As I said in the review of the British and Canadian Beaches, this is a story impossible to tell in 500 or even 1,500 words. For a suggested 3-day exploration of all the invasion beaches, see “The Invasion of Normandy – British and Canadian Beaches.”
UTAH BEACH
Utah Beach is the best-preserved invasion site because there has been little development near it. The museum here is outstanding, as are the memorials in the plaza in front of the museum. I walked the beach and found all kinds of interesting things, like one-man machine gun nests and other oddities.
On D-Day, the Utah Beach landings went almost perfectly according to plans. Not long after the naval and air bombardment began, all the major weapons defending the beach were out of action. The defenders surrendered to the Americans, led by General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. By midday, the invasion forces had linked up with the airborne troops near St Mere Eglise. On D-day, more than 23,000 men and over 1,600 vehicles landed here, and by midnight 23,250 troops were ashore with fewer than 200 casualties. Because of the diversity of regiments that landed here, there are many monuments to them dotted around the beach. All the roads leading from the beach and into St. Mere Eglise are named after soldiers killed here during the battle.
John Flaherty and I ate lunch at the Café de Roosevelt across from the museum. The owner has built a replica of an underground communications center, but he keeps it locked up because of vandalism and theft. We had to ask him for the key. It was worth the time and trouble to see it.
We also visited the battery at Crisbecq, which, I understand, will soon have a museum. We visited the battery at Azeville, too, which was one of the first built on this peninsula by the Germans. There is a small museum here that takes about 10 minutes to walk through. It took the American forces 7 days to capture this spot and Crisbecq. One of the most interesting sights is seeing the damage an unexploded shell from the Battleship USS Nevada did when it hit one of the casemates, killing everyone inside.
ST. MERE EGLISE
From Utah beach, we drove to St. Mere Eglise. Before the D-Day landings, it was decided that bridgeheads be established at both ends of the landing beaches. This would be undertaken by airborne regiments. At the western flank near Ste Mere Eglise, it fell to the Parachute Infantry Divisions of the 82nd (All American) and the 101st (Screaming Eagles).
The morning of June 6th, a house in the square that is now the site of the airborne museum caught fire. The inhabitants formed a chain with buckets from the pump in the square. At this point, parachutes were seen in the night sky and began landing in and around the town. It was the 82nd airborne division. The town was taken by members of the 505th Battalion. At 4:30 the stars and stripes were hoisted and St Mere Eglise became the first town to be liberated in France.
Another reason for the town’s fame came from the film "The Longest Day." John Steel, a paratrooper, played by Red Buttons, managed to land on the church and his chute caught on the steeple. He hung there while the fighting continued on the ground for 2 hours before being cut down by the Germans, taken prisoner, and later released by the Americans. I took a photo of the effigy of John Steel that can be seen on the church. Inside the church there are two stained glass windows, one shows the Virgin Mary surrounded by paratroopers and the other shows St. Michael, patron saint of the paratroopers. Both were dedicated in 1972.
GRAIGNES
One of the most poignant sites is the village of Graignes. Two battalions of American paratroopers were mistakenly dropped near this village. Helped by the villagers, they decided to resist, even though the town had no strategic value. They were finally overrun by 1,500 Germans 5 days later. Many escaped with the help of the villagers, but the wounded remained in the church under the care of the clergy and others.
Unfortunately for the townspeople and the wounded Americans, an SS regiment appeared and executed all the wounded and many of the villagers including three priests. The church was left in ruins and is now a monument to the fighting. There are plaques on the crumbled walls with the names of the villagers who were executed next to the names of the Americans who died under their protection. I had a hard time keeping my composure when I was there.
OMAHA BEACH
Perhaps the most renowned of the invasion beaches, it was featured in both “The Longest Day” and Saving Private Ryan.” Today it is a tranquil stretch of sand. Out on the tidal flats local people cultivate mussels and clams. Nowhere, except up on Pointe du Hoc, is there much indication of the chaos and slaughter that occurred on June 6th.
Looking at it today, you can see why it should not have been chosen for an amphibious landing. There are 6 miles of exposed beach with no natural cover for an attacking force, but this beach was necessary to link the other attacks at Utah and Gold. The weather was worse here, and many of the landing craft and amphibious tanks never made it to the beach. The Germans had the beach well covered with fire power, and there were only five exits and steep cliffs along the length of the beach. The first wave of Americans came ashore and were immediately cut down with machine gun fire. In the first wave, 80% of the American Infantry perished and over 1,000 Americans lost their lives in the first 8 hours. By the end of the day, a small bridgehead had been established, and fortunately there was no counterattack by the Germans. By the end of the second day, 3,000 soldiers were dead and a further 3,000 injured or taken prisoner.
POINTE DU HOC
The Allies believed this cliff, overlooking both Omaha and Utah Beaches, was home to six large guns. Guns that could have inflicted damage to the Allied ships at both of the American landing beaches, but the guns were not here. In April 1944, the Allies bombed the site and destroyed one gun. The Germans decided to move the remaining guns farther inland.
Pointe du Hoc today retains its battlefield character because of the destruction left by the rain of bombs and shells the Allies unleashed to neutralize this rocky point. This concentration of fire left craters and ruined Casemates, which 60 years hasn’t erased. The day I was there, children were playing in the ruins.
The monument to the Rangers who scaled the 100-foot cliff is off limits because of erosion, but it isn’t hard to imagine how difficult the task was. The slopes and ropes were wet, the tide was strong, and the Germans could drop grenades onto the heads of the climbing Rangers. Eventually the Rangers gained a foothold on the cliffs, but the remaining defenders were difficult to dislodge. It took 2 days for reinforcement s to fight their way to relieve the Rangers, and by then the force had been reduced to about 90 effective men from the original 640 who left the transports June 6th.
Directly above Omaha Beach is a large American cemetery, Colleville. I describe it in another review in this journal.