[Normandy] Tides

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In 1944, the German command, including Rommel, believed that the Allied landing on the continent would take place during high tide. This would shorten the distance from the shoreline to the Atlantic Wall by hundreds of meters, thus making the assault easier. Based on this assumption, mines, explosives, and anti-tank obstacles were installed along the Atlantic coast to hinder the coalition’s landing.

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However, as we know, the landing on June 6th was carried out during low tide, which was a big surprise for the German command. They thought that due to the unfavorable weather and tides, the landing wouldn’t occur before August.

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So, today we have the “What if” section, and the topic of the day is the tides on the tank map “Normandy.” Based on information from open sources and the in-game map, we can assume that the maximum height/range of the tides was 20 feet (6 meters). This is confirmed by the established breakwaters, beach sand where the tides reach, and the small boat that the lighthouse keeper had to use to get to the lighthouse during high tide:

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It is also known from these sources that the tide occurred twice a day, and that on June 6, 1944, at 6:00 - 7:00, there was a full low tide. The time between low tide and high tide was about 5 hours.
So, low tides at 6:00 and 18:00, and high tides at 11:00 and 23:00.

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Suggestion: Implement tides on the tank map “Normandy.”

The height of the tide should be set at the level of the breakwaters:

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Thus, point A in “Capture” variations will always be accessible. The implementation should be very simple, without dynamic real-time tides or any other technically complex features. Just a separate map variation that will appear:
a) randomly at any time of day
b) tied to specific times, namely at 11:00 or 23:00 (night)

Also, the chance of “high tide” occurrence can be increased in such map variations as:

“Battle”
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“Capture #3
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Argumentation:

  • Evolution, which unlike the “Flanders” map, really changes something
  • Tactical diversity
  • Soft restriction of the game zone, unlike the red curtain
  • New possibilities for cinematics and just historical accuracy
  • All the work of the forced laborers on the Atlantic Wall is not in vain

Thank you for your attention.

2 Likes

This is incorrect. The beach obstacles were specifically emplaced to prevent the Allies from being able to conduct the landings during a high tide, and gain the advantages mentioned.
So they were forced to do it during a low tide and face the extended assault across the beach.
The Germans were only surprised by the specific day of the invasion, because their intel sucked.
The specific tide is apparently the level at the moment of the first beach landings. You know, historical stuff (@Laserdestroy_1).

AFAIK, the maps in war thunder have a static “sea level” that provides the base elevation coordinate for the entire map mesh and all of the object location reference points. This is why you sometimes see “water” as the map is loading or you are spawning in. Every map “floats” on a plane of “sea”.
So changing that is not the trivial factor you assume.

Sorry to harsh your idea.

At the time of the landing, at six in the morning there was low tide, and already at 11 o’clock the tide was high.

Factors such as good counter-intelligence, deceptive maneuvers, false information from their own intelligence and unfavorable weather conditions allowed the Germans to feel confident and many German commanders to take leave. Rommel would definitely be on the alert if the question was about a specific day of landing, not a month.

No, ocean plane is the same object as terrain. That is, you can turn it off, move it 6m up, or even apply clipping masks. But all this is done in DagorEditor or .blk