subject: The History Of World War 2 And D Day [print this page] At 06.30 the first landing craft descended on Omaha & Utah beach. Omaha beach was the most fortified of all beaches with high bluffs containing mortars many machine gun nests and artillery. Supposedly weakened by the pre-landing naval and aerial bombings the defnese proved ineffective as many of the barrages were hopelessly off target causing heavy allied casualties.
In support of the landing troops was supposed to be 16 specially designed amphibious Sherman tanks called DD Tanks (Duplex drive). Of the 16 due to land on Omaha, only two actually made it onto the beach, with the rest fighting the strong coastal currents capsized and sank leaving troops hopelessly exposed to enemy machine-gun fire.
It is said within the first few hours of landing the Americans had amassed 5000 casualties on Omaha beach alone. In comparison to the difficulties faced on Omaha, Utah's casualties were significantly smaller with only 197 out of the 23000 troops landed. Lightly defended by the Germans the Americans quicker than expected made light work of any pockets of resistance they encountered and by the early afternoon had succeeded in linking up with some elements of the 101st Airborne division.
Around the same time as the struggles of the first wave of troops on Omaha beach, the US Army Rangers commanded by James Earl Rudder, were attempting to scale cliffs between Utah and Omaha beach called Pointe du Hoc. The reason for this operation was to incapacitate the 155mm guns housed there which if not disabled could severely hinder the landings on both Utah and Omaha beach. The actual operation was supposed to begin prior to the beach landings, however due to the strong currents and navigational issues the operation was delayed by at least 40 minutes thus losing the element of surprise.
Finally the Rangers started to scale the cliffs supported by the guns of two Allied Destroyers preventing the cliff top defenders firing down upon the ascending climbers. When the Rangers reached the summit of their mission they found that the guns were nowhere to be found. In fact they had been moved on the 4th June under the orders of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. Poor weather conditions prior to the invasion had hampered any planned recon flights which would have clearly shown that the batteries were not at Pointe du Hoc. Once regrouped the Rangers went off in search of the guns which were found nearby and destroyed with thermite grenades.
