Tank Battle of Normandy: The Allies begin their advance into Europe

On June 7, 1944, the Allies launched an all-out attack against the European Axis Powers at 5 C-beaches in Normandy, France, with a combined force of 5,000 ships and 160,000 troops. The largest amphibious operation in the history of the world is known in military terms as Operation Neptune or D-Day.This was the first step in the Allied mission to restore Europe, Operation Overlord, which marked the beginning of the end of World War II. After that, Germany suffered a final defeat by losing continuously.Today I will discuss only the tank war in Normandy. It should be noted that although there were about 11 countries in the Allied forces that day, Britain, Canada and the United States landed tanks on Normandy Beach on the first day. Because they had an amphibious variant of the legendary M-4 Sherman tank.

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The tanks descended from the ship into the water near Normandy Beach, crossing the English Channel Amphibious Landing Craft. The last 5 km is reached by a specially built propeller of the sea tank and reaches Normandy beach. Such tanks were known as duplex drive tanks or DD tanks. It was known to soldiers as the famous cartoon character Donald Duck because it looked like a duck.

Note that Germany had deployed various types of defense equipment along the 2400 miles of the occupied Atlantic coast, including Normandy. This is known in history as the famous 'Atlantic Wall'. The most heavily defended were the coastal areas of France. Because Hitler and his generals had the idea that if there was an attack from Britain, it would be through here.That's why the formidable German Field Marshal Rommel set up 4 million more anti-tank-anti-personnel mines in the region alone, as well as many other types of defenses.

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The greatest tank battle in Normandy was between the British-Canadian Armored Brigade and the German Tank Division. However, in this article, I will only talk about the Canadians because they were the ones who landed the tank in Normandy at the end of the day (at 7:30 in the morning). In other words, the beginning of the terrible tank war was in the hands of the Canadians. So what happened to the DD tanks of the US forces that hit Normandy beach at 8:30? What I will tell you now will help you better understand the 'importance of time' on the battlefield.Large Allied troops landed on the beach one by one so that there would be no shortage of mutual cooperation. The United States deployed troops at Omaha and Utah Beach, Canadian Forces at Juno Beach, and the United Kingdom at Gold and Sword Beach. Other Allied allies, including France-Poland-Australia, also sent troops to the Normandy coast.First, U.S. troops began landing on Omaha Beach, while troops and tanks began landing on Utah Beach almost simultaneously. But at exactly 8:30 a.m., Allied bombers and battleships and other warships at sea would launch simultaneous attacks on the German defensive line, with landing craft delivering troops to shore.

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So depending on the distance, the launch hour is between 5:30 and 6:00, with each force starting at a different time. The job of such landing crafts was to land the soldiers of the Marine and Engineer Brigades. So they had to reach the arrow. Again the amphibious tanks were launched from a distance of about 5 km from the shore.
But due to tidal fluctuations, U.S. amphibious tanks reached near Utah Beach 5 minutes ahead of schedule. As a result, huge German artillery on the ground began attacking the tanks as soon as they were at sea. Of the 32 tanks, 29 were destroyed. Most were destroyed and drowned in the sea, while the rest somehow reached the shore but did not last long.The tanks, which were paralyzed by German artillery, provided infantry covering fire support as much as possible until the shelling was over. U.S. troops suffered heavy casualties on Omaha Beach. Soldiers from the Engineer's Brigade were sent to clear the way as there were anti-tank and anti-personnel mines and other artificial obstacles.British Canadians follow a similar approach. Note that on the day of D-Day, there was a fight between the German tank and the German tank. Since the subject of this article is Tank vs. Tank War, I am focusing on Canadians, excluding British-Americans. Their tanks killed the Germans just as they killed them.