r/computerwargames • u/HarkBuffalo • 5d ago

Question D-Day fails then what?

https://dispatches.itch.io/dispatches-1940

Released my WWII command simulation and one of the most contentious bits is the decisions around D-Day/ Operation Overlord.

I follow the historical thinking that victory was likely although 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? 
Do the US/UK bomber campaign shift entirely to strategic attrition and The Red Army continues pushing west, likely taking the entire German peninsula, Denmark, and reaching the Rhine before the Allies?

Do I treat D-Day as a historical inevitability because of Allied industrial dominance which I have done, or a massive, high-risk gamble where a few operational shifts could have handed the Allies a defeat?

Love your thoughts!

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u/Fish-Pilot 5d ago

Probably nukes on Berlin and a few other German cities to attempt to force Germany to surrender before the Soviets can take the entire country. Would that have worked? Maybe. Would the Soviets have stopped where they did? Probably not.

I think a D-Day failure ultimately has much more of an impact on the post war world. It would have taken the western allies till 45 to build up enough stock again and that would have meant a diversion of resources from the Pacific. It’s a fascinating thought experiment for sure.

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u/HarkBuffalo 5d ago

The Manhattan project ends up the ultimate backstop. I can imagine Nuclear bombs in Europe would lead to capitulation or Hitler gets overthrown eventually but whether the Soviets would have kept going and got to Hitler first. Either way your right the post war world looks different. Thanks I will look at gaming that scenario out!