European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 6, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Day continued from Page 5 they did no to i done to think we know  the Bocage allowed the germans to use each Field As a defensive line and the sunken lanes Between the hedgerows As protected avenues for the. Movement of men and Materiel. A a it a generally accepted that an advancing Force must outnumber a defending Force by a ratio of three to one a Hammond said. A in the Bocage you needed four or five to one to accomplish anything. It was tremendously  ,. Kingseed said his own feeling is that virtually All Allied Energy had been devoted to getting the invasion Force ashore. We Quot a. A a a the most difficult part of the operation was to get ashore a he said. A before the invasion i think too Little attention was being Given to subsequent  other factors also hampered the breakout one was simply that the germans despite a pitiful Lack of Battlefield intelligence and absolutely no air support still put up ferocious resistance. Another Factor was Allied military doctrine particularly in the Way Armor and infantry units worked together in the Early stages of the invasion. A we were sending tanks Forward without infantry support which allowed German infantry to use anti tank weapons to Good effect a Hammond said. Yet once the breakout got rolling epitomized by operation cobra on the american flank it quickly gathered steam. For one thing an enlisted Man on the Allied Side thought of putting modified Iron Teeth on tanks to saw through the hedgerow allowing . Armor to take advantage of its mobility in comparison to the slower Gurmari tanks. The germans also were being ground Down by attrition with no Hope of getting replacements. The Inland transportation system had been gis were forced to fight from one hedgerow to the next in overcoming German defenders. Army heavily damaged by Allied aircraft and the French resistance and in any Case the germans had precious few reserves left. A they had committed All their forces Way up front a Bland said. A their defense was like a Sheet of plate Glass a it will withstand an enormous amount of Strain but if you push and push and push against it it eventually reaches the breaking  a once the allies began to penetrate Inland the attrition of German forces began to take its toll a Kingseed said. A the German defense was Only so deep and there was nothing behind  although normally Loath to speculate on a what ifs a historians generally agree that the course if not the outcome of overlord might have been much different had the germans organized and deployed their forces better. A if the germans Hadnot been so deceived by the a phantom army ploy they could have put up a much More durable resistance than they did a Hammond said. A that huge Panzer Force in the Pas de Calais could have made a lot of trouble Early in the invasion. U it once the Allied forces were ashore american troops take a break in a French barn recently cleared of German snipers. Army band had planted a firm footprint in France there was nothing the germans were going to be Able to do a he said. A they were up against a Superior Economy with virtually unlimited manpower and  a Given a free hand its conceivable that German commanders in Northern France could have repulsed the invasion a Bland said. A but after they failed to throw us Back into the sea it was Over and everyone knew  among the keys to Victory in Normandy was the allies dominant command of the skies and the seas. A a it a hard to imagine overlord working so Well if the germans had been Able to contest the air a Bland said. A the defeat of the German a boat Force in the Atlantic was also critical in terms of allowing the United states to get troops and supplies to Europe without suffering horrendous  from a military standpoint overlord offers lessons that still reverberate throughout the . Armed forces today particularly the importance of combined arms tactics. A you cannot fight a a Day As an infantry Battle an armoured Battle or an air Battle a Kingseed said. A the key is combined operations coalition warfare integrated Headquarters and training training  historians say that despite the Many difficulties the allies had in getting ashore and breaking out through France to strike a death blow to the third Reich the ultimate. Measure of overlord is the fact that the allies prevailed. A the proof of the pudding is in the eating a Hammond said. A the allies got ashore. They fought their Way Inland and they persevered until they  Kingseed said a Day will always represent More than just a glorious episode in the pantheon of historic military Battles. A to me its really a Symbol of what this nation a and Many other nations a will do in the defense of  a stars and stripes commemorative edition june 6, 1994