Two WWII questions.

[MN_Air]

I am not sure if they have been answered, but I couldn't find anything in the search function. If so could you provide a link?


The questions are:

What would the Allies have done if the invasion of Normandy failed? Would the Allies have had to enter Germany through Italy? Or were there other ways to get in and liberate France etc.

From the books I have read on Rommel, he seems to have known that the African campaign was a fight over a million acres of uselessness. How important was North Africa to the Allies? This is where they launched the Sicilian campaign from is it not?

Thank you for any answers.

[TheKiwi]

OK, questions back at you. When you say failed, what do you mean by "failed"?

It is very very unlikely that the allies could have been driven back into the sea which is an absolute definition of failed. But they could perhaps have been stuck at the beach head for several more months, much like at Anzio in Italy with a small area controlled, subject to artillery fire etc from the surrounding German forces. However Normandy is not like Anzio. Allied air domination at Normandy was absolute, unlike Anzio where the ships would retire for the day at evening time to prevent them from being vulnerable to air strikes. At Normandy, the allied flotilla had absolute sea control. They had battleships with 14 and 15" guns, from which the splinters could go through 10" of armour. Any German attempt to push the landing forces back into the sea would have crumbled under such attacks.

See also: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?170150-What-if-thread-2-D-Day-Fails

As for North Africa, yes in many ways it was a side show. it served a much more valuable role for the Allies than it did for the Germans (and Italians). In Africa, allied forces learned the harsh lessons of warfare without there being much at risk. It was also the first part of the rolling up of the Axis forces carried out by Western Allied forces. From there (with 250,000 PoW's taken), they were able to start nibbling away at the rest of them.

In my opinion, a much more pointless campaign was Italy, which served very little purpose once Sicily was taken.

[deagle]

if the axis brought more forces toward the coastlines for reinforcement, then their rears are exposed, and behind-enemy-lines airborne drops would force them into 3 more fronts.

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

From the books I have read on Rommel, he seems to have known that the African campaign was a fight over a million acres of uselessness. How important was North Africa to the Allies? This is where they launched the Sicilian campaign from is it not?


With regards to North Africa, control of Libya may have been useless, but the real goal of the campaign for the Axis was for control of the Suez Canal and middle eastern oil fields. Those were extremely important assets for the Allies, the oil for obvious reasons and the Suez Canal because it provided a logistics link to India and the far east. Controlling both of these would have been a huge boost for the Germans.

So, while the terrain that the North African campaign was fought on might not have been strategic, the land the Allies were defending by fighting over it was pretty important.

[syscom3]

In my opinion, a much more pointless campaign was Italy, which served very little purpose once Sicily was taken.

The allies still needed to knock Italy out of the war, PLUS secure the airfields at Foggia as to allow another heavy bomber AF (the 15th AF) to attack the Reich.

Italy did become irrelevant after the invasion of southern France. At that point, they should have just gone over to the defensive and moved some divisions over to where the more important fronts were located.

[kitatatsumi]

I wonder what Stalin would've done/said about it. Also, how do ya' think the Germans could have exploited it?

[Tank34]

What would the Allies have done if the invasion of Normandy failed? Would the Allies have had to enter Germany through Italy? Or were there other ways to get in and liberate France etc.

Allies have absolute naval and air superioty. German forces in Normandy was not the best part of Wermacht. And allies forces were overwhelming in numbers and quality. So it is was almost impossible for Germans to repel this invasion.
But in case of failed invasion France would be liberated by USSR in the end of 1945. With 1-1.5 more millions of casualties.

[Tank34]

I wonder what Stalin would've done/said about it. Also, how do ya' think the Germans could have exploited it?
Without allies support Germany were already doomed to lose the war after Kursk battle. And Stalin would exploit this situation to create pro USSR states in whole Europe not just East part.