Divided on D-Day:
How Conflicts and
Rivalries Jeopardized the Allied Victory at Normandy?
1. We are closing in on the 75th anniversary of
the Normandy Invasion, known as D-Day. Ed, what is so lacking in the D-Day
literature out there that you felt obligated to write Divided on
D-Day: How Conflicts and Rivalries Jeopardized the Allied Victory at Normandy (Prometheus Books)?
Divided on D-Day is an analysis
of the quality of leadership and the relationships among its principal
commanders. It also offers a comprehensive narrative of the planning for the
operation, the D-Day landings, and the following three-month Normandy campaign.
It focuses on the story-behind-the-story of how the command decisions were made
that proved crucial at key points during Operation OVERLORD.
Divided on D-Day provides the
behind-the-scenes stories of crucial command decisions, or a lack of them, that
led the invasion to: first come close to failure, then experience a long period
of stalemate on the ground, and eventually win the long, bloody struggle for
victory. By raising questions about the Allied commanders’ key strategic and
tactical decisions, the authors seek to provide new insights into some of the
most vexing controversies that have long surrounded the Normandy invasion.
The roster of political leaders and principal commanders include: Prime
Minister Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler,
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery, General
George C. Marshall, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, General George Patton,
General Omar Bradley, General Charles De Gaulle, Air Chief Marshal Sir Tafford
Leigh-Mallory, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, Air Chief Marshall Sir
Arthur Harris, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, Admiral Ernest King, Field Marshal
Gerd von Rundstedt, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, and many other Allied and
German commanders.
2. Why do you believe a lack of cooperation and
bad decisions lengthened the war, increased casualties, and allowed the later
Soviet domination of Eastern Europe?
The Normandy campaign has been largely represented as a triumphant
Allied success story. Though it was victorious, the Normandy campaign was far
from perfect. The working relationships among the Allied OVERLORD commanders
were often marred by disagreements over tactics, strategy, and national agendas
exacerbated by rivalries and personality conflicts. The book chronicles a
number of key points at which poor decisions or failure to enforce commands
needlessly lengthened the Allied campaign.
3. What did you uncover while researching your
book?
Our research enabled us to reach some important conclusions about a
number of significant issues and controversies that have continued to surround
the Normandy campaign, including:
- Why did it take so
long for the Allies to launch an invasion in northwestern Europe?
- What caused the
Allied failure to implement their beachhead breakout strategy?
- Why was Caen, a top
D-Day objective, not captured by the British?
- How could Rommel’s
OMAHA Beach orders have defeated the allied D-Day invasion?
- Why did Eisenhower
refrain from issuing direct orders to his commanders?
- What decisions
forced the Americans to fight in the bocage/hedgerow hell?
- Who issued the
“phantom order” stopping Patton from closing the Falaise pocket?
- Why did Eisenhower
stop Patton’s drive to outflank Germany’s West Wall?
- Why did Montgomery
delay opening the vital supply port of Antwerp for nearly two months?
- How could the MARKET
GARDEN/Arnhem disaster and the Battle of the Bulge been avoided?
- What decisions could
the Allies have made to end the war in 1944 or early 1945?
4. What lessons should the reader take away from
your book?
Although the Allied campaign was ultimately successful in defeating
Nazi Germany, the cost of the victory was extremely high as poor leadership and
decision-making extended the war from six to nine months with 500,000 additional
casualties. Tales of failure are often better teaching tools than success
stories.
From these leaders’ mistakes lessons can be drawn that everyone can
use. If we examine the root causes of their mistakes, what leadership practices
can we integrate into our future actions? Here are a number of practices that
strong leaders avoid:
1.
Don’t give away your power.
2.
Don’t focus on things you can’t
control.
3.
Don’t worry about pleasing
everyone.
4.
Don’t allow a sudden impulse to
overrule your common sense.
5.
Don’t fear taking calculated
risks.
6.
Don’t dwell on the past.
7.
Don’t repeatedly make the same
mistakes.
8.
Don’t resent the success of other
people.
9.
Don’t give up if you fail at
first, keep adapting and try, try again.
10. Don’t
expect immediate success.
5. How does your book supply a fresh examination
of the war in Europe?
Over 250 sources were consulted for Divided on D-Day.
Over the past decades a vast quantity of literature has chronicled the events
and the controversies of D-Day. This barrage of sources includes:
- Memoirs,
auto-biographies, biographies of the British, American, Canadian, French
and German commanders.
- National official
histories.
- D-Day histories
issued from the 10th to the 70th anniversaries
- First person
accounts by soldiers and officers.
- The published papers
of the principal commanders.
- Unpublished archival
documents, letters, and reports.
- Numerous articles,
reports, and scholarly papers
These materials have helped to define the identities of the participant
commanders and the aspirations of the Allied nations. However great the
triumph, it in itself does not provide conclusive evidence on the quality of
the command decisions. This literature also includes myths that have little or
no basis in the historic record. Fortunately, the perspective of time helped the
authors sharpen their historical assessments.
6. As a historian and author of 21 books, does it
always surprise you how little Americans seem to know about history?
The teaching of history in elementary and highs schools has largely
been an afterthought. History lessons were often reduced to the rote
memorization of names and dates. However until recently most college students
were required to take U.S. or Western civilization survey courses as part of a
core curriculum.
Today in K-12 education, history has been reduced to a social science
thematic format of such topics as cities, war, economies, great leaders,
technology, etc. This topical approach fails to give students a chronological
perspective on how civilization has developed over the past 7,000 years. This
is even worse than the rote memorization of the past. In higher education,
history requirements for undergraduates have frequently been eliminated. The
study of history offers important lessons from the past. There is an old adage,
“He or she who does not know history is doomed to relive it.” Be forewarned!
7. How did you come to have David Ramsay as your
co-author?
Nearly 15 years ago, I gave a presentation, “The Secrets of D-Day,” at
the Palm Springs Air Museum in California. David Ramsay was in the audience,
and afterwards he introduced himself and commented on his own professional
interest in the controversies surrounding Operation OVERLORD. He also disclosed
his unique perspectives on his campaign as his father, Admiral Sir Bertram
Ramsay, was in charge of the D-Day fleet. Thus began a discussion on the
potential for co-authoring a new book offering a combined Anglo-American
analysis of the Normandy invasion and the subsequent campaign.
Edward E. Gordon, Ph.D., is a professional historian, researcher,
writer, and speaker. For a twenty-year period he taught history courses
at DePaul University Chicago and also business subjects at Loyola University
Chicago and Northwestern. Dr. Gordon is a member of the American
Historical Association and was a participant in the Distinguished Lecturer
Program of the Organization of American Historians. He is the author or
co-author of 21 books and has written over 300 articles in journals and trade
publications. For more info, see www.imperialcorp.com
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