The 79th Anniversary of D-Day at Normandy was remembered on June 6 of the assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control. At the ceremonies those honored were those who fought for freedom in the largest naval, air and land operation in history.
Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors designated for the amphibious assault component of Operation Overlord during the Second World War. “Omaha” refers to a 5 mile section of the coast oof Normandy, France, facing the English Channel, from east of the Douve of Saiante-Honoring-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve River estuary (the wide mouth of a river into which the tide flows from the sea). Landings here were necessary to link the British landings to the east at Gold with the American landing to the west at Utah. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of the United States Army troops, with sea transport, mine sweeping, and a naval bombardment force provided predominantly by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, with contributions from the British, Canadian and Free French navies.
Opposing the landings was the German 352nd Infantry Division. Of its 12,020 men, 6,800 were experienced combat troops. The German strategy was based on defeating any seaborne assault at the water line, and the defenses were mainly deployed in strong points along the coast.
The Allied plan called for initial assault waves of tanks, infantry, and combat engineer forces to reduce the coastal defenses, allowing larger ships to land in follow-up waves. But very little went as planned. Difficulties in navigation caused most of the landing craft to miss their targets throughout the day. The defenses were unexpectedly strong, and inflicted substantial casualties on landing U.S. troops. Under intense fire, the engineers struggled to clear the beach obstacles, later landings bunched up around the few channels that were cleared. Weakened by the casualties taken just in landing, the surviving assault troops could not clear the exits off the beach. This caused further problems and consequent delays for later landings. Small penetrations were eventually achieved by groups of survivors making improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most well-defended points. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won, which were subsequently exploited against weaker defenses further inland, achieving the original D-Day objectives over the following days.
Omaha was bounded at either end by the large rocky cliffs. The crescent-shaped beach presented a gently sloping tidal area averaging 330 yards between low and high-water marks. Above the tide line was a bank 8 foot high and up to 49 feet wide in places. At the western end, the shingle bank rested against a stone sea wall which ranged from 5-13 feet in height. For the remaining two thirds of the beach after the sea wall ended, the shingle lay against a low sand embankment. Behind the sand embankment and sea wall was a level shelf of sand, narrow at either end and extending up to 220 yards inland in the center, and behind that rose steep bluffs 33 to 55 yards high, which dominated the whole beach and were cut into by small wooded valleys or draws at five points along the beach.
The German defensive preparations and the lack of any defense in depth indicated that their plan was to stop the invasion at the beaches.
Omaha was divided into ten sectors, code named (from west to east): Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy White, Easy Red, Fox Green, Fox White, and Fox Red.
When General Omar Bradley expressed concern about Omaha Beach in January, a Royal Engineers team of Captain Logan Scott-Bowden and Sergeant Bruce Ogden-Smith showed him a sample of sand from the beach. They had swum ashore in Normandy from midget submarines over thirty times, to obtain sand samples to see whether the beaches would support tanks. Scott-Bowden said to him “Sir, I hope you don’t mind me saying it, but this beach is a very formidable proposition indeed and there are bound to be tremendous casualties.” Bradley put his hand on Scott-Bowden’ shoulder and replied, “I know, my boy. I know.”
The landings were scheduled to start at 06:30, “H-Hour”, on a flooding tide, preceded by a 40 minute naval and 30 minute aerial bombardment of the beach defenses, with the DD tanks arriving five minutes before H-Hour. The infantry were organized into specially equipped assault sections, 32 men strong, one section to a landing craft, with each section assigned specific objectives in reducing the beach defenses. Immediately behind the first landings the special Engineer Task Force was to land with the mission of clearing and marking lanes through the beach obstacles. This would allow the larger ships of the follow-up landings to get through safely at high tide. The landing of artillery support was scheduled to start at H+90 minutes while the main buildup of vehicles was to start at H+180 minutes. At H+195 minutes, two further Regimental Combat Teams, (the 15th RCT of the 29th Infantry Division and the 18th RCT of the 1st Infantry Division) were to land, with the 26th RCT of the 1st Infantry Division to be landed on the orders of the V Corps commander.
The objective was for the beach defenses to be cleared by H+2 hours, whereupon the assault sections were to reorganize, continuing the battle in battalion formations. The draws were to be opened to allow traffic to exit the beach by H+3 hours. By the end of the day, the forces at Omaha were to have established a bridgehead 5 miles deep, linked up with the British 50th Division landed at Gold to the east, and be in position to move on Isigny the next day, linking up with the American VII Corps at Utah beach to the west.
All this may sound confusing, but it was the plan that the officials thought was going to work. Planning ahead by getting sand samples and using the tide to arrive on the beach and then scale the bluffs was the plan that cost the lives of many.
The U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Commandos, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy and Free French Navy had the following: 43,250 infantry, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 13 destroyers and 1,010 other vessels. They had between 2,000 and 5,000 plus casualties.
The 716th Infantry Division had the following: 7,800 infantry, 8 artillery bunkers, 35 pillboxes, 4 artillery pieces, 6 mortar pits, 18 anti-tank guns, 45 rocket launcher sites, 85 machine gun sites and 6 tank turrets (a dome or revolving structure for guns, as on a warship tank). They had 1,200 losses.
On Tuesday, June 6, 2023 a ceremony took place at the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach, which is home to the graves of 9,386 U.S. soldiers, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. On the Walls of the Missing are inscribed 1,557 names. Some of those named have since been recovered and identified.
An international ceremony was later scheduled at the nearby British Normandy Memorial in the presence of officials from Germany and the nine principal Allied nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Many visitors came to the American Cemetery before Tuesday’s ceremonies to pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives.
A German Professor who is teaching French in Berlin, brought students ages 10 to 12 to Normandy via an exchange program. He said that it’s very important for children to have a moment in their lives to understand the liberation of Europe and to know what peace has been for 80 years.