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| Omaha Beach Vierville Sur Mer IJ |
Omaha Beach was one of the two beaches on which American Forces landed on the 6th June 1944. It was positioned between the other American Beach, Utah Beach, to the west and the British Gold Beach to the east.
The landing area was a 8-kilometer (5-mile) stretch of coastline from Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes in the West to Vierville-sur-Mer in the East towards Point-Du_Hoc.
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| Vierville-sur-Mer looking West |
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| Vierville-sur-Mer looking East towards Point du Hoc |
Steep cliffs overlooked the beach, giving German forces a commanding view and devastating crossfire on the incoming troops.
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| Vierville-sur-Mer (Charlie Sector) |
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| Omaha Beach Coleville (Fox Green Sector) |
The beach was heavily fortified with defensive positions including machine-gun nests, artillery, beach obstacle, barbed wire, and concrete bunkers..
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| Omaha Beach Defences |
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| Anti-Tank Gun Bunker Vierville-sur-Mer |
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| German Machine Gun Emplacement Omaha Beach |
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| German Defences Omaha Beach |
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| German Defences Omaha Beach |
The landing on Omaha Beach was assigned to the American V Corps consisting of the 1st Infantry Division (including 2nd Ranger Battalion) and the 29th Infantry Division.
Supporting the infantry were specialized units of combat engineers and naval demolition teams. These forces were organised into Regimental Combat Teams (RCT) tasked with clearing obstacles and opening exit routes from the beach.
The Regimental Combat Teams were assigned to sectors:
Charlie 2nd Ranger Company
Dog Green 116 Regiment / A Company
Dog White 116 Regiment / G Company
Dog Red 116 Regiment / F Company
Easy Green 116 Regiment / E Company
Easy Red 16 Regiment / F & F Company
Fox Green 16 Regiment / I & L Company
Fox Red
From the early hours of 6th June Allied bombers targeted German defences. However fog and low cloud cover resulted in bombs falling inland and missing the beach fortifications. A naval bombardment at dawn was also ineffective due to poor visibility.
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| USS Texas bombarding UTAH Beach |
From 05:30 American troops of the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions, plus Ranges, battled their way through rough seas in landing craft towards Omaha Beach. Tanks modified to float towards the beach sank in the heavy swell.
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| Landing Craft Omaha Beach |
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| Landing Craft Omaha Beach |
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| Landing Craft Omaha Beach |
At 06:30 the first wave landed on Omaha beach.
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| Troops landing on Omaha Beach |
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| Troops landing on Omaha Beach |
The sea conditions caused many of the craft to land in the wrong place leaving units scattered and disorganised.
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| Omaha Beach Planned and Actual Beach Landings |
The troops landing on Omaha Beach were met with withering fire from the fortified positions the preliminary bombardment had failed. The assault floundered as the infantry without the support of tanks took cover behind beach obstacles. Successive waves coming ashore are also pinned down on the beach. Heavy casualties were sustained.
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| Omaha Beach assault |
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| Omaha Beach assault |
Gradually small groups began to infiltrate between strongpoints and engineers started to clear obstacles. By 10:00 troops had managed to fight their way on to the bluffs overlooking the beach and attack German strong points form the rear. The defences began to be neutralised and exits opened up from the beach.
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Omaha Beach assault
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By 12:00 the beaches were secured. Reinforcements were landing and starting to push inland to link up with fellow American troops from Utah Beach to the west and British troops from Gold Beach to the east.
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| Omaha Beach Secured |
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| Omaha Beach Reinforcements |
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| Omaha Beach Troops moving inland |
The D-Day operation was successful with the Allies establishing a foothold in Normandy which would be the start of the Liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany. The number of casualties sustained on D-Day, (killed, wounded, missing), was estimated as 10,300. It was on Omaha Beach where the biggest loss occurred with an estimated 2,400 casualties.
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