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With a greater number of ground troops and superior firepower, why didn’t the Allies finish off the Germans following the D-Day assault and end the war before the Battle of the Bulge? The text gives less than a page to the subject and our class spent only a few minutes discussing it but June 6, 1944 (D-Day) was the largest amphibious landing in history and a could have been the final blow to the German army. So why then, with a greater number of ground troops and superior firepower, didn’t the Allies finish off the Germans following the D-Day assault and end the war before the Battle of the Bulge? On D-Day and D-Day +1 the Allies landed 150,000 troops on the beaches of Normandy. In the following months the number of troops would build up to one million. In addition to the advantage in the size of ground forces the allies had more tanks (3.9:1), artillery (1.5:1), and planes (7.4:1). This was more than enough firepower to do the job and the Allies had a plan. The Allies were slowly encircling the Germans in what they called the Falaise Pocket and the only escape was through the Falaise Gap (approximately 15 miles wide) and even that gap was about to be closed. Artillery was in place, large 155 MM guns call