CONSEQUENCES

D-Day had a great effect on the outcome of World War II. If the Russians could capture half of Germany with an Allied success at D-Day, then it is possible that an Allied loss at D-Day could have allowed the Russians to capture most of Germany. Therefore, an Allied loss at D-Day could have had a great impact on the Cold War. Also, if the Allies had failed at D-Day, to plan another invasion and to get the manpower to do so would have been exceptionally hard. Allied morale would have been low, and Russia, seeing that its Allies were weak, may have even abandoned the Allies and made a separate peace with Germany, as they had done in World War I. All of these scenarios could have happened had D-Day failed. The D-Day Invasion of Normandy is a great part of American history that has had a great impact on the world in which we live in today.

This is an interesting article of BBC telling us what could have happe if D-Day didn't had the succes it had

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/whatif/what_if_dday.shtml

 

GAME

http://www.todojuegosgratis.es/flash/d%20day%20in%20normandy

VIDEOS

The truth of Pas de Calais

There were no landings, no D-Day, at the Pas de Calais. The River Seine runs through Paris and on to the sea, and the Pas de Calais is north of where this river empties into the sea, at the narrowest part of the English Channel. The D-Day landings were south of the mouth of the Seine, in Normandy, at the widest part of the English Channel. The Allies chose this spot on the theory the Germans would think a landing there the least likely possibility. The Allies also created a massive deception operation, called Operation Fortitude, to fool the Germans into expecting a landing at the Pas de Calais. This included naming General George S. Patton as commander of a fictitious "First US Army Group" and lots of fake radio traffic, all of which the Germans were allowed to discover. So successful was this deception campaign that even after the landings in Normandy Hitler continued to believe that the Normandy landings were a diversion, and that the real landings would soon come at the Pas de Calais. Hitler held large forces north of the Seine waiting on this invasion which never came, instead of using those troops to reinforce the battle in Normandy. 

There was a "second D-Day" invasion of France, on August 15, 1944, but this was on the Mediterranean southern coast of France, the Riviera, in Operation Dragoon.

Pas de Calais

Pas-de-Calais is a department in northern France. Its name is the French equivalent of the Strait of Dover, which it borders.Pas-de-Calais is in the current region of Nord-Pas de Calais and is surrounded by the departments of Nord and Somme, the English Channel, and the North Sea. Its principal towns are, on the coast, Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, and in Artois, Lens, Liévin, Arras, and Saint-Omer. The inhabitants of the department are called Pas-de-Calaisiens.

Pas-de-Calais is one of the most heavily populated departments of France, perhaps it has no large cities. Calais has only about 80,000 inhabitants. The center and south of the department are more rural, but still quite heavily populated, with many villages and small towns.

Although the department saw some of the heaviest fighting of World War I, its population rebounded quickly after both world wars. However, many of the mining towns have seen dramatic decreases in population, some up to half of their population.

Introduccion

In June 6 of 1944, the operation “Fortitude” (the code name for this invasion), was starting to go on. British and American soldiers, placed balloons with the shape of tanks. This make the Nazis that the invasion of France was going to be in the port of Calais. But what the Nazis didn’t know that the “real” invasion was going to be in Normandy, 250 kilometers away from the port of Calais.

In the invasion of Normandy they were over 160, 000 troops and 30,000 vehicles.

In the port of Calais, George Patton guided the “army”; he was the man in charge of making the Nazis think that the invasion was going to be in port of Calais and not in Normandy.
Meanwhile the invasion was taking place in Normandy, Patton gave some speeches as commander of the First United States Army Group (FUSAG).

The FUSAG was conformed only by empty barracks, inflatable tanks and cannons. This whole “army” was useful because they were able to deceive the observations of the Luftwaffe planes. In the “army” there were also speakers that emit false radio communication, this communications were heard by the enemies.

As history can tell us, this strategy was good enough achieve its objectives. Thanks to the determination and braveness of George Patton this operation was a complete success, we have to recognize the greatness of this operation planned by the allies.

One month after the invasion in Normandy, Patton was granted the post as the Third United States Army Group.