What if, Pas-De-Calais was chosen for Overlord instead of Normandy?

Do you think it would of been a sucess still? Also you can elaborate what the allies goals would of been (ie do you still go after Caen?, or do you stay north and aim for Lille?

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Facta non verba. "Deeds, not words"

If fortitude wasn't fortitude.... Well my guess would be that it would have been another mega Dieppe with terrible casualties. The Pas de Calais was the most heavilly defended area and it's only advantage was the short distance between Dover and France. It was under permanent surveillance and the surprise effect was more difficult to achieve. Axis Reinforcements were easier to get there from Belgium , Holland, France and Germany.

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Pas-De-Calais defenses were about 90% complete and that would have been a blunder playing in to Hitler's hands, the Allies suffered one Dieppe and they were not about to let Overlord go the same way. Normandy was the correct decision which bought us the time we needed while the German Generals went back wards and for wards with Hitler over the landings and releasing the Tank force.

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Regards, Richard


"Open channel D"

I"m not questioning the choice for Overlord...just wondering...it as this is a "what if" thread

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Facta non verba. "Deeds, not words"

Well, I suppose you got your answers to your what if. Besides, remember the landing in normandy led for a significant time the Germans to the mistake of expecting the 'main blow' that inevitably had to follw at Calais, so a direct landing there would be playing to their expectations instead of creating the strategic surprise that was the landing at the unexpected location.

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Bah!

Simply it would be an absolute bloodbath, it may have led to the Allies either postponing or cancelling Overlord all together, this may have led to the Western Allies continuence of European invasion through Italy.

But in the end, Germany was doomed, with or without Overlord's success

The map of Europe will have to be painted red.

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Beige paint is cheaper by the square metre.

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Bah!

It's strange that Overlord related what-ifs tend to always result in a Red Europe.

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I'm outta here!

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Bah!

Back in the mid 1930s some amphibious 'map exercises' and staff studies were run through at the US Army staff school at Ft Levenworth. For some of these a invasion of Europe was proposed, using Britian as a base. These exercises and staff studies showed a marked prefrence for Normandy as the best location. The reasons were many. The port of Cherbourg was larger than the Channel ports, attacking out of the Cotien pennsula gave better acess to the larger Atantic ports of Brest & Bourdeux. The ports like Cherbourg were more difficult than the eastern Channel ports for the enemy to interdict. The railroads from the Normandy & Britiany region seemed to support attacking into central France better than from the French & Belgian ports of the eastern Channel.

Antwerp would have been the absolute first choice, except the coast is shallow & difficult to navigate outside the ship channels, the beaches are backed my marshes and 'wet' fields, and the countryside is cut up by cannals and levees. Antwerp has been amoung the top ports of Western Europe and its location makes it a wide door opening directly towards the Ruhr and north German plain.

The German obssesion with the Calis region was only partially due to Allied deception efforts. The Wehrmacht had never made a indepth study of amphibious operations and did not grasp the disadvatages of the eastern Channel region as a landing site.

Strategy by gut feeling.

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Bah!

So if the invasion is to take place in Pas-De-Calais wouldn't there be a major deception plan leading the Germans to expect it elsewhere? Why would this deception plan be less successful than the historical one?

Because Hitler believed the major attack would take place at Calais...

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But how much of that was due to allied deception efforts?

Don't forget Churchill's stated reason for picking Normandy. The Germans assumed the shortest distance is the shortest distance, but overlooked the fact that there was no way all the shipping could come out of the single port of Dover. Although geographically Calais was closer, the best ports for departing shipping were in southern England. Therefore the difference in distance was pretty much a wash.

As for what would happen if the Allies landed in Calais, I think they still could have eked it out. The Allied air forces would have had a field day on German reinforcements in the more open terrain, and the shorter distance to airfields in England would have helped. The first few days might have been bloodier, but in the long run the breakout would have occurred sooner, with the potential to bag large German units in southern France and a more realistic chance for something like Market Garden to work.

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Sole founder of Encyc.org, now covering World War II.

yes, of course strengthened his idea but it took a month or more before Hitler started taking troops from the 15th Army positioned in Calais so if you think it was one month after D-day Hitler definitely had his way on this. At least that´s how I see it.

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