Reply To: 75 Years Ago This Hour …

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Thanks, @elessar2590 – yeah Goodwood was a mess.  There’s literally an article series (or books, there have been thousands written on this) about what the actual Allied plan was AFTER the landings.  Spoilers, it was just about the opposite of what actually happened.  The Americans were supposed to fix the Germans in place and pivot to Cherbourg while the British made the breakthrough on Paris.  Naturally, almost the opposite happened (Monty pompously claiming that was his plan all along, because … Monty), and a big reason the British got hung up so bad was battles like Goodwood.  And Epsom.  And Bluecoat.  And a bunch of others prior I can’t remember off the top of my head (all named for British racehorses of the day).

Goodwood was actually a major disaster for the British.  Not only did it fail to break the positions around Caen but also marked the last time the British were able to mount ANY kind of operation without massive support from the Americans (i.e., Market-Garden, Varsity, others).  These battles around Caen, culminating in Goodwood, just cost them too much.

We should also note that a full HALF of the “British” 21st Army Group was Canadian Second Army.  Again, largely due to Goodwood and other associated battles.

Was the Polish Corps still in Italy, attached to Eighth Army?  Pretty sure it was Poles who finally cracked Monte Cassino after pretty much everyone else failed (@redvers has some great projects about this ongoing for some time).

From my travels in Normandy I learned that another big contributions the Danes made to Overlord was with small craft at sea.  Minesweeping, close-in beach support, landing ops and logistics, helping set up the Mulberry harbors, screening against possible U-boats, etc.

Those D-Day observances sound amazing, @templar007 .  A few years ago we had a great campaign here on the site where we had players in nine countries all fighting different wargames in different systems (US, UK, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand).  The results were tabulated and put on a campaign map in real time, so our own version of D-Day played out in real time.  Man, it was a lot of work, but definitely work it.  Probably one of my favorite memories of the community.

The Longest Day is great.  It has a few issues, sure, and some (ahem) cartoonish performances … but is actually more accurate than Saving Private Ryan in a lot of ways.  A LOT of ways.