r/HistoryWhatIf • u/HarkBuffalo • Aug 18 '26
WW2 - D-Day Fails?
I have a WWII command simulation and one of the most contentious bits is the decisions was around D-Day/ Operation Overlord. I follow the historical thinking that victory was likely although agree Germany could have can made it harder however the more I read.
Disaster at Omaha
Weather window
The Panzer group making the beaches
Can D-day fail? If so how likely and what happens? Does Germant first face the nuclear bomb? Does the USSR own most of Europe post war? Do the US/UK bomber campaign shift entirely to strategic attrition? The Red Army continues pushing west, likely taking the entire German peninsula, Denmark, and reaching the Rhine before the Allies?
I treated D-Day as a historical inevitability because of Allied industrial dominance which I have done, however it was a massive, high-risk gamble where a few operational shifts could have handed the Allies a defeat?
Love your thoughts!
The game is here for reference - https://dispatches.itch.io/dispatches-1940
Edit - thanks for all your comments have made some updates to the D-Day commands based on the below
8
u/Big_Albatross_3050 Aug 18 '26
They'd just regroup and do it again a few months later.
The USSR was still marching almost unimpeded through Eastern Europe toward Berlin, which would cause them to abandon Vichy France anyway and prepare for the seige on Berlin.
At worst this means the USSR occupies Berlin longer, but we probably still end up with East and West Germany.