Neptune's Might: Amphibious Forces in Normandy

Neptune’s Might: Amphibious Forces in Normandy A Coast Guard LCVP landing craft crew prepares to take soldiers to Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944 Photo 26-G-2349. U.S. Coast Guard Photo, Courtesy Naval History and Heritage Command By Michael Kern Program Assistant, National History Day 1 “The point was that we on the scene knew for sure that we could substitute machines for lives and that if we could plague and smother the enemy with an unbearable weight of machinery in the months to follow, hundreds of thousands of our young men whose expectancy of survival would otherwise have been small could someday walk again through their own front doors.” - Ernie Pyle, Brave Men 2 What is National History Day? National History Day is a non-profit organization which promotes history education for secondary and elementary education students. The program has grown into a national program since its humble beginnings in Cleveland, Ohio in 1974. Today over half a million students participate in National History Day each year, encouraged by thousands of dedicated teachers. Students select a historical topic related to a theme chosen each year. They conduct primary and secondary research on their chosen topic through libraries, archives, museums, historic sites, and interviews. Students analyze and interpret their sources before presenting their work in original papers, exhibits, documentaries, websites, or performances. Students enter their projects in contests held each spring at the local, state, and national level where they are evaluated by professional historians and educators. The program culminates in the Kenneth E. Behring National Contest, held on the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park each June. In addition to discovering the wonderful world of the past, students learn valuable skills which are critical to future success, regardless of a student’s future field: • Critical thinking and problem solving skills • Research and reading skills • Oral and written communication and presentation skills • Self-esteem and confidence • A sense of responsibility for and involvement in the democratic process Participation in the National History Day contest leads to success in school and success after graduation. More than five million NHD students have gone on to successful careers in many fields, including business, law, and medicine. NHD helps students become more analytical thinkers and better communicators, even if they do not choose to pursue a career in history. 3 What is the Normandy Scholars Institute? Established in 2011, the Normandy Scholars Institute is a program which teaches high school students and teachers about D-Day and the fighting in Normandy during World War II. The program is a partnership between National History Day and The George Washington University made possible by the generosity of Albert H. Small. Mr. Small is a veteran of the U.S. Navy who served in Normandy during World War II. He is passionate about history education and wants to ensure that the sacrifices of World War II veterans are honored and remembered by America’s youth. Each winter National History Day selects a group of teachers from across the country to participate in the program. Each teacher selects a student to work with during the institute. The teacher and student work as a team, learning side-by-side, making the institute a unique educational experience. Starting in spring, the team reads books on World War II and on D-Day, giving them a better understanding of the history and historical context of the campaign. Each student selects a soldier from their community who was killed during the war and who is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. The team works with a research mentor to learn about the life of their soldier. In June, the teams travel to Washington, DC for several days of program events before flying to France to visit the historical sites where the teams’ soldiers fought and died. The trip culminates with a trip to the American cemetery where the student reads a eulogy in front of their soldier’s grave. After returning to the United States, the students and teachers share their experience with others by making a website about their soldier and giving presentations at their schools. In addition to getting to experience Normandy firsthand, students and teachers will: • Learn the true cost of war and the meaning of freedom and sacrifice • Improve research and problem solving skills • Attain a deeper understanding of America’s participation in World War II • Establish relationships with peers and colleagues from across the country 4 Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………..6 Amphibious Combat, 1915-1943………………………………..7 The Western Naval Task Force………………………………….9 The Engineer Special Brigade…………………………………...11 Landing Craft Flotilla…………………………………………….13 Naval Combat Demolition Unit………………………………….19 Naval Beach Battalion……………………………………………22 Naval Construction Battalion…………………………………….27 Port Battalion…………………………………………………….31 Quartermaster Battalion and Amphibious Truck Battalion……...35 Amphibious Combat in Normandy………………………………40 Resources…………………………………………………………42 Bibliography………………………………………………………48 5 Introduction This guide covers U.S. amphibious forces in Normandy. It should be a helpful reference for students who are researching a sailor or soldier from any of the types of units listed below. This guide discusses the history, organization, tactics, and combat experiences of the men in these units. It is worth reading all sections of this guide regardless of the type of unit your soldier served with, because these units all worked together. Engineer Special Brigades also had engineer battalions – these units are covered in the support guide and will not be discussed in this guide. Students researching a soldier from an engineer unit or medical battalion assigned to an Engineer Special Brigade will want to take a look at the support guide as well as this one, for details on their soldier’s unit. • Landing Craft Flotilla • Naval Combat Demolition Unit • Naval Beach Battalion • Naval Construction Battalion • Port Battalion • Quartermaster Battalion and Amphibian Truck Battalion Assault Wave Cox’n, Dwight Shepler, 1944 Courtesy Naval Heritage and History Command Art Collection 6 Amphibious Combat, 1915-1943 When American planners looked at the potential threats facing the United States in the early 1920s, Japan was at the top of the list for most officers. U.S. military strategists understood that a war against Japan would be fought in the Pacific Ocean and would require the Navy to play a major role. Planners believed that to defeat Japan, the United States Navy would have to fight a naval campaign in the Western Pacific Ocean. To successfully conduct such a campaign, the Navy would need to capture bases in the Pacific from which it could supply and repair its ships.1 There were plenty of amphibious assaults before the 1920s. American troops had participated in landings at Vera Cruz in 1914 and at Havana and Manila in 1898. Along with almost every other amphibious operation in history, these landings were not made against enemy resistance. Troops landed without significant resistance and only had to fight once they had moved to their objective. A notable exception to that rule was the Allied landing at Gallipoli in 1915. At Gallipoli, Australian, New Zealand, British, and French troops assaulted a beach fiercely defended by Turkish forces. The Allied operation failed – surviving Allied soldiers were withdrawn by the Royal Navy after months of unsuccessful assaults against Turkish defenses. Most military strategists decided that capturing a strongly-defended beach from the sea was impossible – instead the best plan was to land troops at an undefended spot several miles away and attack the objective from land.2 The United States Marine Corps – searching for a specific mission which would keep it from being absorbed into the Army – decided to become experts at amphibious assaults. The Marines knew that attacks against Pacific islands would be defended – the islands were so small that there was no undefended spot to bring in troops. So they began to study the problem of successfully landing and supplying troops on a beach under fire. In 1920, Marine Corps Commandant Major General John Lejeune directed Major Earl Ellis to prepare a plan for amphibious operations. Major Ellis’s ideas were tested and refined over the next decade, eventually being published as the Tentative Manual for Landing Operations in 1934. The Marines, with the enthusiastic support of the Navy, tested their ideas in annual Fleet Landing Exercises. The Army was more skeptical about amphibious operations, but they participated too, giving all branches of the U.S. military experience with the problems of landing troops from the 1 American 1920s strategic planning, Allan R. Millet. “Assault from the sea: The development of amphibious warfare between the wars – the American, British, and Japanese experiences.” In Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett, eds. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 56-59. 2 Development of U.S. amphibious doctrine in the interwar period, Millet, 70-78. 7 sea. The Tentative Manual became the accepted American doctrine in 1938, published as Landing Operations Doctrine, USN, 1938.3 The Americans were fortunate that the first amphibious landings they participated in during WWII were not made against tough resistance on the beach. During the landings at Guadalcanal in August 1942, North Africa in November 1942, and Sicily in July 1943, troops were able to land and organize themselves on the beach before encountering significant resistance. For the Guadalcanal landings, the Marines packed their most important equipment and supplies into the transport ships first. Once they got to Guadalcanal, the Marines had to wait for ammunition and medical supplies while less-important gear like tents and electric generators were unloaded from the ships. After this experience, the Marines learned to ‘assault load’ their ships – the equipment the Marines needed on the beach first was put into the ships last, so that it could be unloaded first once the ship got to the beach.

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