Managing Logistics: ‘Bag, vomit, one.’

Abstract

D-Day was the largest-ever amphibious operation. It involved 175,000 Allied troops and 50,000 vehicles, all of which were landed either by air, using 11,000 planes, or by sea, using 6,833 ships, and all within 24 hours.1 The battle for Normandy, which D-Day initiated, lasted until the end of August 1944 and was the largest single battle ever undertaken by the Western Allies against Germany. The Allied forces involved 40 divisions: 23 American in Bradley’s 25th US Army Group, and 17 in Montgomery’s 21st Army Group (13 British, 3 Canadian and 1 Polish). On 15 September the Allied armies were joined from the south of France by Denver’s US 6th Army Group of 25 divisions (12 French and 13 American). At their height, the American Army Groups totalled 72 Divisions while the Anglo-Canadians, plus Poles, totalled 21 Divisions.2 By comparison, the battles in the North African desert between Montgomery’s Eighth Army and Rommel’s Afrika Korps seldom involved more than 11 divisions.