D-Day T.O.O. v2

"D-Day Targets of Opportunity"

Three historical missions of D-Day,

1) P-38 CAP of the beaches,

2) P-47's stopping 22nd SS Panzer and Panzer Lehr Divisions trains South of Caen

3) A-20 attacking the Rail marshalling yards at Le Havre

1944 June 6 D-DAY - on a foggy overcast day the Allies land at Normandy. Field Marshal Rommel was of the firm belief that the only way to defeat an invasion was to counterattack the beaches as early as possible with armour.

Two hours before the seaborne landings began, Field Marshal von Rundstedt ordered the two reserve panzer divisions available for counterattack in Normandy, the 12th SS Panzer and Panzer Lehr, to move immediately toward Caen. He did so on the basis of an intuitive judgment that the airborne landings were on such a large scale that they could not be a mere deception maneuver and would have to be reinforced from the sea. The only place such landings could come in lower Normandy were on the Calvados and Cotentin coasts. He wanted armor there to meet the attack.

von Rundstedt's reasoning was sound, his action decisive, his orders clear.

But the panzer divisions were not under his command. They were in OKW reserve. To save precious time, von Rundstedt first ordered them to move out, then requested OKW approval. OKW did not approve. At 0730 Jodi informed von Rundstedt that the two divisions could not be committed until Hitler gave the order, and Hitler was still sleeping. von Rundstedt had to countermand the move-out order. Hitler slept until noon

Hitler's mistrust of his generals and the generals' mistrust of Hitler greatly assisted the Allies. So were Hitler's sleeping habits, as well as his Wolkenkuckucksheim ideas.

The two panzer divisions spent the morning waiting. There was a heavy overcast; they could have moved out free from serious interference from Allied aircraft. It was 1600 when Hitler at last gave his approval. By then the clouds had broken up and Allied fighters and bombers ranged the skies over Normandy, smashing anything that moved.

MISSION DATE: Sunday, TUESDAY, 6 JUNE 1944

GAME REQUIREMENT: IL2-FB-PF 3.04m

GAME TYPE: CO-OP up to 12 players

MISSION TYPE: Air Intercept

FLYABLE PLANES: P38L, P-47D-27,A-20, Fw-190A8

FLIGHT TO TARGET TIME: 10 minutes

MISSION INFORMATION: This mission by JR "Big Daddy" Jacobs