Luftwaffe aerial recon prior to D-Day

[Larry deZeng]

In my 50+ years of intensely studying this subject both in the English and German literature, the first paragraph you provided above is right on the money. I would only add that the troops on the coast were also "Alert Happy". "Wolf" had been cried so many times by the higher commands in the West during the 6 to 8 months preceding D-Day that the lower commands at Armee, Korps and Division level were sick of the constant alerts and had protested repeatedly up the chain of command. So, along comes May 1944 with some good intelligence finally in hand, only to find Oberbefehlshaber West and Luftflotte 3 reluctant to call yet another alert. The "cry wolf" theory worked!

The second paragraph above is hearsay and not consistent with the historical record. It sounds like a quote taken from one of the postwar S.I.R. reports (secret listening devices planted in the rooms housing captured high and higher ranking Luftwaffe officers who had been taken to the U.K. after the war for interrogation - most of the taped conversations were conspiratorial in nature in which alleged July 20th "traitors" were blamed for everything). Anyone who has read some of the transcripts of these conversations will agree with me. Some of the things said are - in hindsight - a real hoot!

Larry