In the early morning hours of June 6th, 1944, some 135,000 Americans, British, Canadians, and Free French began to wade ashore on the beaches of Normandy France. They represented the largest amphibious invasion in the history of man. They represented the free world. All across the Normandy coast, thousands of men were attempting to break Hitler’s Atlantic Wall on five (5) beaches, codenamed; Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. In addition to the five main beaches, U.S. soldiers would also attempt to scale the lofty heights of Point-de-Hoc, Free Commandos would raid the town of Ouistreham, and Allied Airborne units which had dropped the night before behind German lines would work to assist the seaborne infantry. In all, they represented the greatest military undertaking of its kind.
Utah Beach: U.S. 4th Infantry Division (23,250 men) – Utah was the furthest West of the five main beaches. Utah was chosen due to its proximity to the French city of Cherbourg, an important German supply depot. Furthermore, Cherbourg was the only major port that could handle re-supply of the Allies in the early stages of the invasion of France. Utah itself was lightly defended when compared to the rest of the landing beaches. It has been assumed that the reason for the light defense was because of the flooded fields behind the beach. The Germans made extensive use of field flooding in their defensive plans, and behind Utah only four narrow strips of road allowed cross country movement (these four exit points were successfully captured by the U.S. 82nd Airborne prior to the seaborne invasion). The first assault wave of the 4th Division was suppose to hit the beach at 0630hrs, however due to strong currents the assault wave was both delayed and off course, landing over 2 kilometers away from their intended zone. Among the men of the assault wave was Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (the son of the U.S. President). Although a frequent sufferer of arthritis, Teddy Roosevelt petitioned three (3) times to be among the first to land on Utah. His request was given, reluctantly. Upon landing, it was brought to Roosevelt’s attention that they were indeed on the wrong beach. The major concern at this point was that the assault wave’s reinforcements and supplies (including food and ammunition) would arrive at the correct beach, 2km away. Roosevelt studied his map, and then delivered one of the most famous war phrases:
It should also be pointed out that due to his excellent leadership, and bravery in the face of heavy enemy fire just inland from the beachhead, Brigadier General Roosevelt was awarded the Medal of Honor. Sadly, this gallant officer and inspirational leader died of a heart attack a month after the invasion. In all Utah Beach was a success. While indeed there were logistical problems, and movement inland due to flooding was difficult, of the 23,250 soldiers of the 4th Division landed on D-Day, only 60 men were killed and around 140 wounded. Light when compared to other beaches on D-Day.
Omaha Beach: U.S. 1st Infantry Division and U.S. 29th Infantry Division (34,250 men) – Omaha was the second of two U.S. Beaches on D-Day, sandwiched between Utah Beach to the West and Gold Beach to the East. Omaha was also the most heavily fortified beach along the entire Cotentin peninsula, due to it’s natural raised features, and heavy German fortifications. Upon planning for the invasion, the idea was given to land two (2) U.S. Divisions at Omaha, the 1st Infantry and 29th Infantry to surge past the German defensive networks and then spread to each side to link up with the U.S. 4th Division and British 50th Division. Sadly, Omaha was the scene of a monumental disaster, forever stamped in to history through film and literature. At 6:30am, the assault waves of the 1st and 29th Division surged out of their landing craft, and were subsequently decimated by well-cited German machine gun positions. The preceding naval bombardment had been utterly ineffective in destroying massive German concrete defensive works, and from these strongholds the German defenders poured effective fire on the seaborne infantry. To add to the disaster, coastline was deeper at Omaha than expected, as a result both man and machine sank to the bottom in some areas. Whole assault teams ran off of the ramps of their landing craft, only to sink 15 feet to the bottom, weighed down by their gear, drowning. The ingenious duplex-drive (amphibious) tanks (one of “Hobart’s Funnies”, designed by Major General Percy Hobart) were overwhelmed with the strong surf and sank like stones to the bottom, thus robbing the infantry of the badly needed close armor support. To make matters worse, the infantry soon found there was no way to scale the bluffs of Omaha without armor support to knock out the dun-in German machine guns. When they attempted to climb around the defensive works, they were cut to pieces by hails of bullets and well placed grenades. Yet more men charged off of the landing craft, to die in the surf. Omaha was quickly, within 30 minutes, deemed a disaster by commanders on the ground. Whole companies were decimated, key engineers were missing, weapons and ammo had sunk to the bottom of the channel. The men that had survived the initial dash to the base of the bluffs were now pinned down, unable to retreat, nor able to surge forward. German mortars wrecked havoc on the Americans trying to find shelter. The Assault wave quickly became combat ineffective, bogged down with more wounded than they had effective fighting men. The decision was made to introduce another wave of men on to the beach. This wave, along with every subsequent wave sent to the beaches, endured the same fate as the assault wave. Handfuls would survive the firestorm, only to reach the bluffs and realize there was no where to go. For 12 hours the men of the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions were systematically killed by German snipers, mortar fire, and machine gun fire. At one point in the afternoon, observers on the troop ships out at sea, reported they could see no movement on Omaha, it was deemed that everyone had been killed and/or captured. However as luck would have it, small pockets of men, in the later afternoon, managed to snake their way up the bluffs and hit the Germans from the rear. Eventually the small trickle of men became a surge, and by 7pm on June 6th, the troops from Omaha were pushing in land towards their objectives. Sadly the 12 hour delay had cost the invasion schedule dearly. The progress out of Omaha was the worst out of all the D-Day landing sites on June 6th, scarcely 2 kilometers in 12 hours. As a stark testament to the hell that was Omaha, over 3,000 casualties were sustained in 12 hours. The bloodiest of all the Beaches on D-Day.
Gold Beach: British 50th Infantry Division (24,970 men) – Gold Beach was one of two British Beaches on D-Day, in between the Americans on Omaha to the West, and the Canadians on Juno to the East. The 50th Division (Northumbrian) was tasked with landing and quickly linking up with the Canadians and Americans that flanked them. They were then to proceed to Bayeux, and capture the town before sunset. Initially the 50th Division met stiff resistance from the Veteran 1st Battalion of the 352nd Division, but in the late morning they broke out of the beach head and began their drive toward Bayeux. As a quirk of fate, the only significant German unit that could have stalled the 50th Division was a Kampfgruppe (Battle Group) of the German 352nd Division, held in the rear to act as a reserve force. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the commander of the 352nd, General Kraiss, sent this significant force South to deal with the missdrops of the U.S. 101st Airborne landing near Vire. By the time the 352nd Kampfgruppe realized the “threat” was merely small pockets of Airborne, the damage had been done. In all, the distance back to engage the 50th Division was some 30 kilometers. The Kampfgruppe arrived late in the afternoon, and found themselves fighting a defensive action. It is because of this groups return that the 50th Division was unable to capture the town of Bayeux, and unfortunately had to resign themselves to a stalemate with the remaining units of the 352nd Division. In all, the British of Gold Beach had driven well over 10 kilometers inland and anchored the beach heads of Juno and Omaha to form a unified front. The 50th Northumbrian Division suffered 400 casualties on D-Day.
Juno Beach: Canadian 3rd Infantry Division and Canadian 2nd Armored Brigade (21,400 men) – Juno Beach was directly beside the British landing on Gold Beach, and just down the coast from additional British landing on Sword Beach. The Canadians landed late on D-Day, at just after 7:45am, over an hour behind their American counterparts to the West. The initial scene on Juno Beach was absolute carnage. Given the height of the tide, many German anti-landing craft mines were still sub-merged, and these wrecked havoc on the packed Canadian landing vessels, blowing many to pieces. When the Canadians floundered through the surf of Juno, well placed German machine gun emplacements mowed down whole groups of men, decimating companies. B Company of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles was reduced to 49 men from 134 in under 15 minutes. In some areas of Juno, the bluffs were nearly twice as tall as those faced by the Americans at Omaha, utterly trapping the men of the Queens Own Rifles of Canada, much like the men of the U.S. 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions. However, despite intense fire, at 8am, 15 minutes after landing, men of the Regina Rifles covered by tanks of the 1st Canadian Hussars managed to establish the first beach head near Courseulles. By 8:30am beach heads were opened at two other locations along Juno and the men of the 3rd Division began to trickle inland past the German defenders. Around 10am, Juno was swarming with men and equipment, and reserve troops from the troop ships were on the way. While the Canadian Scottish Regiment suffered minimal casualties, the landing craft carrying the Regiment de la Chaudiere hit many of the sub-merged anti-landing craft mines, resulting in numerous dead, with more drowning trying to reach the shore. A problem however was beginning to form on Juno. The Beach wasn’t large enough to handle such a surge of men and equipment. Burnt out Canadian tanks clogged the beach, and hundreds of bodies made for obstacles to navigate. Beach clearing parties began the gruesome task of clearing Juno, however the sheer amount of destroyed vehicles and dead soldiers was NOT accounted for in the planning of the invasion. Juno was tougher than anyone would have thought. However, even without additional armor support (due to the packed beach), the first waves of men from Juno began to surge forward towards their objectives; linking up with the British 50th Division at Gold and the British 3rd Division at Sword, and reaching the Caen-Bayeux Highway. By noon, the entire 3rd Canadian Division and 2nd Armor Brigade were ashore in France, albeit mostly still tied up on the Beach. Throughout the afternoon the Canadians made excellent progress towards their objectives, however in the later afternoon, a decisive counter-attack by the 21st S.S. Panzer Division drove a deep wedge between the British coming off of Sword and the Canadians on Juno, thus forcing the British and Canadians to turn inwards to defend against this threat. Regardless, the progress made by the Canadians was astounding, in fact, the Canadians were the only nation to achieve ALL of their D-Day objectives on June 6th, which was culminated when the advance elements of the 1st Canadian Hussars reached the Caen-Bayeux Highway in the evening. By sunset on June 6th, 1944, the 3rd Division and 2nd Armored had driven deeper in to NAZI occupied France than any other Allied unit, albeit at a costly price; 340 men killed, 574 wounded, and 47 captured (who would later be murdered by the 21st S.S. Panzer Division), making Juno the 2nd bloodiest landing beach behind Omaha.
Sword Beach: British 3rd Infantry Division and 1st Special Service Brigade (28,845 men) – Sword Beach was the furthest East of the five D-Day beaches. In the middle of the Beach was the town of Ouistreham (which would be assaulted by the Free French Commandos). At Sword, the British 3rd Infantry Division waded ashore under relatively light enemy fire, as the German garrison in the area had already sent men to deal with the British and Canadian paratroopers that had landed the evening before. By 8am the fighting around Sword was over and the 3rd Division began streaming inland to link up with the Canadians in Juno and march on the City of Caen. The 1st Special Service Brigade, led by Lord Lovat, had two tasks; link up with the British paratroopers at the Caen Canal Bridge (Pegasus Brigade), and assault the town of Ouistreham (Free French) from the rear. Lord Lovat personally led his British Commandos toward Pegasus Brigade to assist the men of the 6th Airborne, and successfully reached them (just as they were about to be over-run) around 1pm. In the late afternoon, the 21st S.S. Panzer Division drove a deep wedge between Juno and Sword, which subsequently ground the advance off of Sword to halt. By the evening of June 6th, the 3rd Division was squared off against the 21st S.S. Division, and both groups settled in for the evening. In all the British off of Sword has pushed 7 kilometers in to France and successfully anchored the Eastern Flank of the invasion. In all, some 630 British became casualties on Sword.
Point-du-Hoc: U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion (225 men) – The men of the 2nd Ranger Battalion were given the task of assaulting Pointe du Hoc to knock out heavy German artillery guns. The 225 men landed at the base of the massive cliffs at 6:30am, and began to climb, while the Germans shot at them from above and threw grenades. The fighting was fierce, however the Rangers managed to fight their way to the massive cement batteries, only to find the guns didn’t exist, they’d never been put in to place. Sadly numerous Rangers were killed scaling the cliffs for the sake of nothing. Following D-Day, the Rangers faced massive counter-attacks on the Pointe. After three days of heavy fighting, only 90 of the 225 Rangers were still alive.
Ouistreham: Free French Commandos (Berets Verts) (117 men) – At Sword Beach, part of Lord Lovats Special Service Brigade, were a small group of French survivors of the evacuation of Dunkerque. These men were trained by the British Royal Marine Commandos, and given the self-proclaimed title of “Free French Commandos”. Their task on D-Day was the liberation of Ouistreham, on the Normandy Coast. They were led by Major Philippe Kieffer (later to be the first French Soldier to enter Paris). The French Commandos’ steamrolled over the defenders of Ouistreham, however became bogged down at a German stronghold on the outskirts of the town. Kieffer, already wounded twice, took it upon himself to run back to the Beach, flag down a British Churchill tank, and guide it back to the stronghold to have it destroyed. On D-Day, the Berets Verts suffered 21 killed and 93 wounded. They were the first French soldiers to touch their native soil in over 3 years.
In all the invasion of Normandy was crowned a success. While the assault had been bloody, the men of the Allied Expeditionary Force had breached Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, and set in motion the destruction of the NAZI War machine. Today marks the 62nd anniversary of D-Day, a day that shaped the World we live in. If the Allies had failed on that cold, overcast morning in France, would the World be even close to what it is today? Would the Germans have ever been defeated? I myself, am the Grandson of a man who landed with the Canadian Scottish on Juno Beach on June 6th, which leads me to feel a certain attachment to this Day. How can we ever thank men that sailed half way around the World to liberate people they never knew? In short, we cannot, we can never thank them enough, nor can we ever fully honor those who lost their lives in Normandy. I am content knowing that those who never returned home, died to ensure I live a good life. They have my thanks and my thoughts on this day. Do they have yours?
Men of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles onboard landing craft heading towards Juno Beach, June 6th, 1944
Canadian troops in a landing craft, moments before heading to the beaches. It makes me wonder how many of this group were alive at sunset.
