Although von Rundstedt and Rommel respected each other, the two men could not agree on how to defend the inevitable invasion. Rommel felt that the only way to fend off the Allies was to fight the invasion on the beaches, and deny the Allies a foothold anywhere. (Duffy 119) Rundstedt opted for permitting the Allies to gain beachhead from which they could not escape easily. He proposed to mass the panzers behind the invasion front so they could launch a counterattack against the invaders once the Germans knew the disposition of all the enemy forces. (Duffy 119) the panzers would push the Allies back into the sea, as Rundstedt saw it. Gerd von Rundstedt sought to re-create the conditions in Dunkirk four ears prior, when the British army had faced total destruction. Because he controlled all troop movements and made all decisions, it was left to Hitler to decide between the defenses. As in his typical style, Hitler refused to fully support either plan. He gave each man a little of what he wanted. (Duffy 119)
The end result was that neither defense could function properly because the defenses were spread out too thin. (Duffy 119) “Hitler arbitrated and arranged a compromise, telling Rommel to defeat the landings on the beaches with the help of some armored forces held nearby and let von Rundstedt retain a diluted central reserve for the main punch if the enemy was not checked on the shoreline.” (Duffy 119)