TODO el Desembarco de Normandía Desde la Perspectiva Alemana | Día D 1944

On November 3, 1943, Adolf Hitler signed Directive No. 51 from the Wolf's Lair, a document that reoriented the Reich's defensive strategy toward the Western Front in anticipation of the imminent Anglo-American landings. The order dispersed German forces along thousands of kilometers of coastline, immobilized eighteen divisions in Scandinavia, and handed control of armored reserves directly to the Führer, depriving commanders on the ground of any capacity for independent action. The overlapping command structure between von Rundstedt, Rommel, and the OKW (High Command of the German Army), along with the bitter dispute over the use of armored vehicles, left the Westheer (German Army) structurally paralyzed before the battle even began. In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the Allied operation caught the high command leaderless: Rommel was in Germany, numerous generals were attending maneuvers in Rennes, and Hitler was asleep at the Berghof (German Armed Forces Palace). The 21st Panzer Division, the only armored reserve available in the area, squandered its crucial hours on secondary objectives while the coastal divisions bore the brunt of the assault alone. Only in the Omaha sector did Kraiss's 352nd Division come close to repelling the landing, before its ammunition ran out and its only mobile reserve was destroyed in a flank counterattack. The following weeks confirmed that the Battle of Normandy would be one of attrition. The Panzer-Lehr and the 12th SS Hitlerjugend held back the Anglo-Canadian advance around Caen at an unsustainable cost, while the systematic destruction of the French railway network prevented reinforcements from reaching the country. Operation Lüttich, conceived by Hitler as a decisive blow at Mortain, accelerated the encirclement. In August 1944, Falaise's pocket consumed what remained of the 7th Army, bringing the West France campaign to an end.