[laplata]

The allies may have a few surprises instore. Interesting that Rommel is looking closely at the Normandy coast, and is trying to get another panzer division positioned there. He still thinke the invasions will come at Calais, but Normandy looks like his second guess.

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Right. Rommel wanted the Panzer divisions up close to repel the invasion. Rundstedt wanted them further inland so they could move to where they were needed. Rommel knew from experience that Allied air power would be devastating.

[henkster]

Rundstedt and the commder of Panzer Group West, Geyr von Schweppenburg, were veterans of the Eastern Front. They believed the Germans could defeat the allies in an inland batle of maneuver with their panzer forces. That worked against the Soviets in 1941 and 1942. Neither of them had experience fighting in the east in 1943 or 1944. Neither of them had the experience Rommel had at El Alamein fighting under suffocating allied air power.

Rommel was correct that once the allies established a beachead, allied air power was the trump card, and the invasion had to be stopped at the water’s edge.

[colorado tanker]

Thank goodness Rundstedt's view prevailed, with a major assist from the Fuhrer refusing to release reserves even the situation on the ground clarified.

Carentan was a tough fight for the 101st. It would have been immeasurably harder with an armored division sitting there.