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Originally Posted by MontyB This is one area I think Rommel may well have been right though, under normal operating conditions keeping the panzer units back so that they can move to counter where required makes sense but these were far from ideal conditions for the movement of armour as the Luftwaffe was toast leaving the allies with total air superiority and making effective movement all but impossible.
I also tend to believe that the only option available to the Germans on D-Day was to defeat the allies on the beaches as once they became established the war was effectively over. |
Guderian's argument was that the panzer forces could have been moved at night. When Guderian suggested this to Rommel he replied that Guderian was a man from the Russian Front and couldn't properly realise the effectiveness of Allied air power, which had made a big impression on Rommel. It would have been tough but to not at least try and use those forces as they were intended was a massive waste. It is interesting to note that Guderian, Rundstedt and Schweppenburg all disagreed with Rommel. As I said before i think Rommel had some ulterior motives regarding the placement of those panzer formations.
As you know the weather occassionally meant that Allied air forces couldn't fly in support of the ground troops. Under those conditions a talented commander like Geyr von Schweppenburg with 2 large panzer pincers situated on either side of Paris could have done a much greater deal of damage than historically. Whether they would have made any difference is another matter.