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wasn’t here, but that is nonsense,” Warman avers; “Hans Speidel was here
and knew exactly what Rommel wanted.”
The colonel marvels at the accuracy of the gliders, which had been
released some three miles from shore: “They flew down a canal, turned
180 degrees and landed forty-seven yards from the bridge they were
assigned to secure, without any guidance other than a stopwatch,” adding
that “they landed at the same speed as a modern 747 jetliner (169mph),
but had no brakes.”
The first British officer to be killed in France – his wife was pregnant–
“was killed on this bridge,” Warman continues as we view Pegasus Bridge.
“On the sixtieth anniversary of the landings, Prince Charles – a colonel
in the parachute regiment – accompanied the child, a now-sixty-year-old
man, on a visit to Normandy.”
Omaha Beach
Because of poor planning and even poorer intelligence, this is where
the landing almost became a defeat of historic dimensions, suggests
Colonel Warman.
“When the kids landed,” he says, “they landed against an intact
defensive force with the ability to cause great harm.” The U.S. Army air
corps that bombed the German defensive positions missed their targets
by “at least two miles,” he says. The naval bombardment that took place
afterwards, was also significantly off the mark. Neither had the desired
effect. “Those planes didn’t touch the gun positions. The ships stayed way
too far back and their guns were not effective, at least not initially. None
of the bombing they did hit any of the emplacements on the Atlantic Wall
that had been fortified by Hitler,” Warman claims.
Another unfortunate development was that on D-Day, a German
anti-invasion training exercise had been planned by a commander whose
division had recently returned from the Russian front and was in Caen on
R & R. “They just happened to be there that morning,” Warman says.
As a former machine-gun officer, he explains how the 120 German
machine gun positions arrayed against the landing beach of Omaha were
divided up (an average of 10 per “nest”; there were 12 nests). “They could
strafe the beach and make it almost impossible for an individual to escape
the fire, making it a turkey shoot, especially for the first boys to land,” he
suggests.
Warman says the U.S. Navy released the army tanks and crews over
three miles from shore. “They got off the landing craft and sank to the
bottom,” he notes. Of 120 tanks, only 7 survived to land onshore. “The
rest sank along with their crews.” Planners also hadn’t analyzed the rills
created by rip tides along the shore that added nearly two feet in depth
to what was supposed to have been three-and-a-half to four feet of water,
causing many 70-pound-laden G.I.’s to sink and drown.
But one shouldn’t be too hard on the U.S.-led effort; after all, the
Allies won. It is good to remind oneself of what Eisenhower is quoted as
having said: “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are
useless, but planning is indispensable.”
Getting There:
When we boarded our American Airlines Boeing 767 in LA, the
Business Class seating was beautifully configured, with lots of legroom and
a personal backseat movie screen. From New York to Paris, our Premier
Business Class seats could go completely horizontal for sleep, along with
having the ability to watch some 40 movies.
Upon arrival, we walked with our luggage to the Sheraton Paris Airport
Hotel & Conference Centre at Charles de Gaulle airport to decompress
before picking up our car from Hertz the next morning. The room was
quiet; we watched planes take off and land from our window but could not
hear a thing; it was like watching television on mute. We slept soundly on
the excellent king-size bedding.
Other pluses: a good selection of TV stations in English, full-
force showerheads, and upgrading (for 50 euros) to Club lounge status
included free Internet, full breakfast for two including espresso drinks,
light dinner with wine for two, full use of a copier and printer and wi fi
in the lobby.
For full particulars go to: sheraton.com/parisairport, or call 33
(0)1 49 19 70 70. Better yet, make your reservation through Starwood
at spg.com.
Where we stayed:
We stumbled upon www.parisapartmentrental.biz while looking
for a place to spend an entire week in Normandy. We found a three-
bedroom two-bath house in the very small town of Quetteville, but can’t
recommend it completely (although it turned out to be an excellent family
compound), as it was very much off the beaten path and roads leading
to it were barely wide enough for one vehicle, let alone two. But Mr. Jose
Arturo Ibarra had many options to choose from (including apartments
in Paris) and he proved to be both fair and ethical. We can certainly
recommend his company, which is based in San Francisco (415-728-
7975). His e-mail address is: ibarrajosea@sbcglobal.net.
D-Day