Why did Germany Actually Fail at Normandy?

I wouldn't say Germany lost "catastrophically" it was 1944. By that point most of the German army was on full retreat in the East (running from the Red Army and Marshall Zhokov) Germany was already DONE by 1944. D-Day accomplished the iron curtain not starting on the Atlantic coast of Europe.

The fact that the Germans kept holding the front for 2 months was nothing less than a miracle

What's wild is that as far as imperial collapse goes, Germany appeared to have both too much bureaucracy AND power concentrated too far up. Usually, these problems are AT ODDS with each other, not in parallel. Germany was basically speedrunning imperial rise and fall in 12 years instead of 1000.

The Answer is very easy. Cause Germany had Russia on the other Side and millions of Soldiers there. So they could not focus on the west. It would look different if Germany had total focus on the west.

I was surprised that Hitler left close to a million troops in Northern Italy to surrender separately. I could never understand why he did not abandon Italy earlier with the natural barrier of the Alps to the North and redeploy those forces in Normandy or Russia.

The simple truth is that the German forces in France were too few to hold back or defeat any determined large Allied attack. Largest share of German military was in the east. Also Allied large caliber massive fire support from their battleships did a lot of damage on the Germans.

Germany was in full retreat mode after Kursk. So in Normandy by 44 the forces available would always be too weak to defend the atlantic coast. It was just a matter of time and many top german oficials knew it.

To be fair, no one in Germany could have known of the remarkable Higgins boats and their ability to land large numbers of troops so quickly. It had simply never been done before like this.

The Allies had aerial supremacy over Normandy. Air power is crucial for winning a war.

German High Command were successful in the invasion of France because Blitzkrieg was a fluid armored concept that would attack windows of weakness in any defenses. The Germans realized the weakness in relying upon fixed defensive lines. France was the perfect example. As for Normandy, had the Germans spent less on stationary defensive positions and more on mobile Panzer Groups for rapid deployment things could have turned out quite different. Also, they lacked air support & air superiority at this point in the war. Defeat was inevitable, because the Germans faltered during and after operation Barbarossa. Yes, there were moments that Germany expended up to 80% - 85% against the Russians on the Eastern Front. As the war continued Hitler took more control over all aspects of the military operations instead of letting his commanders complete the tasks that needed to be accomplished. Although the Germans almost won the war, they knew that they lacked the men & resources necessary to win any protracted - drawn out war. They were experts in Rapid Deployment - Blitzkrieg and not conquest on Three Fronts. World conquest - Never.

Great video keep it up you're doing amazing things 😁👍

At Caen The British and Canadians faced off against 8 panzer divisions (4 of which were SS) and 3 heavy panzer battalions (2 of which were SS) with Tiger and King Tigers. Despite this they managed to keep the enemy off balance forcing them to commit forces piecemeal and attrit the enemy forces to the stage where the units were shadows of their former selves. The allies supply situation was result of Patton not capturing the Brittany ports as he was ordered. The Brittany ports were to supply the US troops and the Channel ports were to supply the British and Canadians. The Canadian 1st Army having the task of clearing the ports and took Le Harve, Boulogne and Calais before repositioning and clearing the Scheldt. The broad front strategy was another contributing factor to the supply crisis of autumn 1944. 7 infantry divisions 8 panzer divisions 3 heavy tank battalions

I would say either strategy, keeping the reserves inland for a big counter strike or dispersed close to the front to hit the landing instantly would work. But with Hitler trying to do both strategies which resulted in neither strategy having enough strength to work.

Because of overwhelming allied firepower, especially dominating the skies for pretty much 100%.

They failed because most of there army was in the east.

Why? Well...number 1: The Allies had enormous material advantages over the Germans. 2. The Allies had complete air superiority over the battlefield. 3. The Allies had complete naval superiority. 4. The majority of Germany's ground forces were tied up in the East, fighting the Russians, and they were already losing that campaign, with no hope of victory there. 5. The Germans were critically short of fuel and some other strategic resources, and they could not move reinforcements or supplies during the daytime without getting constantly attacked by Allied air power. That's enough right there. They never had a chance. The Russians had already beaten them before Normandy even happened, though Hollywood tends not to mention that much for some reason.

Thanks for the video and here is my 2 cents is feedback on the editing: 1:30 onwards it's a complete cacophony of competing noises.

The map is wrong. The french island of Corsica was liberated by the Free French armed forces on September 8th 1943, just after the Kingdom of Italy had surrendered to the Allies and the armed forces of the German Reich had been retreated to the mainland of France, which central and southern parts were the French State at this time, officially, but german armed forces were stationed inside this puppet state since November 18th 1942.

I think with hindsight we can see the main reason both Germany and Japan were doomed to lose. Both countries lacked the resources for a long war. Germany needed relatively quick knockouts of the French and British. If the British didn't hold them off, D Day could never have happened. Then Germany wouldn't be desperate for resources and could deal with the Soviet Union later. As it happened, Germany had no real choice but to make a grab for the resources in the east, thus dooming them to a two front war. That meant losing was just a matter of time. Each individual battle might go either way, but the war as a whole was lost. The Soviets and US could throw far more troops at them than they could cope with over the long term.

Germany was destined to eventually lose the war. One country against how many? They didn't have the resources or man power to win.