Operation Neptune

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Operation Neptune
Part of Battle of Normandy

Landing operations off the coast of Normandy, June 1944
Date 6th June 1944
Location Baie de la Seine and adjacent waters
Result Allied success
Territorial
changes		 Allied beachhead in Normandy, France
Combatants
Allies:
- Canada
- Free French
- Netherlands
- Poland
- United Kingdom
- United States		 Germany

Operation Neptune was the assault landing operation of Operation Overlord, the precursor to the Battle of Normandy during World War II. D-Day for the operation, postponed 24 hours, became June 6, 1944. The opening assault was conducted in two phases, an air assault landing of American and British (including a Canadian airborne battalion) airborne divisions shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 06:30 British Double Summer Time. It required the transport of soldiers and materiel from England and Wales by troop carrier airplanes and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. There were also subsidiary operations to distract the Kriegsmarine and prevent its interference in the landing areas.

Over 1,000,000 personnel were involved, including 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel. Neptune took place on the Cotentin Peninsula, the east bank of the Orne River, and the Baie de la Seine, offshore and along the Normandy coast where five invasion beaches were assaulted: Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword and Utah. It was considered officially complete on June 30, 1944, by which time 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles and 570,000 tonnes of supplies had been landed by 7,000 vessels for the loss of 59 ships[1].

Contents

The primary ground-force participants in the landings that began Operation Neptune were nine divisions drawn from the American, British and Canadian armies. During subsequent weeks more units were landed as reinforcements.

The Invasion Fleet was drawn from eight different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels (1,213 warships, 4,126 transport vessels (landing ships and landing craft) and 1,600 support vessels which included a number of merchant vessels).

The overall commander of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force, providing close protection and bombardment at the beaches, was Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay who had been responsible for the planning of the invasion of North Africa in 1942 and one of the two fleets carrying troops for the invasion of Sicily in the following year. The Allied Naval Expeditionary Force was divided into two Naval Task Forces: Western (Rear-Admiral Alan G Kirk) and Eastern (Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian – another veteran of the Italian landings).

The warships provided cover for the transports against the enemy whether in the form of surface warships, submarines or as an aerial attack and gave support to the landings through shore bombardment. These ships included the Allied Task Force "O".

Six battleships took part: three British and three US:

Twenty-five cruisers (19 British and Commonwealth, 3 US, 2 Free French, 1 Polish and 1 Dutch), including:

135 ships (eighty-five British and Dominion, 39 US, 7 Free French and 7 other Allied):

508 ships (352 British, 154 US and 2 other Allied):

The British 9th and 159th minesweeping flotillas and U.S. 7th Minesweeping Squadron provided minesweeping protection. A distant anti-submarine screen to the operation was provided by HMS Onslow, Offa, Onslaught, Oribi, Melbreak and Brissenden. Additional protection from E-boats was provided by various Motor Gun Boat flotillas.

A small part of this operation was Operation Gambit, when British midget submarines (X-Craft) supplied navigation beacons to guide landing craft.

An important part of Neptune was the isolation of the invasion routes and beaches from any intervention by the German Navy – the Kriegsmarine. The responsibility for this was assigned to the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. There were two principal perceived German naval threats. The first was surface attack by German capital ships from anchorages in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. This did not materialise since, by mid-1944, the battleships were damaged and the cruisers were used for training and the Kriegsmarine's fuel allocation had been cut by a third. The inactivity may also have resulted from Hitler's disillusion with the Kriegsmarine. In any case, the Royal Navy had strong forces available to repel any attempts, and the Kiel Canal area was mined (Operation Bravado) as a precaution.

The second perceived major threat was that of U-boats transferred from the Atlantic. Air surveillance from three escort carriers and RAF Coastal Command maintained a cordon well west of Land's End. Few U-boats were spotted, and most of the escort groups were moved nearer to the landings.

Further efforts were made to seal the Western Approaches against German naval forces from Brittany and the Bay of Biscay. Minefields were laid (Operation Maple) to force enemy ships away from air protection where they could be attacked by Allied destroyer flotillas. Again, enemy activity was minor, but on 4 July four German destroyers were either sunk or forced back to Brest.

The Straits of Dover were closed by minefields, naval and air patrols, radar, and effective bombing raids on enemy ports. Local German naval forces were small but could be reinforced from the Baltic. Their efforts, however, were concentrated on protecting the Pas de Calais against expected landings there, and no attempt was made to force the blockade.

The screening operation destroyed few German ships, but the objective was achieved. There were no U-boat attacks against Allied shipping and few attempts by surface ships.

Warships provided supporting fire for the land forces. During Neptune, it was given a high importance, using ships from battleships to destroyers and landing craft. For example, the Canadians at Juno beach had fire support many times greater than they had had at Dieppe in 1942. The old battleships HMS Ramillies and Warspite and the monitor HMS Roberts were used to suppress shore batteries east of the Orne; cruisers targeted shore batteries at Ver-sur-Mer and Moulineaux; eleven destroyers for local fire support. In addition, there were modified landing-craft: eight Landing Craft Gun, each with two 4.7-inch guns; four Landing Craft Support with automatic cannon; eight Landing Craft Tank (Support), each with a single salvo of 1,100 5-inch rockets; eight Landing Craft Assault (Hedgerow), each with twenty-four bombs intended to detonate beach mines prematurely. Twenty-four Landing Craft Tank carried Priest self-propelled howitzers which also fired while they were on the run-in to the beach. Similar arrangements existed at other beaches.

Fire support went beyond the suppression of shore defences overlooking landing beaches and was also used to break up enemy concentrations as the troops moved inland. This was particularly noted in German reports: Field-Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt reported that

... The enemy had deployed very strong Naval forces off the shores of the bridgehead. These can be used as quickly mobile, constantly available artillery, at points where they are necessary as defence against our attacks or as support for enemy attacks. During the day their fire is skillfully directed by . . . plane observers, and by advanced ground fire spotters. Because of the high rapid-fire capacity of Naval guns they play an important part in the battle within their range. The movement of tanks by day, in open country, within the range of these naval guns is hardly possible.

Although many references state that Operation Neptune refers to the naval operations in support of Operation Overlord, the most reliable references make it clear that Overlord refers to the establishment of a large-scale lodgement in Normandy, and that Neptune refers to the landing phase; i.e. Neptune was the first part of Overlord. According to the D-day museum:[3]

"The armed forces use codenames to refer to the planning and execution of specific military operations. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of north-west Europe. The assault phase of Operation Overlord was known as Operation Neptune. (...) Operation Neptune began on D-Day (6 June 1944) and ended on 30 June 1944. By this time, the Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy. Operation Overlord also began on D-Day, and continued until Allied forces crossed the River Seine on 19 August 1944."


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Main articles on Battle of Normandy, Western Front, World War II
Operations Key locations See also

Landing Points:

Other:
More information on Battle of Normandy:

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D-day Textbooks from Wikibooks
D-day Quotations from Wikiquote
D-day Source texts from Wikisource
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D-day from Wikinews

  1. ^ The Oxford Companion to World War II, John Keegan, Oxford 2001
  2. ^ Investigations indicate that the Svenner may have been hit by an early version of a German anti-shipping missile (possibly a Fritz X, since there is little indication that German MTBs came at firing range and no accounts of German naval activity in the invasion area itself have been recorded. There have also been reports of German bombers releasing long, torpedo-like bombs, but from a very long distance, no way near firing-range. The most likely, though, is that it was hit by a torpedo, but accounts point in either direction.
  3. ^ http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm#overlord

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