The Greek Style of War
Recommended
Victor Davis
Hanson, The
Hoplites fully-armed
Greek infantry
panoply the complete arms and armor of a warrior
hoplon Greek word for armor; also means shield
helmet tall and crested; typically Corinthian
bell
corslet body armor: breastplate and
backplate
greaves shin-guards
thrusting spear 6 to 8’ long; 2 to 4 lbs
short sword two-edged, made of iron, up to 2’ long
phalanx a tight rectangle;
a
compact or close-knit body of people;
a
formation of infantry carrying overlapping shields and spears;
the
fundamental hoplite formation
490-479BC Persian
Wars
490
479
Philip of Macedon; King, 359-336 BC
Alexander the Great; King, 336-323 BC
Companions of the King
sarissa very long spear: 8 to 14’; even 18 to 21’
Recommended
SCUTUM shield
PILUM (PILA) javelin(s)
GLADIUS sword
CENTURY smallest
unit in the Roman army
CENTURION commander
of a century
MANIPLE the
basic tactical unit; 2 centuries
LEGION 4,200
to 5,500 soldiers; maniples, skirmishers, cavalry
EQUITES cavalry
VELITES skirmishers,
initiated the battle
HASTATI 1st
line of maniples; “spearmen”
TRIARII 3rd
line of maniples; “veterans”
COHORT originated c. 100 BC; composed of 6 centuries; 10 cohorts made up a Legion
Recommended
Michael Prestwich,
Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages. The English Experience, 1996.
John France, Western
Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 1000-1300, 1999.
Knight: an armored
warrior, fighting on horseback. In
French, a chevalier (cheval means horse); in German, a ritter
(rider).
Stirrups,
introduced 700 to 1000 AD.
Armor:
Hauberk
(from an Old Norse word, berserk, for bear shirt or frenzied warrior): a long
shirt of chain mail, a shirt of riveted metal rings.
Plate armor
Helmets:
Round or cone-shaped helmet.
The “Great
Helm,” a large helmet in the shape of a tin can, with a flat top changing to a
tapered or pointed top.
The basinet:
an open-faced helmet, with a movable visor; dome-like in shape and appearance.
Shields:
circle, in the form of a kite, then taking the shape of a
triangle
Weapons: knights used edged weapons, not missile weapons
Lance—a spear used
by cavalry; made of strong, hard wood; about 14’ long; with a slender steel
head and 2 cutting edges.
Sword—both
for cutting and thrusting.
“Italian
great sword”
The English
“Falchion”
Percussion
weapons—the mace, the war hammer, and the ax.
Infantry
Armor: the “kettle
hat”
Weapons:
Staff or pole
weapons:
the pike:
long and heavy, 6’ at least; with a sharp pont
the
halberd: shorter, combined spear and ax
the
poleax: similar to the halberd, but added a war hammer to smash armor
Missile
weapons:
crossbow: a mechanical bow; range: 100 to 200 meters; about
4 arrows or bolts per minute.
longbow: perhaps 6’ in length, a 3’ arrow topped with a
barbed iron head, 10 to 20 arrows per minute
Siege Warfare
the
balista: a large crossbow
the
onager: a catapult
the
trebuchet: machine for hurling stones
the
battering ram
movable siege towers
Recommended
Ingredients in
gunpowder: saltpeter (for the potassium nitrate), sulfur, and charcoal.
Artillery:
Siege and Field
Illustration of
the “Milimete” gun: from Walter of Milimete, an English cleric who in 1326
wrote a manuscript with this illustration.
The first cannon:
made of welded strips of iron
The “barrel” of a gun: from the
techniques of a cooper (i.e, a barrel maker)
The “built-up” gun
Gunpowder
techniques:
At first, like flour or meal
Then, “corned” or granular (like
grains)
“Gunstone”: 200 lbs. to 1,500 lbs.
“Bombards,”
1430-1460: very large, iron-forged
Used
to batter the walls and gates of a fortress.
The “Mons Meg”:
13’ long; 5 tons; a gunstone of 549 lbs.
Now on display at
Later 1400s:
casting guns from bronze
Now muzzle
loaders—i.e., from the end of the barrel that fires, not breech loaders, i.e.,
from behind the barrel
1494: Charles VIII
of
Niccolò
Machiavelli: Italian author and statesman, The Prince, On the Art of
War, etc.
Francesco
Guicciardini, diplomat and historian
The
New Fortress
The “Italian
style” fortress: low thick masonry and earth wall
The “angled bastion,” a 4-sided
projection, a quadrilateral
Wide ditch
Ravelin: a
detached fortress
Glacis: a
landscaped slope
Portable
Firearms: the “fiery weapons”
The musket
Arquebus, from the
German hackenbüsche, or “hook gun”
Long-barrel, about
a yard long…mounted on a stock…smooth-bore…fired from a fork…fired a 1-ounce
iron ball…range: 80 to 100 yards…muzzle-loading
The “match-lock”:
and its difficulties
Musket: originally
a longer, heavier version of the arquebus
Barrel 2-meters
long, 10 to 20 lbs, 2-ounce iron ball
The wheel lock pistol (pistala: Bohemian word for
tube)
From a hard steel
disk, serrated, 25 to 40 mm in diameter, turned by a spring; when you pull the
trigger, you produce a shower of sparks from a piece of stone
Reinventing
Infantry
The “pikeman,”
most important soldier on the battlefield
pike:
a spear, 13 to 18’ long, topped with a steel head 10” long, girded with metal
strips down from the point
The Swiss square
formation: 2,500 to 10,000 men
Recommended
Echelon formation of Swiss infantry squares: each unit
aligns itself to the right or left of the unit in front of it, forming an
oblique line; a formation like a staircase
tercio(s)—the
essential tactical formation of Spanish infantry; squares; about 3,000 men
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange (1567-1625), captain
general and admiral of the United Netherlands
Files and Ranks
A file is a column
of soldiers running from the front of the formation to its rear, along its
depth.
A rank is a row of
soldiers running from left to right, along its width.
caracole—a technique of delivering fire, in which the front
rank discharges its weapon, and then wheels to the right or left to move to the
rear, while the next rank moves up; based on quarter or half turns; used by
cavalry primarily but also by infantry
Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), King of
bayonet (from
city of
knife
tied to the end of a musket
plug
bayonet
socket
bayonet
flintlock
musket
prepackaged paper
cartridges
the
volley and linear tactics
Frederick II (1712-1786),
The Prussian Army:
drill and
discipline
platoon
firing
cadenced
marching
the
“oblique attack”
Joseph GUIBERT (1743-1790)
General Essay
on Tactics (1772)
“ordnance”:
1) gun or cannon: flat
trajectory, long barrel, high muzzle velocity; fires roundshot or canister: 3,
4, 6, 8 12, 16, and 24 pounds
2) howitzer: high
trajectory, shorter barrel, lower muzzle velocity; fires shell
3) mortar: very high
trajectory, squat barrel; also shell
windage:
difference between the diameter of the cannon ball and the bore of the cannon
Règlement of 1791: new tactical manual of the
French Army
skirmishers
artillery
infantry
in battalion column: shock action with the bayonet
Recommended
Napoleone Buon-Parte (Bonaparte) (1769-1821)
Organization: the Corps
Corps: 2 or
more divisions, artillery and cavalry, plus special units; strength varies
Division: consists
of at least 2 brigades; 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers
Brigade: consists
of 2 or more regiments
Regiment: consists
of 2 or more battalions
Battalion: 500 or
more soldiers; perhaps 12 battalions to a division
The Combat Arms:
Infantry: armed
with the 1777 musket
Cavalry: heavy
(cuirassiers and carabiniers) and light (hussars and lancers)
Artillery: favored
6 and 12-pound cannon
Imperial Guard
Strategy:
The destruction of
the enemy army
The movement on
the rear, the “indirect approach”
The movement of
the central position
Scenario of
Italian Campaign, 1796-1797
1799: First Consul
1804: Emperor
1805-1807: War of the Third Coalition:
General Mack and
the
6-7 October:
Napoleon on the
20 October:
capitulation of
12-13 November:
Olmütz: Emperor
Francis of
2 December:
Recommended
Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von BLÜCHER (1742-1819),
commander of the Prussian Army.
General Arthur Wellesley, Duke of WELLINGTON (1769-1852),
commander of the Anglo-Dutch Army.
Experience:
His Army in 1815:
Infantry
Artillery
Cavalry (note the
Earl of Uxbridge)
Prussians retreat
to the east
17 June:
18 June:
Keegan’s 5 phases of the
1.
2.
3.
4.
5—the “Crisis”
General Maitland,
commander of the 1st Foot Guards
Colonel Colborne,
commander of the 52nd Light Infantry Regiment
Wars:
1854-1856: Crimean
War
1859-1860: War of
Italian Unification
1866:
Austro-Prussian War
1870-1871:
Franco-Prussian War
1899-1902:
Anglo-Boer War
1905-1906: Russo-Japanese
War
Railroads
The Combat Rifle
Musket and
Percussion Cap
Rifling and the
“rifled musket”
Claude Minié and
the Minié bullet
Breach loading
The Prussian
“needle gun”
Johann Nikolaus
von Dreyse
Antoine Alphonse
Chassepot
The bolt-action,
breach-loading, magazine-fed repeating rifle:
French Lebel,
1886: first to use a smokeless powder cartridge
German Mauser,
1898, the Gewehr [rifle] 98
British
Lee-Enfield, 1895/1902/1907
Austrian
Männlicher
American
Artillery
Alfred Krupp
Steel-cast
artillery, breach-loading, rifled
General Gustav von
Hindersin, Inspector General, Prussian Artillery
French 75-mm
cannon, the “soixante-quinze”
Quick-firing,
absorbed recoil
German field
howitzers
Henry Shrapnel
Machine Guns
The American
Gatling gun
Richard Jordan
Gatling
The French mitrailleuse
Hiram Maxim
Maxim/Vickers
Hotchkiss gun (French)
Armies of the European Powers
“Army Race”
The Russian “Great Program,” 1913-1914
German Army Law,
July 1913
Austro-Hungary,
March 1914
French Army Law,
August 1913
“Cult of the Offensive”
(General
Robert S. Baden-Powell [1857-1941] commanded troops in the Boer War and founded
the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, 1908.)
Ivan (or Jean) de BLOCH (1836-1902),
author of La Guerre Future, 6 vols.,
War Plans
The German General Staff
General Joseph J. Joffre (1852-1931),
chief of the French General Staff (1911-1916), developed “Plan XVII.” Commanded the French Army
in 1914 and through most of 1916.
Relieved of command but promoted to Marshal of France and shared in the
honor of the final victory, when it came.
Count Alfred von
Schlieffen (1833-1913), chief of German General Staff, 1891-1905, chief
architect of the so-called “Schlieffen Plan” (“the rightmost soldier will brush
the English Channel with its sleeve,” “It must come to a fight. Only make the right wing strong.”)
Count Helmuth von
Moltke (1848-1916), chief of the German General Staff (1906-1914), inherited
the Schlieffen Plan and revised it somewhat; nephew of Count Helmuth von Moltke
(1800-1891), chief of the Prussian and German General Staff, architect of
victories over
1914
Recommended
Belgian fortress of Liège (on the
Designed by General Henri Brialmont
(1821-1903)
Large German howitzers, from the factory of
Gustav Krupp
420-mm, the “Big Bertha”
305-mm, from
British Expeditionary Force (the BEF)
4 infantry divisions; 80,000 men; then
raised to 5 divisions; 100,000 men in principle
Sir John FRENCH (1852-1925), age 63, Chief
of the Imperial General Staff since 1912 and commander of the BEF, 1914-1915
The German Field Army
Field Marshal Helmuth von MOLTKE (1848-1916),
age 66, Chief of the Imperial General Staff since 1906; commander of the German
Field Army, 1914; blamed for defeat, relieved of his post; died before the war
ended
1st Army: General Alexander von
Kluck
2nd Army: Field Marshal Karl von
Bülow
3rd Army: General Max von Hausen
4th Army: Field Marshal
Albrecht, duke of Württemberg
5th Army: Crown Prince Wilhelm
6th Army: Field Marshal
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of
7th Army: General Josias von
Heeringen
The French Field Army
Marshal Joseph Jacques JOFFRE (1852-1931),
age 63; Chief of the French General Staff since 1911 and commander of the
French Field Army, 1914-1916; relieved of command before the war ended, later
restored to honor
1st Army: General Augustin
Dubail
2nd Army: General Eduard de
Castelnau
3rd Army: General Pierre Ruffey
4th Army: General Fernand de
Langle de
5th Army: General Charles
Lanrezac, then General Louis Franchet d’Esperey
(
Von Kluck’s turn
Army of
Military District of
Russian 1st Army: General Paul RENNENKAMPF, 61;
attacking from Vilna,
Russian 2nd Army: General Alexander SAMSONOV, 55;
attacking from
German 8th Army: General Max von PRITTWITZ
(“fatty’), 65
General Paul von HINDENBURG (1847-1934), 67; succeeded
Prittwitz as commander of the 8th Army
General Erich LUDENDORFF (1856-1937), 59; new Chief of Staff
of 8th Army
Recommended
TANKS
Lt. Col. (later Maj. General Sir) Ernest D. Swinton
Col. J.E. Estienne
Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty
Landships Committee
“tank”: a codeword, associated with
containers, cisterns
the “Mark
I”: also known as “Big Willie: and “Mother”
shaped like a
rhomboid, tracks running around the outline of its body, tail wheels at the
back; well-armored; mounting machine guns and 2 6-pound naval guns; 3.7
mph. Approved for use in battle in
February 1916; made their first appearance on
French manufacturers
Schneider/Saint-Chamond/Renault
Cambrai:
PLANES
Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin, 1906 and 1908
Orville and Wilbur Wright, 1903
“tractors” and “pushers”/ stability
and instability
Anthony Fokker
The E (for Eindecker,
or monoplane) Is, IIs, and IIIs
Nieuport 17
The “aces”:
Georges Guynemer, France; 54 victories; d. 1917
Charles Nungesser, France; 21 victories; d. 1927
Albert Ball,
Oswald Boelcke,
Eddie Rickenbacker,
Main types in 1918:
Royal Aircraft
Factory SE 5a,
Spad 13, France
Fokker D.VII,
Fokker E.V/D.VIII,
POISON
GAS
Fritz Haber (1868-1934); distinguished German chemist, Nobel
Prize, 1918
April
1915:
chlorine
phosgene
“mustard” gas
Recommended reading: Alistair Horne, The
Price of Glory.
General Erich von FALKENHAYN (1861-1922)
An experienced
soldier and minister of war of Prussia since 1913; chosen to replace Moltke as
Chief of the General Staff in 1914; rebuilt the German army after the failure
of the Schlieffen Plan; architect of the attack upon the French fortress system
at Verdun; replaced in August 1916 by Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
A fortress complex
in the loop of the
General Henri Philippe PÉTAIN (1856-1951)
Only a colonel in
1914, after 30 years in the Army, he rose to become commander of the French 2nd
Army in 1916; sent to Verdun to direct its defense; Commander in Chief of the
French Army in 1917, known for the care he took to spare the lives of his
soldiers, who admired him; the great French hero of World War I. But after the Germans defeated
General Robert Charles NIVELLE (1856-1924)
Took
over at
Recommended reading: Paddy Griffith,
New,
improved weapons
artillery:
creeping barrage (“neutralizing” fire); no pre-registration
flame
throwers, portable: range, 30 to 100 yards
trench
mortars, portable: Frederick W. Stokes; range: 400 to 1,250 yards
grenades:
the British “Mills” grenade, for William Mills; the German stick grenade or
“potato-masher.” 1 ½ lbs. Range: depends
upon your throwing arm, maybe 30 yards.
light
machine gun/automatic rifle: British Lewis gun, about 30 lbs; German Model
08/15, about 43 lbs. 600
rounds per minute. Range: varies.
New
infantry tactics
composition
of rifle platoon
importance
of small units
The
German and Allied Armies in the West, 1918
192 divisions vs.
169
BEF, now 57
divisions and 1.9 million men; commanded by Gen. Douglas Haig
1917:
Passchendaele,
1917: French Army:
600,000 casualties and mutiny
Operation “Michael”: the Plan
Gen. Erich von
Ludendorff
Attack along a
50-mile front from
Operation “Michael”: Execution
72 divisions vs.
25
British 3rd Army,
Gen. Sir Julian Byng
British 5th
Army, Gen. Sir Hubert Gough
Forward Zone and
Battle Zone
100 square miles
Marshal Ferdinand FOCH (1851-1929),
June 1918: French
counter-attack at
July 1918: French
counter-attack at Villers-Cotterets, with American support.
American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
General John J.
PERSHING (1860-1948), commander of the AEF
Col. George C.
Marshall
Col. Douglas
MacArthur
Lt. Col. George S.
Patton
Lt. Col. Jonathan
Wainwright
Capt. Harry S.
Truman
Aisne-Marne (July
25-August 2, 1918)
Meuse-Argonne
(September 26-November 11, 1918)
President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Peace of Paris/Treaty of
Cultural Pessimism:
Robert
Graves, Goodbye to All That, 1929.
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, 1929.
Erich Remarque, All
Quiet on the Western Front, 1929.
Vera Brittain, A Testament of Youth, 1933.
“All Quiet on the
Western Front,”
“The
Grand Illusion,” France (Jean Renoir), 1937.
Political Instability:
Adolf Hitler
(1889-1945)
Nationalist
Socialist German Workers Party (NAZI)
German rearmament:
Hans von Seeckt
(1866-1936). Chief of the German General Staff, 1919-1926;
father of the revived German Army.
Ernst
Volckheim; author, The Tank in Modern Warfare, 1924; best German
theoretician of tank wafare.
Heinz Guderian
(1888-1953): author of Achtung! Panzer (1937); major general and corps
commander, 1937-1941; led attacks upon Poland, France, and Russia; relieved of
command by Hitler in 1941, recalled to service in 1943, relieved again in 1945;
one of the few top generals not to be charged with war crimes once Germany was
defeated.
German Tanks:
Panzer I: a 2-man
light tank, 6 tons, 2 machine guns.
Panzer II: a 3-man
light tank, 10 tons, a 20-mm cannon and a machine gun.
Panzer III: a
5-man medium tank, 20 tons, a 37-mm gun soon upgraded to a 50-mm gun; 1 machine
gun; a torsion bar suspension system designed by Ferdinand Porsche.
Panzer IV: also a
5-man medium tank, similar to the Mark III, but mounting a 75-mm gun; 2 machine
guns. Became the
mainstay of the German army.
German Planes:
Junkers JU-87 dive
bomber, the “Stuka,” a 2-seat assault plane. In 1939: maximum speed: 210 mph;
maximum range: 370 miles. 4 machine guns
and a 4,000-lb bomb load.
Plus
fighters.
German Army:
“Triangular”
infantry division.
Panzer (armored
divisions).
Blitzkrieg, or
lightning war
The
Maginot Line, French frontier defenses, built 1930-1935
André Maginot, French minister of war,
1929-1932
Franco-British
Situation
General (Lord) John Gort, 54, commander of
the BEF, 5 to 10 divisons
General Maurice Gamelin, 68, commander in
chief of the French Army
Advance to the River Dyle, in
Eben Emael Fortress, on the
The German Plan
(Operation Sickle Stroke)
North: Army Group B, General Feodor von
Bock: invade
South: Army Group C, General Wilhelm Ritter
von Leeb: attack the Maginot Line
Center: Army Group A, General Gerd von
Rundstedt: drive through the
Balance of Forces:
Troops: Allies (British, French, Belgians,
Dutch), 136 divisions; Germans, 135 divisions
Tanks: 3,600 for the Allies and 2,574 for
the Germans (French Somua tank, with an advanced design)
Planes: 3,200 for the Germans and 2,000 for
the British and the French
The Campaign:
9 April: Germans overrun
10 May: Operation Sickle Stroke
10 to 14 May: advance of the 7 panzer
divisions
12 May:
13-14 May: Cross the
15 May: advance to the Channel begins
20 May: Guderian reaches
23 May: British withdraw to
27 May:
14 June: German Army enters
22 June: French seek armistice
25 June:
Guilio DOUHET
(1869-1930), The Command of the Air,
1921
Operation “Sea Lion”
Royal Air Force
Bomber Command
Fighter Command, commanded by Air Marshal
Sir Hugh DOWDING
Luftwaffe
Commanded by Hermann GOERING (1893-1946),
commander of the Luftwaffe and Reichminister for Air; promoted to
Reichsmarschall in 1939
Fighter Planes
German:
Messerschmitt Bf (Bayerische Flugzuegwerke)
109; designed by Willy Messerschmitt, known as the Me
109. A single engine
monoplane. Armament: 2 machine
guns; 2 20-mm cannon. Speed: 357 mph,
powered by a supercharged Daimler-Benz engine, 1,100 hp. Range: 412 miles.
Messerschmitt Bf 110. A twin-engine escort
fighter, with a crew of two.
Armament: 5 machine guns (1 in rear), 2 20-mm cannon. Speed: 349 mph. Range: 530 miles. Not as good as the Me
109.
British:
Hawker Hurricane; Hawker Engineering
Company; designed by Sydney Camm. A single engine monoplane.
Armament: 8 Browning machine guns, 4 in each wing. Speed: 328 mph, powered by the Rolls Royce
PV-1200 engine, known as the Merlin; 1,300 hp.
Range: 505 miles.
Supermarine Spitfire; Supermarine Company;
designed by Reginald Mitchell. A single engine monoplane. Same armament
as the Hurricane. Speed: 362
mph. Merlin engine. Range: 395 miles.
Bombers
German:
Dornier Do 17Z and Heinkel He 111: both slow and underpowered, vulnerable to fighters, neither
effective as a strategic bomber.
Junkers Ju 88: the Luftwaffe’s only decent bomber, stood a chance against Fighter Command when properly
escorted. Speed: 286 mph. Bombload: almost 4,000 pounds.
Committee for the
Scientific Survey of Air Defense
Robert a Watson-Watt
of the National Physical Laboratory
RADAR (Radio
Direction and Ranging)
“Chain Home”
“Chain Home Low”
Enigma Machine
Ultra Secret
1) Preliminary, the “Channel Battle”: 10 July to early August
2) 1st Phase, 8-18 August: Operation Eagle
3) 2nd Phase, 24 August to 6 September: attack on
infrastructure of Fighter Command
4)
5) Conclusion: 30 September to 31 October
Recommended
The “triangular” division:
3 infantry
regiments, division artillery, plus combat and support troops
each regiment
consisted of 3 battalions; each battalion consisted of 3 rifle companies, a
heavy weapons company, and a headquarters company; each rifle company (6
officers and 187 enlisted men) consisted of three rifle platoons, a weapons
platoon (one .50-caliber machine gun, two .30-caliber machine guns, three
mortars and three bazookas), and a small headquarters section; the heart of the
triangular division was its 27 rifle companies, numbering 5,211 officers and
combat infantrymen.
Basic American weapons:
Crew of 5;
75-mm main gun, plus machine guns; maximum speed, 29 mph; maximum range: 100
miles.
Artillery: heavy:
155-mm howitzer; field: 105-mm howitzer.
Rifle: Garand M1 (John C. Garand)
Airplane: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
Supreme Commander,
Allied Expeditionary Force, 1944-1945; directed Operation Overlord, 1944;
president, Columbia University, 1948-1950; author, Crusade in Europe
(1948); commander of NATO forces, 1950-1952; president, United States,
1953-1961; retired to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
George C. Marshall (1880-1959)
Chief of Staff,
Army, 1939-1945; chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; secretary of state, 1947-1953
Sir Bernard Law
Commanded British
8th Army in
Recommended
General (later Marshal) Georgiy Zhukov
(1896-1974)
Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus (1890-1957),
surrendered
Battle of Kursk (in
British Bomber Command, commanded by Air
Marshal Arthur Harris
U.S. Eighth Air Force, commanded by General
Carl Spaatz
British Avro 683
maximum
speed: 287 mph; range: 1,600 miles
could carry a
10-ton bomb
7 .30-caliber machine guns
crew of 7
maximum
speed: 290 mph; range 2,000 miles
bombload: 5,000
pounds
13 .50-caliber machine guns
crew of 10
maximum
speed: 303 mph; range 2,850 miles
10 .50-caliber machine guns
bombload:
8,800 pounds
crew of 10
North American P-51 Mustang
(fighter-bomber)
US-built Rolls-Royce Merlin engine
maximum
speed: 445 mph; range 1,500 to 2,000 miles with 2 130-gal drop tanks
6 .50-caliber machine guns; 2
500-bombs; or 8 75-mm rockets in place of drop tanks
Messerschmitt ME 262: the world’s first
operational jet plane
maximum
speed: 540 mph
4 .30-mm nose cannon, plus rockets
V-1
V-2
Sixth Panzer Army
Malmédy
Lt.
Col. Jochen Peiper
What advantages did
the Germans have in defending the coast of
What advantages did
the Allies have in planning the invasion?
Why did the Allies
choose to invade on the Calvados coast of
Why not the
What was “Mulberry”?
What was
“Fortitude”?
What was the mission
of the Airborne divisions?
How much help did
the Air Force plan to give the Army?
Explain how Rommel
planned to defend the coast.
What forces did he
have for the defense?
What obstacles did
Rommel place on the invasion beaches?
How did “Overlord”
plan to overcome these defenses?
Know what was
planned to happen at the various beaches, and know their “code names.”
Explain Eisenhower’s
dilemma with the weather on the eve of the invasion?
How did the airborne
invasion fare? Both
paratroops and gliders.
Assess the
effectiveness of the air raids against the Germans.
Assess the role of
the Navy.
What was the problem
at
What were the
problems at
Explain the
ingredients that contributed to the success of Overlord.