June 6, 1944 – D-Day
Early in the morning of June 6, 1944 something began to happen that changed the world. Over 160,000 Allied Troops, jumping out of planes, or off of ships, landed on the beaches and fields of Normandy, France. By the end of the day many had lost their lives on Sword, Juno, Gold, Utah and Omaha Beaches. The D-Day invasion of France on June 6, 1944 was the turning point of World War II. Of all the beach landings, the landing on Omaha beach was the bloodiest of all.
Air bombardament
It was to have obliterated any coastal stronghold of the enemy. There had been much bragging onboard the ships about the accuracy of America’s B24. Referred to as “precision bombing”, the bombers could “drop a bomb in a pickle barrel.” Considering the bravado and then the men seeing the sky full of the invincible bombing machines makes it easy to understand how some young soldiers were feeling confident.
Visibility was difficult
There was a heavy mist of fog that extended across the water and out for miles. Many of the men on the incoming rubber boats were suffering from nausea and vomiting. Additionally, another German division reinforced the enemy’s defense on Omaha Beach, and that intelligence came too late.
Casualties
Some accounts suggest that nearly sixty-five per cent of Omaha’s five thousand casualties were lost within the first fifteen minutes of battle. Under heavy fire, and with no place to hide, they struggled towards shore. Many of the wounded drowned in the deep water. Facing almost certain death, it is impossible to imagine the absolute terror they felt,
Landing crafts
As the mother ship came within nine miles of the Normandy beaches, the landing crafts began dispatching infantrymen to their beach targets. Leaders gave the nervous infantrymen pep talks over the ship’s public address systems, “Fight to get your troops ashore, fight to save your ships, and if you got any strength left, fight to save yourselves.” Commanders were not sugar-coating what was going to happen. Death was a likely reality on D-Day.
First wave of watercraft heading toward Omaha Beach.
German defense
The Allied Command planned the exact landing locations and a precise timetable. The plan included the specifics for unloading the tanks and cranes. The plan was for heavy aerial and ship bombardment would neutralize the German defense. The tides, however, were so choppy and high that many of the landing crafts missed their targets. Many of the tanks intended for Omaha Beach sank in the English Channel attempting to come ashore.
The cliffs
The Germans had built formidable bunkers on the rocky cliffs leading to the beach, and had heavily mined the waters around the beach head. Sitting up high, however, on the cliffs of Omaha Beach, the Germans rained down on the allies with a constant blast from their machine guns and mortar shells.
Minefields
On D-Day the engineers had orders to destroy sixteen areas along the coastline eliminating mines and other obstacles, allowing paths for the men to come ashore. They traveled in small rubber boats loaded with explosives; the Nazis saw them and blew many of them up. Engineers had to stop their work, and by 9am only 5 ½ paths were open. Infantrymen had waded in behind them; soldiers took shelter behind the obstacles they were to blow up. Hundreds of men waded in water, shoulder-to-shoulder, and frozen in fear.
The dead
At two miles from shore and less than an hour into the invasion, bodies were visibly bobbing up and down in the water. The blood from the dead turned the sea red. Those alive washed ashore along with the dead as the tide came in. Soldiers jumped overboard, even though they were under strict orders to stay with the vessel until landing. A number of the landing craft received direct hits from enemy fire and exploded into flames, sinking fully loaded with men to the bottom of the sea.
Ramps
As the ramps opened, the men began to make their way to shore. Many found themselves in water over their heads. There were many wounded, floating, struggling to stay afloat, waving their arms and calling for help – all ignored by speeding incoming landing craft.
Debris in the water
More obstacles in the water created problems for the other vessels and slowed the invasion down. In less than two hours the debris of the invasion – reels of wire, supplies, heavy equipment, canteens, helmets, life preservers, wrecked landing crafts, and of course, the bodies of their comrades began to mount on the beach.
On the beach
The battle was going so poorly that evacuation of the wounded was toward the enemy. The changing of the tides on D-Day meant death for some of those still floating close to shore. Desperately, wishing for reinforcements, men were realizing that they were going to die.
Officers
Most of the officers had been killed, since they were the first ones coming off the landing craft. Stunned, the remaining officers were unsure of what to do. The high tide had cut off reinforcements from the landing boats and the medics were not able to get to the wounded quickly.
Desperation
Some men had lost their glasses in the surf, and then, they could not see to find their units. Others lost equipment in the rough waves and despite the heavy blast of bullets at them, they were searching around the water trying to recover it. Many, however, had abandoned their equipment to save themselves from drowning. Some of the soldiers said they did not know where the targets were, and shot randomly at houses along the beach. Most expressed a feeling of being disoriented and not knowing what was behind or in front of them.
The Navy
Finally, several destroyers, ignoring orders, and the dangers of the unseen obstacles; nearly running aground, came in towards shore firing at the German positions on the cliffs. Soon other destroyers also joined in, and the battle began to change. The tone of emotions from the infantrymen changed as well. One of the lucky survivors said,
“I thought I was a goner, but then, I saw the Navy in close with one of their destroyers. Damn, I was proud.”
In the end, the grit and leadership shown on the beaches and the intervention of the Navy destroyers saved the day. For those who made it to the shore alive, getting off the beach was the next deadly problem on D-Day.
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