SHOWDOWN IN NORMANDY
SEELY, Lt. Comdr. C. S.
Showdown In Normandy By LT. COMDR. C. S. SEELY OUR invasion is still going better than we had any reason to expect it would, but our foothold on France cannot yet be considered secure. The thing...
...The United Nations have, of course, the force finally to do this...
...No doubt he is now considering the advisability of a great assault on our bridgehead...
...We should now give all possible encouragement to the French to rise in a great revolt...
...And he not only is in an excellent position to aid us, but seems anxious to do so if we will only let him...
...We lost our initiative at Anzio...
...We not only shall have an excellent base for operations, but will also have a bridgehead for landing supplies direct from the United States...
...Another great invasion attempt may meet with tragic failure...
...Obviously it is almost a life or death (victory or defeat) matter with us to keep the Nazis guessing as to our next move, and to land, as quickly as possible, a force large enough to withstand the Nazi onslaught—if it comes...
...The Nazis must wait until they can make a reasonably correct estimate of the situation before they take decisive action...
...Without doubt most of these men are now deployed in a maimer that will best protect the Paris-Havre-Calais-Ostend-Amsterdam line...
...And we should not base any of our plans or hopes on tricking them into disaster...
...The Cherbourg peninsula is not especially important to Hitler, and since it is so much closer to our great air bases than it is to his, he would not try hard to defend it, under ordinary circumstances, or risk any considerable part of his forces in a battle there...
...Hitler May Gamble The Nazi forces alloted to the defense of France, Belgium, Holland, and western Germany must not be considered to contain less than 3,000,000 men...
...The Nazis simply cannot take this chance...
...They must, at the moment, guard their Havre-Calais-Ostend-Amsterdam line, no matter what happens elsewhere...
...We must not lose sight of the fact that Anzio was a very long way from any of Hitler's vital defense lines, while Cherbourg is very near one of them...
...A victory over us in northern France would, of course, be of inestimable value to Hitler, and he may be expeeted to take considerable risk to obtain such a victory...
...de Gaulle to gain the confidence of the French masses should be made at almost any costs...
...And certainly when the stakes are as high as they are in this war, fate and chance should not be tempted more often than is necessary, as, of eourse, was the case in this invasion...
...Obviously it is of the utmost importance to us that we keep them guessing as long as possible—or at least until we land a great force in northern France...
...This is no time to quibble, as we now appear to be doing with the chief leader of rising France...
...Because of this we must give him every possible reason for believing that we are about to invade in great force somewhere else (secondary attacks by us north of Havre are now in order...
...De Gaulle, no matter what we think of him—and personally I do not see any reason why we object to him as a full ally—is now obviously the strongest Frenchman...
...And also the Nazis no doubt have profited by their recent experience against invasion strategy and tactics...
...We can hardly expect good luck to repeat often, if even once more...
...But the situation there is now not ordinary...
...We will have to beat them by overwhelming force of men and machines...
...The opinions and assertions expressed above are the private ones of the writer and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the naval service at large...
...Whatever concessions we may have to make to Gen...
...However, the Nazis are not at all likely to botiier overmuch about any threat against Brest, Marseilles, or any other part of France south of the Havre-Paris-Belfort line...
...We have the initiative, and we must not lose it by committing ourselves too deeply elsewhere...
...The Strongest Frenchman' So far we have been very fortunate, and obviously fate and chance have been on our side...
...Of course there is yet no reason for enthusiasm, as we are still in grave danger, but this danger is decreasing as we continue landing men and materials...
...This will save much time and effort...
...If they decide we are to strike north of Havre they probably will be willing to let all of southwestern France go almost by default, as they recently let much of Italy go...
...We should take full advantage of the great potential, but now almost dormant, French aid...
...So far they have not thrown any considerable force against us, but no doubt this is mainly because they have been unable to make up their minds whether or not we will soon strike hard somewhere north of Havre...
...The law of averages must be respected...
...For should they send a huge force southward, we may invade a vital northern area, and thereby throw them off balance...
...It is hardly possible that the Nazis will be caught napping, or thrown off balance...
...It is still too early to determine whether or not the Nazis will try to destroy our invasion armies, but another week or so probably will tell the tale...
...They, of course, cannot risk being caught off balance so near one of their critical defense lines...
...And of course we must expect much rougher going in Normandy than we ever had in Italy...
...The Nazis still have time to attack us in force, and they certainly will do so if they become convinced that this is our principal invasion effort...
...Our position has not yet been consolidated, and Hitler may decide to risk a great battle in an all-out attempt to crush us...
...Certainly if he soon attacks in force it will be an attempt to destroy our forces and our civilian morale, and not merely a defense of a land area...
...It would seem safer to follow up our advantage on the Cherbourg " peninsula, and keep the Nazis guessing by the threat of another invasion...
...In no case will he weaken more important parts of his western defenses merely to defend the Cherbourg area...
...Should we secure the Cherbourg peninsula, our war position will be much improved...
...The thing to realize now—and the very thought is appalling—is that the Nazis can, within the next 10 days, throw 2,000,000 men against our bridgehead without appreciably weakening any of their defenses, except those along the Channel coast north of Havre...
Vol. 8 • June 1944 • No. 26
