The Wilmington morning star., 1944-05-20
Invasion Difficulties

Allied reconnaissance has made maps of
western Europe's defenses. What they show
is broadly stated as successive tiers of fortifi-
cations and pill boxes with artillery emplace-
ments at strategic points.
Hitler has been very careful to prepare for
invasion as far as concrete, guns and men
are concerned And he has the benefit of
natural defenses.
These are mentioned not for the purpose
of discouragin the reader. They will over
come by the greatly superior fighting machine
the Allies have modified for the attack. But
it is best to know some of the difficulties our
forces must face when they start out, to pre-
vent over-optimism and to lessen disappoint-
ment if the initial thrust is not as quickly
successful as might have anticipated.
Some time ago Hanson W. Baldwin, New
York Times war analyst, dealt with the nat
ural defenses of Europe's western coastal re-
gion with exceptional clarity He wrote:
'"The enemy's defense of western Europe
is immeasurably aided by the fact that only
suitable for landing operations. Offshore is
lands shoals or reefs, steep cliffs, prevailing
winds that make surf Or tide conditions i'm
possible and other natural Notifications add
greatly to the strength of the nlan-made for
tifications.
The man-made Notifications are. of course,
most heavily concentrated at those points that
nature has made it possible to assault-par-
ticularly around beaches, such as those at
Deauvile, in the vicinity of ports. All the
ports themselves and the coastal towns are
very strongly held by an all-around defense
system; that is, they are prepared to resist
attack from the sea, from the land and from
the air. and the shoreline itself is probably
the main German line of resistance, line
Of resistance that must be cracked before a
beachhead can be established"
Mr.. Baldwin cites the tremendous advance
in landing facilities developed by America and
Britain, but does not overestimate the ad-
vantages thus acquired. Again the purpose
is simply to tell the unvarnished truth. rather
than gloss it over, that no mdconcepton of
the real situation be entertained. Says he:
THE Allies development of specialized
types OF landing craft and of the technique
OF amphibious war has brought such great
strides in this difficult branch of the military
art that some doubt has been cast on the
validity of this traditional assumption.
"The Anzio beachhead, the Salerno opera
tons in the Pacific are cited as examples of
what can be done in the way of supply and
reinforcement over open beaches. Yet none
of these operations offers a real precedent
for what is to come in western Europe: not
only will the Allies invading forces dwarf
any offensive that we have hitherto mounted
but the Germans will undoubtedly hur1 against
us lar larger forces than any we have yet
encountered
1t may be taken for granted, ne declares.
that port or ports will probably be essen
tial to the Allies if the invasion of western
Europe is to be success, and We must Cap
ture that port or those ports quickly Before
the German strategic reserves can throw us
back into the sea-
r Because there is so much involved in inva-
sion, SO many complications to be dealt with,
such difficult problems to be solved as nearly
as possible in advance, we should not be dis
appointed or disturbed by the delay in launch
ing the attack from England.
We ought to place complete reliance in Gen
eral Eisenhower's judgment and leave it to
him to fix the zero hour.