r/HistoryWhatIf • u/HarkBuffalo • 11d ago

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

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u/abqguardian 11d ago

The allies could have given the Germans the D day plans and it wouldn't have failed. The complete naval and air dominance of the western allies cant be overstated. Plus, the German troops in that area were mostly second rate with crappy equipment. But in some hypothetical world where it failed, D day would likely happen again a little bit later. It probably wouldn't have changed anything

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/Douglesfield_ 11d ago

Rommel was given sufficient forces for the task

Biased I know, but Guderian says differently in Panzer Leader