I'm currently in the last year of college (Yr 13) doing my A Levels and for my individual assignment in History I've decided to, of course, do something WWII related. Unfortunately, my History teacher hasn't been very helpful due to his lack of knowledge/interest in WWII.

I'm an amateur WWII nerd compared to you guys, so this is where I hope you and your big brains can help me!

The area of WWII I've decided to investigate is D-Day, due to the fact it's the subject I've got the most books on and because I'm (hopefully) visiting Normandy for the day next year so it'll be good research.

However, I'm having trouble deciding what aspect of D-Day to look at. I had originally decided to answer the question 'What if D-Day had of been a faliure?', but I realised that the examiner might not like 'what if?' questions and also because they're hard to back up with proper evidence because it's all hypothetical.

So, this is where you lovely people come in. If you were me, what aspect/part of D-Day would you investigate and why?

I hope that I have posted this in the right place, and thank you in advance for any help

My interest would fall on the execution of action at the tactical level - i.e. - platoon and company level... what kind of tactics were used and how did that play into the success of each minor operation (the taking of individual beaches, etc.)

Though this might be difficult to get a lot of info on, I think it is what I'd most enjoy studying, personally.

__________________


"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!" Eleanor Roosevelt

One thing associated with D-Day is the tremendous logistical problem of getting both men and material onto the beach and into the hands of the fighting men as well as the support troops.

Since the D-Day landing site had no natural harbor, the use of artificial harbors was a great solution and achievement. Mulberry harbors kept the supply lines open for several critical days until a storm blew in. But by then the beachhead was secure.

Mulberry harbour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

__________________
__________________________________________

“The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air,
and you can't win a war if you haven't.” - General Jimmy Doolittle

Good for you, interesting choice.

I'm not sure what "A Levels" is/are, I live over in the Colonies. To help, is this graduate or undergraduate? A lower level course or upper level?

Are you intested in looking at the British/Canadian or American or the whole? Naval, Air Force or Army portions? Command level or the sharp end of the sword? Background informtation (why things were done like they were) or what actually happened? Is this a comparison and contrast or information gathering to support a thesis?

__________________
Best Regards,
JW

While all the "gee whiz" is going to be armed forces, the logistics is what keeps the "force" advancing, and too often overlooked. My suggestion is going to be a bit mundane since I myself was one of those guys "in the rear with the gear", ie, quartermasters, machinist mates, et al.

One of the unique UK contributions was the design, production, and implementation of "Operation PLUTO". It was much more extensive than the name P (ipe) L (ine) U (nder) T (he) O (cean) implies. Find the underground pipelines, storage tanks, and unloading depots in Great Britain alone. From the north west to the entire south.

Without it the Normandy beachheads and breakouts might have 'petered out" when road delivery of fuel had gone beyond a "positve" return (more fuel used than delivered), and until the PLUTO operation was really working there had to be ad hoc supplies of Petroleum to the Allied forces as they advanced. The "Red Ball" express is one of the three which took up the slack until PLUTO was running through its two depots.

__________________
Happy Trails,
Clint.

Jeff, A Levels are the final school exams - the ones taken that affect entry to university.

Someone above said: "D-Day landing site". There were of course 4 such sites.

I would concentrate on logistics such as the Mulberry Harbours. Without the logistics working, the landings would have failed.

I would also recommend a look at the previous huge amphibious landing - at Gallipoli in 1915. This was widely studied in the planning for D-Day 1944. It was the largest ever before D-day. Perhaps comparisons could be made.

One good topic might be to compare, particularly the US beach landings, with those of the Pacific theater. One aspect in particular that comes to mind instantly was the success the Marines had using LVT / Amtracs in the early waves. Comparing this to the problems the US Army had using LVCP landing craft might be instructive. I could credibly argue that:
1. The US Army had far less experiance and poorer doctrine in amphibious assault than the US Marines had.

and

2. That the US Army's failure to adopt or adapt that knowledge to their own operations was a costly mistake in Normandy.

Herakles wrote:

FYI:
I was referring to that part of the the Normandy coast where the four landing beaches are located, and which we are ALL familiar.

__________________
__________________________________________

“The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air,
and you can't win a war if you haven't.” - General Jimmy Doolittle

There are really many fascinating aspects about D-Day. It really depends how much time and effort you want to put into researching whatever you decide upon. It might be interesting, for instance, to find out what the 'home front' life was like for the villagers/locals who happened to live on the beach/immediate vicinity of the beach. What was their life like under Nazi Occupation? The Building of the Atlantic Wall? D-Day itself?

The possibilities are limitless.

__________________

I think you also might want to consider what you want to do after you get out of college. Will you go on to a university? If so, what do you want to study? If, for example, you have an interest in medicine, you might consider researching how well the wounded were taken off the beach and what their survival rates were at each step along the way.

If you are interested in civil engineering, and exploration of the Mulberry Harbors and the movement of men and materials may be of interest, as a few others have suggested.

If you want a topic that I do not believe has gotten a lot of attention, you could explore what it was like for the soldiers assigned to graves registration and how they managed to process all of the dead in a short period of time.

Keep in mind that when you select your topic, you need to make sure you can get enough information on the topic to satisfy the page length requirements that your teacher has established so you may want to assess that before you finalize your decision.

And if your teacher is not interested in WWII, please send him or her to me so that I can explain the folly of such an attitude, especially from a teacher!

I am interested in the German artillery action on D-day as the Germans did have some powerful guns in use, some where knocked out, but some (many?) where just returning fire to the navy protecting the landing troops. And thus not doing their job which would be to fire the landing troops.

__________________

If your instructors do not have much interest in the war itself, I'd say that getting too deep in the mechanics of D-day as folks have mentioned above, may turn them off even more. You might want to look at some of the personalities involved and their interactions with each other, like the generals (Eisenhower, Tedder, Montgomery, etc.) or the politicians.

Hello Becky,

I'd like to mention in all fairness, the U.S. Army was not entirely inept in amphibious landings prior to 6-6-44. I can remember an 18 month period leading up to that event on the other side of the known world, coming under shore battery fire, machine guns, mortar fire, air attacks, and an enemy that no problem breaking cover to run out on the beach to meet you.

The Navy and the Army were able to manage all this without a Marine in sight, (there might have been a few aboard the flagship guarding the old man's cabin) with much less preparation, outdated equipment, and a fraction of the logistical support available in th ETO.

__________________
All the Best
Jack

the diaries of Chester Hansen,and Kay Summersby..oh also the diaries or bokks written by the army commanders like,Dwight Eisenhower,the supreme commander,Gen.Bernard Law Montgomery(ground forces commander).Gen Omar Bradley,Gen Sir Miles Dempsey.air marshal tedder.air marshal trafford leigh-mallory.gen walter bedell-smith.admiral sir bertram ramsay.cheers.p.s the diaries of harry butcher as well.

__________________
fair,balanced and unafraid.thanks,4th wilts..

I would suggest looking at the air campaign, and the cover ovver the beaches that they provided. an often overlooked area.

__________________
"Like so many of our people, we have now had a personal experience of German barbarity which only strengthens the resolution of all of us to fight through to final victory."-King George VI
"Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning."-Colonel David M. Shoup-Saipan

I'm in the 17-18 yr old year group at school, the year before university

I should of included this information in my first post, shouldn't I? Oops.
For the assignment I have to gather some information and notes, and then write an essay in exam conditions in 3 hours. The question I have to create and answer has to be something like: 'To what extent...', 'What were the causes of..' or a comparing/comparison question.

I'm interested in all of the nationalities involved, I think that it would be a bit boring just focusing on one nation. The Army is where most of my knowledge is, but I'm also interested in the Navy and the Air Force. You can see where my problem is can't you? I can't seem to think of one part to concentrate on Although this thread has been really helpful.

To what extent were "Hobart's Funnies" of the British 79th Armoured Division beneficial to the success of the British 2nd Army in landing successully?

__________________
Best Regards,
JW

Thank you for all of the quick replies! Wasn't expecting to get this many. I've got a good list of subjects to choose from now.

Comparing Gallipoli and D-Day sounds like a good idea, there would be lots of details to write about that and also there are probably lots of resources available. Comparing the failures and successes of each would be quite interesting. I also (ashamedly) don't know much about Gallipoli, so it'll be nice to learn something completely new.

However, the logistical side of D-Day is really appealing to me at the moment. All of the background stuff that helped it happen and be successfull, rather than just the front stuff that we all know about. Thanks brndirt1 for the recommendation about 'Operation PLUTO' , that sounds really interesting so I'll have to do some more research about that - even if I don't choose to do it for my assignment!

The main problem I'm having at the moment is choosing a question/subject that has enough depth to it, as I'm worried I'll choose something that is either too big or too small. I've got to write an essay about it under exam conditions for 3 hours, so I don't want to end up not having enough to write about

That sounds like a good question! I didn't expect to get such a specific reply, thank you.
I'll put that on my list of 'questions that I could possibly do', it's definitely near the top though - I love tanks