![]() ![]() Our losses were huge anyway, but our objectives were met. In all, nearly 10 hours had passed between the Germans’ first awareness of the invasion and Hitler’s first reaction. Why didn’t Rommel do that? Because Hitler had previously taken that command and authority away from … Rommel. Not until 4:00 that afternoon did Hitler release several Panzer divisions and the 12th SS for deployment to the coast. Initially, Hitler dismissed the landings as a ploy. ![]() He didn’t receive news of the Allied landings until after he had woken up around noon because his staff had been afraid to disturb him. And even if Rommel had reached him, von Runstedt would have needed permission from Hitler, who was at his private home in the Bavarian Alps. He needed von Runstedt’s permission, but von Runstedt was in Paris buying his wife shoes for her birthday. Rommel, perhaps the most accomplished General on earth, wasn’t authorized to make the decision a lieutenant could have made. This information quickly got to Rommel, who knew exactly what he had to do: activate those resources.īut he couldn’t. So, when the sun rose on the English Channel at 6:30, the first Nazi sentries saw 5,300+ ships coming straight at them, carrying the first tens of thousands of troops. Rommel, on the other hand, was paralyzed because he wasn’t entrusted to make even the smallest decisions, let alone the big one – activate the resources – without permission of his boss, Field Marshall Gerd von Runstedt, who also had no authority to make the decision without the approval of his boss, non other than Der Führer himself, Adolph Hitler. That’s the story not so much about why Eisenhower prevailed, but how he did. No one will ever know how many key tactical decisions were made that day and how far down the chain those decisions were made. Further, he had the trust of Winston Churchill, King George VI, and the leadership of the other nations involved. Why? Because Eisenhower was trusted by his direct boss, George C, Marshall, and his boss, President Franklin D. Beyond that, these generals and their chain of command were trusted to make key decisions. Yesterday’s article discussed Eisenhower’s brilliant team. ![]()
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