Operation Overlord

[Carl Schwamberg]

Smoke is a mixed benefit/hindrance crossing a beach. as in any tactical situation poping off some grenades can cause some enemy fire to be less accuarate for several minutes. In that context its a good thing. Large scale blankets of smoke on a beach will screw with the navigation of the incoming landing craft. If the crew cant see the landmarks or beach side navigation beacons they will drift further of course than usuall. Its difficult enough to keep the boats on course without obscuring the landing site. The same applies to spotting the NGF. The ships need to be able to see targets if they are not directed by Spoting Teams ashore. Even with spotting teams it is necessary to orient off a landmark ashore so the relationhip between the Spotters locations and the ship are accurate.

The two eyewitness remarks I've found from the NGF ships officers comment on the "haze' obscuring the landmarks needed for the preperatory fires. That is they had difficulty identifying the targets they were suposed to shoot at between dawn & 06:30. Through the morning there are remarks from others about the problems of the haze on he beach.

The haze seems to have been a combination of water vapor from the low clouds, dust and smoke from the NGF itself, and smoke from several brush fires along the beach. While this haze created problems for ships and landing craft trying to locate landmarks from 5000 meters it did not help the men on the beach with MG or cannon firing from 800 meters or less. The exception would be where the brush fires created denser smoke. A grass or brush fire on the far left flank allowed one company to infiltrate the extreme flank and get into the trenches on the bluff possibly as early as 07:00.

For the rest of the infantry or tank crew on the wrong side of the Shingle deploying smoke would provide only momentary relief from one axis of fire. The Germans positioned most of their weapons to enfilade the length of the beach with cross fires. So making smoke to obcure the LoS from a AT gun on the right still left you exposed to the gun on the left. Plus the smoke from grenades or the tank discharges lasts just a few minutes. It is usefull for blinding the enemy to a quick manuver, but the tanks were blocked from moving into the relative cover of the dunes by the Shingle.

More effective would have been any smoke shells carried by the tanks. Those could etter block oS if they hit in front of the gun or MG positions.

Had the several hundred tons of 250 lf bombs carpeted the dunes and bluffs as intended there would have been dust and smoke enough to give the first wave some obscuration, more if the rocket barrage had hit as well. That might have give the NGF teams in the first wave a chance to make it to the relative cover of the Shingle or beyond in the critical first minutes. Tho the stunning of the defenders by those fires would have been more important.

[lcm1]

Originally Posted by Carl Schwamberg

Smoke is a mixed benefit/hindrance crossing a beach. as in any tactical situation poping off some grenades can cause some enemy fire to be less accuarate for several minutes. In that context its a good thing. Large scale blankets of smoke on a beach will screw with the navigation of the incoming landing craft. If the crew cant see the landmarks or beach side navigation beacons they will drift further of course than usuall. Its difficult enough to keep the boats on course without obscuring the landing site. The same applies to spotting the NGF. The ships need to be able to see targets if they are not directed by Spoting Teams ashore. Even with spotting teams it is necessary to orient off a landmark ashore so the relationhip between the Spotters locations and the ship are accurate.

The two eyewitness remarks I've found from the NGF ships officers comment on the "haze' obscuring the landmarks needed for the preperatory fires. That is they had difficulty identifying the targets they were suposed to shoot at between dawn & 06:30. Through the morning there are remarks from others about the problems of the haze on he beach.

The haze seems to have been a combination of water vapor from the low clouds, dust and smoke from the NGF itself, and smoke from several brush fires along the beach. While this haze created problems for ships and landing craft trying to locate landmarks from 5000 meters it did not help the men on the beach with MG or cannon firing from 800 meters or less. The exception would be where the brush fires created denser smoke. A grass or brush fire on the far left flank allowed one company to infiltrate the extreme flank and get into the trenches on the bluff possibly as early as 07:00.

For the rest of the infantry or tank crew on the wrong side of the Shingle deploying smoke would provide only momentary relief from one axis of fire. The Germans positioned most of their weapons to enfilade the length of the beach with cross fires. So making smoke to obcure the LoS from a AT gun on the right still left you exposed to the gun on the left. Plus the smoke from grenades or the tank discharges lasts just a few minutes. It is usefull for blinding the enemy to a quick manuver, but the tanks were blocked from moving into the relative cover of the dunes by the Shingle.

More effective would have been any smoke shells carried by the tanks. Those could etter block oS if they hit in front of the gun or MG positions.

Had the several hundred tons of 250 lf bombs carpeted the dunes and bluffs as intended there would have been dust and smoke enough to give the first wave some obscuration, more if the rocket barrage had hit as well. That might have give the NGF teams in the first wave a chance to make it to the relative cover of the Shingle or beyond in the critical first minutes. Tho the stunning of the defenders by those fires would have been more important.

Very well put Carl! Lcm1.

[Carl Schwamberg]

My very first experince with smoke concealment was on a tactical exercise at the Basic School. The problem was your basic 'Take Out the MG'. I got our MMG positioned to suppress the enemy, then led the squad through the Concealed Approach. When we stumbled onto the MG I tossed out the smoke grenade which was to "cover" our assualt. The little puff of white obscured me & the adjacent team leader & thats about all. As I contemplated the other nine 2d Lts of my squad still exposed to the enemy gun the thought "that aint gonna get it" ran thu my mind

[lcm1]

Originally Posted by Carl Schwamberg

My very first experince with smoke concealment was on a tactical exercise at the Basic School. The problem was your basic 'Take Out the MG'. I got our MMG positioned to suppress the enemy, then led the squad through the Concealed Approach. When we stumbled onto the MG I tossed out the smoke grenade which was to "cover" our assualt. The little puff of white obscured me & the adjacent team leader & thats about all. As I contemplated the other nine 2d Lts of my squad still exposed to the enemy gun the thought "that aint gonna get it" ran thu my mind

Smoke when in action can be one of two things, A: Very useful, or B: one hell of a bl***y pest. You 'pays yer money' and takes yer choice!!

[Carl Schwamberg]

Well, in that case I had not much of a choice. The exercise was scripted and leaving the smoke grenade unused would have taken my eval. down a bit.

But, hey, we are off topic, I think