What made the American beaches so bad? I always see WWII footage of canadian and british troops walking up the beach.
WALKING! :shock:
What was the real D-Day like? :?:
Sword and Gold Beaches were fought in better order, but I’d not call it an easy walk-in.
Omaha was nearly a failure due to a combination of reasons. First, Allied intelligence did not detect the presence of German 352d Division at location. In addition, American forces did not wish to use British General Hobart’s “funnies”, which could had provided infantry support against enemy fire in addition to the capability to clear out mines. The Americans did plan to use duplex-drive tanks, however, unfortunately for them only 5 out of 32 made it to shore in the rough waters after being released into the ocean too early and too far out from the shore.
I am not sure if I’d want to be German on this day:
I dont think I would have liked to have been anyone on that day!
Hobarts funnies would have helped at Omaha but not under the same command. Even if we would have had them the they probably would have ended up like the others. Not sure who the dumbass was but he ordered the DD Tanks to be released 3 miles from shore. With the currents is this area it was pure suidcide. Whoever it was should have been court martialed. Im sure most of the funnies would have ended up with the same fate.
The funnies would have had to have been landed onto the beaches, as far as I’m aware they weren’t ‘DD’, so they couldn’t swim.
Ah well, [with a spotter hat, LOAD!]
The SHERMAN DD tanks were actually part of 79th Armoured so technically were “funnies”.
However, as BDL said, vehicles such as CHURCHILL carpet layer would have had to have been landed by LCT on the beach, as their wading capability was only a few feet.
Other tanks fitted for deep wading were from “normal” units.
The British & Canadian experience at Dieppe had shown the value of armour support in a landing, even though it all went wrong.
The “funnies” had three main functions as well as the DD tank in normal inf support:
a. Bridging / obstacle crossing (carpet layer)
b. Minefield clearance (CRAB)
c. Demolition (AVRE)
I don’t know enough about OMAHA beach to say whether this would have tipped the balance. Those of you better read on OMAHA might like to comment if any of the three capabilities above would have helped a lot or a little?
Kind regards
Fluffy
[spotter hat, cartridge only, UNLOAD!]
I remember reading (apologies for no reference though) that one of the reasons that the Funnies werent at Omaha was the huge shingle beach, meaning that the Americans thought they would be useless as they couldnt cross it.
It may be a valid reason, or perhaps national pride, I’d be interested if anyone has more info on it though?
Just to go back to the original question, Non of the landings were unoposed so I would suggest that if troops were walking up the beach then they had landed with one of the later waves when the fighting had moved back behind the beach.
The initial objective of at least the first two waves were to get off the beach to allow the landing area to be secured and you can’t do that at a stroll.
Omaha was the most treaterous with physical and man-made defensive barriers. On that particular day tide and currents played havoc with the DDs where a 1/2 mile away they didn’t.
They were really at the right place, at the wrong time. Eastern Front… I think, an Eastern Front unit on leave was stationed at Normandy, where Omaha beach happened to be. But Utah was not that bad. There were 13 KIA’s
Shingle sounds like a job for BOBBIN (CHURCHILL carpet layer) which was developed to cross the patches of blue clay found on other beaches.
Obstacles should have been meat & drink to AVRE and the like.
Should’ve taken the funnies . . . .
But Utah was not that bad. There were 13 KIA’s
Only 13!
how many died at Omaha?
Over 2,400 died at Omaha, most within the first hours of invasion. Chase, where did you get your info? The 4th Infantry suffered small losses, but no where near that small. There were at least 200 confirmed KIAs on Utah Beach.
[quote=“PzKpfw_VI_Tiger”]
Over 2,400 died at Omaha, most within the first hours of invasion. Chase, where did you get your info? The 4th Infantry suffered small losses, but no where near that small. There were at least 200 confirmed KIAs on Utah Beach.[/quote]
Yeah about 200 hundred in Utah Beach:
By the end of D-Day, some 20,000 troops had safely landed on the beach, along with 1,700 vehicles. Only about 200 casualties were recorded during the landings. Several factors contributed to the success at Utah vs. the bloody battle at nearby Omaha.
Thats coz they(One on Utah) didnt exactly land on their projected target area … so ive heard.
Wasnt it some famous General that later died of a Heart attack who was in the first wave that said I know were in the rong place, but the invasion starts from here? Wish I could remember his name…
Dont know but it should have been John Wayne 
A couple of interesting photos of Omaha Beach -
Those photos belong to the great war time photographer Robert Capa:
http://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=90
His famous quote regarding his up close and personal Normandy pics was “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” – what a great saying from a civilian attached to those units! Unfortunately, many of the photos he had taken were damaged before they were able to be developed, however, those that remained are being treasured, like how you have generously shared with us here.
The link above is a biography of Capa written by my colleague Bryan Hiatt, should be a nice read if you don’t know a lot about the man who took the pictures.
The coastline looks so eerie in the first pic