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In the army traditionally the name of the major organised unit of one type of weapon. A division divided into a number of regiments. machine gun Machine gun, an automatic heavy quick firearm. It was attached to a certain area which gave its name to the units involved. In theory a division consists of 10,000 to 20,000 men. Division Military unit, usually consisting of one upto four regiments and usually making up a corps. In this case it means an operation beginning on day D at hour H. The D stands for Day as generally used in military language. Often explained as Decision Day, though this is entirely correct. After a long campaign of deception the allies attacked the coast of Normandy on five beaches to begin their march on Nazi Germany. D-Day The day of the long awaited invasion of western Europe in Normandy, France, 6 June 1944. Often used to indicate different types of artillery. This means the barrel of the 15/24 cannon is 24 by 15 cm long. The length of the barrel is often indicated by the number of calibers. caliber The inner diameter of the barrel of a gun, measured at the muzzle. In theory a brigade consisted of 5,000 to 7,000 men. Sometimes they were part of a corps instead of a division. Could operate independently or as part of a division. Hour H, the time when the landings were scheduled to begin and the landings also commenced, was set at 17:30 for Sword Beach.ĭefinitielijst Brigade Consisted mostly of two or more regiments. Panzer-Division, it was still a formidable opponent for the British attack troops on D-Day. Despite the British overestimating the combat strength of the 21. He made sure that some vehicles were assembled in an improvised way. Panzer-Division who had connections in the German armaments industry. However, there was a reserve officer serving in the 21. Part of the division's equipment now consisted of French equipment which the Germans had captured from the French defenders during the invasion of France in 1940. The division had built up a unit that had made a name for itself in Africa, but was almost completely destroyed in May 1943. The Germans had ten armored divisions in the West, which had been found unfit to fight on the Eastern Front. It was in fact the only armored division in the West. Panzer-Division was no longer such a strong force as Rennie feared. Rennie feared that the armored division of the Germans would slow down the British advance and that the Germans might push the British back into the sea. Panzer-Division that was stationed further inland. Infanterie-Division that worried Major-General Rennie the most, but the 21. The tower had four floors and a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun on the roof. The defense was directed from a concrete tower which served as a command post. There were also two flanking bunkers with 7.62 cm Russian field guns. Furthermore, the Widerstandsnest had four 7.62 cm Russian field guns, seven German 50 cm caliber guns, three of which were in casemates, two towers of Renault tanks, mortars of 5 and 8.1 cm, an anti-aircraft gun caliber 22 mm) and two armored machine gun towers. It contained six reinforced positions with cannon caliber of 15 cm and a range of 13 miles. Around the town the Germans had built Widerstandsnest 18, which consisted of about eighty bunkers spread over two coastal locations. Near Sword Beach was the fortified Riva-Bella. The beach made a slight curve, which was to the advantage of the defenders, they could also attack from the side and the different lines of fire overlapped in a true crossfire. They also had to clear Ouistreham of German troops and then head inland to make contact with the airborne troops who should be there. They had to eliminate Riva-Bella's position, a place fortified by the Germans near Sword Beach. They were therefore eager to go and were motivated to the core.
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They had joined the Free French of General Charles de Gaulle and wanted nothing more than to liberate their homeland from the German occupation. These troops had been evacuated from Dunkirk four years ago or had escaped from Vichy-France. They were the only French troops to land on D-Day. The French commandos, the 10th Inter Allied Commando belonging to the 4th Commando, had been assigned a separate task for D-Day. Later in the morning, more troops of the British 3rd Infantry Division would land on Sword Beach the Lincolnshire Regiment, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Ulster Rifles, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, the Royal Norfolk Regiment and the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. The intention was that the troops that had landed first would conquer the exits of the beach so that the command troops could advance inland. This picture was taken in Newhaven, after the return of the raid on Dieppe, August 1942. Lord Lovat, Commander of the Command Forces.
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