We know that a lot of recon and research was done for the beaches to make sure they were suitable for the landing, moving troops, moving tanks, etc.
But just beyond that were small villages that really restricted movements of mechanized materials.
That seems kind of a dichotomy- make sure that you can get through A but not B.
Was that really missed that bad, or were they aware that going through the small towns and villages were going to be a traffic problem?
Very good questions.
I think that they already knew from World War 1 traffic jams in the Argonne, WW2 Italy, Pacific etc that logistics would be tricky. The strategy was to put as much stuff on the beach and then ship it onwards and bring lots of Bailey Bridges and bulldozers to keep the roads running. No matter what you do the Germans we bound to blow stuff up on the way. If there were no roads like in China or when supplying Bastogne they used transport planes to bring stuff over. By keeping stuff standard (like the Shermans/Jeeps) it was easy to repair or upgrade stuff.
What I really admire is the flexibility they put in their supply Chain and betting on multiple entrances. Operation Dragoon which is almost forgotten but very successful opened a new way from the South for supplies.
Not sure if you traveled the area, but the Ferme Aux Chat were TG stayed for the filming still has roads which are crappy beyond believe. Some of this 2-way roads can hardly hold one small car :-). Looks like they are still the same since 1066! Once you get of the mail toll roads you notice but that is much more fun than driving the toll roads.
So I assume they knew it would be tricky and but remedied it with their supply chain. Some historians like argue that keeping this huge supply chain made the Allies slower BUT avoided reversals like they had in the early days of North Africa.
Any other points of view and also dissent is quite welcome as I like to learn more about this.
When they brought it up during the 24 hours, it wasn’t so much the supply chain, but just getting off the beach. And that’s the part I find odd- all the work to make sure you can land at every beach with every piece of mechanized equipment- and then take specific roads that can’t deal with some of that equipment. Seems like something obvious that was missed. It’s not as if England does not have small villages that have tiny roads because the homes were built well prior to the car.
I’ve been as far east as Bayeux, which is where we based our Normandy touring 15 years ago. But have been in many very old villages where it was such a challenge to drive a car, I took it back and got the super sub compact that I originally reserved (for some reason, European car rentals think all Americans want big cars…).
This question actually brings up a different question- why did they bomb Caen so much? That pretty much insured that it would be virtually impossible to get into and across any time soon, let alone it was easier to defend with the more random locations for defense. Ignoring that it was not an achievable goal or anything like that- just destroying a town you want to take makes it harder to take thanks to the rubble. That’s a lesson that should have been known from multiple times it happened during the war- including in Italy.
LOL good choice as only small cars can take the tiny roads unscratched. I was in Bayeux with TG.
To get back to the questions, as in getting supplies of the beach. All beach landings all over the world had a priority schedule of what the leave in what order. When Omaha turned difficult on D-Day they pushed for men instead of more supplies.
As for supplies, at first it had to be pulled over BUT the Allies also had the Armoured and unarmoured cars.
That is why armoured Bren-Gun and similar carriers were employed really early in the landings, not just to fight but also bring up ammo.
I did Jeep tours and those US 4X4 trucks (even one with Ed Shames 101 veteran) and those Jeeps and trucks can perfectly drive cross-country and even through gullies were normal rental cars are not allowed. The rules have become stricter over time to stop people from racing cross-country.
Jeeps Halftracks and armoured Carriers were fantastic in getting material to front line troops and circumvented blocked roads. Those never really got the glory they deserved but driving up and down the beach under regular fire might even be less safe that being in cover fighting the Germans. Also in movies you never see Jeeps do what they could do (e.g. at the end of the longest day Norman Cota smokes a cigar and drives up a nicely paved road up the beach). I guess the insurance had some issues with REAL OFF ROAD driving like 101 veteran Ed Shames:-)
By the way, a lot of new museums and memorials have been added in the last 15 years, so it is still a great place to visit.
What was new to me since yesterday, was that the Allies at a really early stage started to built railroads as well which are still a very efficient way to transport large quantities of goods. OK that goes beyond your question
Engines of War: How Wars Were Won and Lost on the Railways - YouTube
PS Maybe you could but your Caen question in a separate topic. Really good question for TG but might be confusing (as it is a different topics). Part of it was covered in the 24 episode but the WAH series will probably cover it as well)
Added the Caen question- it will be interesting to see the WAH when they cover it, but just the idea of trying to cross a bombed out city like that- what were they thinking? It made travel an order of magnitude harder than the small villages.
But for this specific question, with Caen as the goal for the day, they should be aware that the path they were told to take would be hard to get around with the mechanized equipment they had. So that was a contributor to not getting to Caen as well as not achieving other goals with the equipment stuck on the beach due to the traffic jams.
Well, at least with the recon and research, they know that the equipment can get on and off the beach without getting stuck, lol…