on. I apologise to our naval friends for the omission. We confine ourselves almost entirely to the British and the German defenders opposing them. It may seem odd to give little attention to the American and Canadian divisions, and to concentrate on the 106 British squadrons at the expense of the 164 American 9th Air Force squadrons and I crave the indulgence of the American and other Allied colleagues in our audience for these shortcomings. All our forces, however, faced more or less the same challenges during the invasion and afterwards, and OVERLORD – 1944 3 the conclusions we reach will be equally applicable to all the other forces engaged. It is a great pleasure to introduce as our first speaker John Terraine, who is well known to all with an interest in military history, and has graced a number of our previous seminars. He is a prolific author, having written ten books on the First World War, a biography of Lord Mountbatten, Business in Great Waters, a study of the U-boat campaigns of both world wars, and The Right of the Line, a standard text about the RAF in Europe in the Second World War. He has the unenviable task of setting the whole thing in the context of all that went before, and if anyone can make sense of that huge canvas in 25 minutes it is John Terraine. 4 OVERLORD – 1944 3. Overlord – The Broad Context Mr John Terraine FRHistS Operation OVERLORD: it was well-named: the paramount preoccupation of the Western Allies in the Second World War, the overlord of all their strategy. It was, in the words of Humphrey Wynn and Susan Young (Prelude to Overlord), ‘the largest and most complex single military operation the world had ever seen.’ It involved just under 7,000 sea-going vessels, 150,000 soldiers and 1,500 tanks to be transported to France in the first 48 hours, 11,590 powered aircraft and 3,500 gliders. It was war on the wide screen – very wide indeed. How did it come about? The origins of large events usually run deep – this one, I think, can be dated to the disastrous days of 1940, the Allied defeat in the Battle of France and the evacuation of Europe. With the battle still raging, on 6 June (a pregnant date!) 1940, Churchill minuted: ‘I look to the Joint Chiefs of Staff to propose me measures for a vigorous, enterprising and ceaseless offensive against the whole German-occupied coastline.’ In the light of what we know now, and what Churchill knew then, the notion of a British ‘offensive’ was bizarre. We would shortly have no effective allies; we would be fighting for our lives in the Battle of Britain, and after that in the Battle of the Atlantic; our loss of equipment in France was virtually catastrophic and our war industries were still being created; all three Services had sustained heavy losses. How could Churchill even think – let alone talk – of a ‘ceaseless offensive’? It was more than talk; it immediately became a programme. To begin with, it was a programme of landing-craft construction, which could only be offensive; a study of the techniques of opposed OVERLORD – 1944 5 landings, which could only be offensive; combined three-Service training, which could only be offensive. Above all there was Combined Operations Command, of which Lord Louis Mountbatten became Chief in October 1941, with the rank Air Marshal as well as Lieutenant-General and his normal rank of Vice-Admiral. He said that Churchill’s brief for his new post was clear and simple: ‘I want you to turn the south coast of England from a bastion of defence into a springboard of attack.’ This went far beyond a policy of raids and pinpricks; it spelt a true counter-offensive, but sadly, for the time being, that was still far beyond our means.
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