D-Day part 7 The Beaches (part 1)

We all know the names of the beaches JUNO, GOLD, SWORD, UTAH and OMAHA, and this summer I was lucky to be able to visit them all.  Nowadays they are glorious, wide, expansive, golden sanded and happy places.  Very quiet compared to the usual holiday hotspots and when I was enjoying Utah beach on a hot sunny day i only saw another 5 people all afternoon.  However, it was a different story on 6 June 1944 and reflections on that momentous day are never far away...

The first beach we visited was Utah.  On the whole they had a relatively easy time of it especially compared to Omaha. Utah is 3 miles long and was the westernmost of the beaches and was only added to operation Overlord in the latter planning stages as more landing craft became available.

Two noteables who landed on this beach in the first assault wave were Theodore Roosevelt Jr who was awarded the Medal of honour for his decisive command on the beach on D-Day and J D Salinger, noteable author of the time.  Theodore Roosevelt is buried in the American cemetry at Coleville sur mer having suffered a fatal heart attack on 12 July 1944.

This a quick shot of Utah on the first visit.  Slightly overcast you can see Eddie and myself contemplating what it must have been like.  Behind us is one of the 'beach exits' that the troops used to head inland.  The brown building is the UTAH beach museum.

Heading back off Utah towrds 'exit 2'.  The exit leads through a bunker network straight onto the 'Liberation Highway' the route taken by the Allies as they headed inland.

Eddie and Jackie in reflective mood on Utah..

Another day on Utah.  All along the beach are the remains of the 'Atlantic Wall'

The sand is slowly starting to encroach on the block houses but they are so big you can still
climb on and in them.  if you look to the right of the pic there is a wasp caught in flight!

These block house would have been capable of putting down an arc of murderous fire across the beach

The view from the block house pictured above..

Now onto Omaha, which is 5 miles long.  This is the entrance off the beach known as the Vierville draw.  To the left you can see the National Guard memorial which is built on a defensive block house which laid down fire over the beach infront of it.  This part of Omaha is DOG sector.

 Looking over DOG sector, the westernmost point of OMAHA.  The Americans had it hard here, very hard.
Omaha became known as 'Bloody Omaha'
Within 7 to 10 minutes of the ramps being lowered, Company A had become inert, leaderless and almost incapable of action. The Company was almost totally bereft of officers.  All the officers were dead except Lt Elijah Nance who had been hit in the head as he left the boat, and then again in the body as he reched the sands. Lt Edward Tidrick was hit in the throat as he jumped from the ramp into the water.  He then went onto the sands and flopped down 15ft from Pvt Leo J Nash.  He raised up to give Nash an order.  In rising up he had become a target for just an instant, Nash saw machine gun bullet cleave him from head to pelvis.

In less than 20 minutes Company A ceased to be an assault company.  And this was a recurring theme along Omaha.  It was planned that by nightfall of D-Day those landing on Omaha would have a bridgehead 16 miles wide and 5 miles deep.  In reality, by nightfall the bridgehead was barely the length of the beach and averaged less than 1 mile deep with most units still below the cliffs.

It is the action here that opening to the film 'Saving Private Ryan" is based on.

Strolling along Omaha in the sunshine...

Unknown location of the landings on D-Day..