on sands stained red

Ordinary Men and Extraordinary Courage on Omaha Beach

Tyler Abt

n June 6, 1944, at to expect minimal resistance. approximately 7:15 A.M., The massive thirty-minute naval only 45 minutes after the bombardment, accompanied, as Oinitial allied landing craft hit the historian Stephen E. Ambrose beaches of Normandy, France, to explained, by “480 B-24s carrying breach Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, 1st 1,285 tons of bombs,”3 was Lt. Bob Edlin and the men of 1st intended to annihilate German Platoon, A Company, 2nd Ranger resistance on Omaha Beach and Battalion approached the smoke- create shell holes to provide the shrouded Dog Green Sector advancing Americans cover. of Omaha Beach in their LCA The bombardment, however, (Landing Craft Assault).1 Both A accomplished very little. and B Companies’ landing craft “When we came in, there had spent the early hours of the was a deep silence,” Lt. Edlin morning trolling in a circling recollected. “The only thing that pattern a few miles off the coast I could hear was the motor of of France awaiting orders to land. the boat that we were on. It was Those orders had now arrived. dawn; the sun was just coming The time aboard the small over the French coast. I saw a LCA in rough seas took its seagull fly across the front of the toll on the Rangers. Lt. Edlin boat, just like life was going on recalled: “There were many sick as normal. All the gunfire had people. They were vomiting on lifted for a very short time…. I each other’s feet and on their didn’t hear anybody pray. I didn’t clothing.”2 They had been told hear anybody say anything. We knew that the time was here.” 1. Joseph Balkoski, Omaha Beach: D-Day June Suddenly, machinegun fire 6, 1944 (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004), 158. pinged off the front of the LCA. 2. Marcia Moen and Margo Heinen, The Fool Lieutenant: A Personal Account of D-Day and 3. Stephen E. Ambrose, D-Day: June 6, 1944, World War II (Elk River, MN: Meadowlark The Climactic Battle of World War II (New Publishing, 2000), 27. York: Touchstone, 1994), 120. 9 German artillery fire began be entering, or the introduction landing all around the Rangers’ of inappropriate men and landing craft. “We crouched in machinery, none of the expected the bottom of the boat in the advantages actually materialized vomit, urine, and seawater.”4 on the French beaches. In spite An LCA beside Lt. Edlin’s of all of these failures from the carrying men of B Company top, the men on Omaha Beach exploded from a direct hit, likely accomplished their objective. killing everyone aboard before As the dawn broke then next they could even hit the beach. day, although casualties covered Edlin’s LCA struck a sandbar the beach, the sunrise shone and ground to a halt 75 yards off brightly on American flags the beach, but the ramp did not as well. The victory was won drop because the British seaman not through brilliant military tasked with operating it had been strategy from the top, but on the decapitated by the intense hail battlefield — through bravery of incoming German fire.5 Edlin and poise exhibited by men at screamed at the British coxswain the bottom. It was the ability of to get the boat in further so his officers on the ground, officers men would not have to cross such like Colonel Schneider, Lt. Edlin, a vast expanse of beach, 75 yards Lt. Spaulding, and Capt. Dawson, of at least shoulder deep water to adjust to the disadvantages followed by roughly 200 more they found on the battlefield and yards of sand,6 under withering to persevere through the endless fire, but the coxswain refused to challenges they faced on June 6, go any further. Exasperated, Edlin and through their perseverance moved the decapitated sailor they encouraged others who aside to operate the ramp on the witnessed their resolve. It was front of the craft.7 Lt. Edlin and their ability, bravery, resolve his fellow Rangers prepared to and self-control that found surge forward into the maelstrom triumph in the face of defeat. of death and destruction Though failures made that was Omaha Beach. from the top prior to June 6th A reported 4,720 Americans resulted in a great loss of life died on Omaha Beach.8 A great on Omaha Beach, the valor many of these casualties can be and composure of those on the attributed to failures from those ground proved great enough at the top entrusted with the to persevere and win the day, planning of the attack. Be it the beginning their road to Berlin. failure of pre-invasion tactics, an improper understanding of the conditions the men would Setting the Stage

4. Moen and Heinen, The Fool Lieutenant, 27. In 1943, the German war 5. Ibid., 98. machine of the Third Reich 6. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 158. ground to a halt on all fronts 7. Moen and Heinen, The Fool Lieutenant, 28. after their seemingly invincible 8. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 352. onslaughts in the first four years 10 of World War II. General Omar of northwest Europe. 13 Bradley recalled: “Expelled United Kingdom prime from Africa, hard pressed in minister Sir Winston Churchill Italy, hunted in the Atlantic, expressed in his memoirs his and now demoralized in Russia, skepticism of the brash American everywhere the German had lost plans: “While I was always the initiative. To some it looked willing to join with the United as though he had lost the war.”9 States in a direct assault across Allied forces were establishing the Channel on the German air superiority as the air offensive sea front in France, I was not into the heart of Germany kicked convinced that this was the only into full gear, and as Bradley later way to win the war, and I knew recounted, some air commanders that it would be a very heavy “believed that it was only a matter and hazardous adventure.”14 The of months until Germany’s horrible casualties associated with back would be broken by the the frontal assaults of World War Allied bombing campaign.”10 I remained fresh in the minds Despite the growing success of Englishmen like Churchill. of the Allies throughout the Two landing areas were European Theater, many high- considered by COSSAC as ranking American general sites for the Allied invasion of officers, including U.S. First northwest France. The first was Army commander General Omar the Pas de Calais, the narrowest Bradley, Army Chief of Staff point in the channel and the most George C. Marshall, and Supreme obvious tactical and logistical Allied Commander Dwight D. place to attack German-occupied Eisenhower, believed that the France. But the Pas de Calais, only way to win the war was to because of its position as the totally defeat Germany.11 And prime invasion location, was the only way to do this would be “the most strongly defended area to invade Germany itself. The on the whole French coast,”15 British supported a less aggressive according to General Morgan approach with a focus on the and COSSAC. Because of the Mediterranean.12 Despite this tremendous defenses put in disagreement, a new position of place at the Pas de Calais by “Chief of Staff to the Supreme Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Allied Commander” (COSSAC) commander of the German was established on March 12, Army Group B, and by the 1943, with British Lieutenant German Commander in Chief General Fredrick Morgan as the of Western Operations, Field chief planner for the invasion Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt,16 9. Omar N. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story (Scran- COSSAC suggested that the ton, PA: The Haddon Craftsmen, 1951), 197. second invasion site be used. 10. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 198. This site was Normandy. 11. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 201; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 6; Forrest C. Pogue, George C. 13. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 6. Marshall: Organizer of Victory (New York: The 14. Ibid., 7. Viking Press, 1973), 329. 15. Ibid., 10. 12. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 196. 16. Ambrose, D-Day, 63. 11 Normandy was less heavily The United States was defended than the Pas de Calais assigned two beaches on the for a reason. The English western end of the invasion site Channel was much wider at where American forces would, it Normandy. Normandy was also was anticipated, quickly secure further southwest, placing it the vital port of Cherbourg. One further from Germany. A third of them, initially codenamed problem with Normandy was Beach 313, was not ideal. It was that it had only one port, located a roughly four-mile, crescent- at Cherbourg, large enough to shaped beach. The high water support Allied logistical needs.17 mark could vary by as much as Nevertheless, Normandy was 600 yards from low to high tide. chosen by COSSAC on the The beach proved to be belief that, despite geographical a fantastic natural defensive and logistical issues, it held a position for the Germans. much higher chance of success German troops fortified the than the Pas de Calais. This beach, as historian Cornelius decision gained approval by the Ryan detailed, by installing Allied Supreme Command, and “eight concrete bunkers with British backing was achieved guns of 75 millimeters or larger from Field Marshal Bernard caliber; 35 pillboxes with artillery Montgomery, the “operational pieces of various sizes and/or command of [Allied] ground automatic weapons; 4 batteries forces for the invasion of of artillery; 18 antitank guns; 6 Europe,” after Montgomery made mortar pits; 35 rocket-launching some significant changes to the sites, each with four 38-millimeter invasion plan.18 He proposed a rocket tubes; and no less than larger invasion front with more 85 machine-gun nests.”20 Filling landing zones, the abandonment the beach were countless mines of the invasion of southern and beach obstacles designed France (codenamed Operation to stop landing craft, vehicles, Anvil), and the use of Airborne and infantry. Thought to be forces prior to the amphibious defended by one battalion of the assault on Hitler’s Atlantic German 716th Division, poorly- Wall. Eisenhower supported trained and poorly-equipped, Montgomery’s proposal.19 The unknown to the Allies it was in plan was named Overlord, and fact defended by three battalions the invasion date, D-Day, set for of the more elite 352nd Division.21 June 5, 1944, later pushed back Despite these drawbacks, Beach to June 6 due to bad weather 313 was “an obvious landing site, conditions. H-Hour, the time of the only sand beach between the landings, would be 6:30 a.m. the mouth of the Douve to the west and the Arromanches to the east, a distance of almost 17. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 10. 18. Adrian R. Lewis, Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory (Chapel Hill: University of North 20. Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day: June 6, Carolina Press, 2001), 125. 1944 (New York: Touchstone, 1959), 187. 19. Lewis, Omaha Beach, 126–130. 21. Ambrose, D-Day, 323. 12 forty kilometers.”22 When the The plans were in place, but beach was finalized as a landing even the best of plans can go site, it was renamed Omaha.23 awry, and the operation was far Initially, because of its from ideal. Nevertheless, in the necessity as a landing site, the early morning hours of June 6, beach assault was assigned to young soldiers of the 29th and elements of two U.S. Army 1st Infantry Divisions boarded divisions. The 116th Infantry assault craft in rough waters. Regiment of the 29th Infantry Predawn light illuminated their Division, supported by approach as a massive—yet, as it amphibious tanks, would attack turned out, hugely-ineffective— the right flank of the beach in bombardment crashed down sectors, named (from left to on German-occupied France. right) Easy Green, Dog Red, Dog Fear and uncertainty filled the White, and Dog Green.24 The Allied general staff who had 16th Regiment of the 1st Infantry planned the invasion. They Division, also supported by had been like gods, assigning amphibious tanks, would assault the movements and tasks of the left flank of the beach in thousands of Allied forces. But sectors, called (from left to right) now they were helpless. The Easy Red, Fox Green, and Fox fate of the war, and very well Red.25 Their main objectives were the world, was held in the hands to cover demolitions teams as they of a group of young men who cleared the beach of obstacles crouched wet, miserable, scared, and to secure the five heavily- and uncertain in their landing defended draws along the beach craft that slowly lumbered so as to allow vehicles to quickly through white-capped waves get off the beach.26 To facilitate toward a smoke-shrouded beach. the destruction of obstacles, the men would be landing just after low tide.27 This would give A Morning on Hell’s Shores soldiers a huge exposed area to cross, but the massive aerial Widerstansnesten (resistance and naval bombardment— nest) 62 was one of the main starting at sunrise, 5:58 A.M., and defensive fortifications on Dog continuing to five minutes before Green sector of Omaha Beach. the landings—was supposed to Its job was to protect the vital flatten all opposition and cover paved road of the Vierville Draw. After the initial bombardment, the beach with craters to provide nd the landing soldiers with cover German soldiers of the 352 from potential enemy fire.28 Division rushed to prepared defensive positions along the 22. Ambrose, D-Day, 320. bluffs overlooking Omaha Beach. 23. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 11. 24. Ambrose, D-Day, 121. What they saw shocked 25. Ibid., 346. them: allied landing craft coming 26. Gerald Astor, June 6, 1944: The Voices of D- directly for them. “They must be Day (New York: Dell Publishing, 1994), 223. crazy,” Sergeant Krone declared. 27. Ambrose, D-Day, 119. “Are they going to swim ashore? 28. Ibid., 118. 13 Right under our muzzles?”29 The Sub-Lieutenant Jimmy Green, Germans received orders to hold an English operator of one of their fire until the Americans Company A’s LCAs, saw the reached the waterline. There state of the beach and feared the slaughter would ensue. for the men he was taking into The landing craft approaching hell. No B26 bombs had cratered the Vierville Draw were filled the beach; instead, Omaha with the men of A Company, 116th was as “‘flat as a pancake.’”33 Infantry Regiment, 29thDivision, General Bradley later explained otherwise known as the Bedford the failure this way: “In bombing Boys. Because of their ability through the overcast, air had to use the still-visible Vierville deliberately delayed its drop to church steeple behind the draw lessen the danger of a spill-over as a reference point, they were on craft approaching the shore. one of the few units of the first This margin for safety had wave to land on target.30 Their undermined the effectiveness company would have to face the of the heavy air mission. To the heavy fortifications of the all- seasick infantry,” he continued, important Vierville draw alone “this failure in air bombing was to until the second wave arrived. mean many more casualties upon Currents at 2.7 knots going with Omaha Beach” than there might the rising tide on Omaha Beach, have been.34 Even if the bombs together with wind pushing ten had landed on target, many were to eighteen knots, created three set to impact fuses so that they to six foot waves that pushed would not crater the beach too landing craft to the left, away badly.35 This made the bombs from A Company. Most of the completely ineffective against LCVPs operated by American heavy fortifications like those on sailors were ill-designed to Omaha Beach where delay fuses function in the swirling currents were needed but not used.36 of the English Channel, leaving 33. Alex Kershaw, The Bedford Boys: One units like A Company, which American Town’s Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice had British sailors familiar with (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2003), 127. the Channel, isolated. Their 34. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 96. isolation allowed the Germans 35. Ibid., 77. to concentrate their fire to 36. Impact fuses were chosen because Allied planners wanted to limit cratering the devastating effect. According to beaches, which after all would function as Ambrose, “Half of E Company artificial ports for landing more forces and was more than two kilometers to supporting the massive logistical needs of the east of its assigned sector.”31 the invasion force. Impact fuses do not have “Where,” Captain Robert the penetrating power to destroy sturdy concrete fortifications such as those on the Walker yelled as he saw the pris- bluffs overlooking Omaha Beach. Delay fuses tine, green terrain of the bluffs, will penetrate their target before detonating, 32 “is the damned Air Corps?” causing massive damage to a fortification such as a bunker. Today’s “bunker buster” 29. Ambrose, D-Day, 322. bombs function on the principle of a delayed 30. Ibid., 327. fuse. For a detailed chart of the bombing 31. Ibid., 324. plan of Omaha Beach see Joseph Balkoski’s 32. Ibid., 323. Omaha Beach, 77. 14 In addition, nearly half they gave and the lives they saved of the sixty-four amphibious cannot be measured, although Sherman DD tanks that were the fact that they came in first to land ten minutes before the without the infantry allowed infantry on the Omaha Beach the Germans to concentrate to help neutralize German their fire on them for a time and positions ended up at the bottom reduced the tanks’ effectiveness. of the channel due to the poor Having the DD tanks come in planning and rough waters.37 ten minutes before the infantry The ineffectiveness of DD defied the doctrine of combined tanks proved that the untested arms that armies were learning technology should never have during World War II and the been implemented by planning Germans showed mastery of in staff. Instead, the LCTs (Landing their blitzkriegs at the beginning of Craft Tank, essentially a larger the war. The few that made it to LCA that could carry four the beach were isolated, allowing Sherman DD tanks) that brought the Germans to concentrate fire the DD tanks to within 5,500 on them. They should have come yards of the beach should have in on-line with the infantry to brought the tanks all the way provide mutual support. Combat to the shore, dropping them off engineers should have either intact and together on the beach been in the LCTs or in LCAs to concentrate their firepower.38 or LCVPs in formation with An unknown Navy the tank-carrying LCTs so they Lieutenant recognized the flaws would be in position no matter of the DD tanks and, disobeying where the current pushed them orders, commanded his LCTs to to clear a path through obstacles take the 743rd Tank Battalion all to allow tanks to get up the the way to the beach instead of beach. Instead, engineers were following the plan. Seven of his to arrive with the infantry ten eight LCTs made it to the beach, minutes after the tanks in LCMs bringing 28 much-needed tanks (Landing Craft Mechanized).40 to the 29th Infantry’s aid.39 These This caused engineers to be tanks accounted for the vast in one place on the beach and majority of tanks that made it to tanks at another. The few DD the beach at all. The firepower tanks that made it to the beach could not make it through the 37. Ryan, The Longest Day, 205–6. obstacle belt because they did 38. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 102. The historian not land with combat engineers. Adrian R. Lewis makes a similar argument In short, planners ignored the in his book Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory, ability of the current to cause although he argues that United States forces should have dropped off their DD tanks from landing craft and DD tanks to their LCTs closer to shore like the British miss landing objectives. If the did where pre-invasion studies had shown engineers, infantry, and tanks all a much higher success rate for DD tanks landed on the same type craft, getting to the shoreline. they might not have landed 39. Joseph Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy (Me- chanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1989), 129. 40. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 148. 15 on target, but they would have behind the two DD tanks.42 landed together, which is the Flamethrower operator most important consideration. Dickie Overstreet was one such As A Company landed at soldier. He quickly disposed of 6:30 A.M., exactly on time, the his flamethrower to get ashore German positions along the and took a rifle from one of his bluff remained menacingly quiet. dead fellow soldiers. He sought Captain Fellers, the commanding cover behind a DD tank sitting officer of A Company, and his along the shore, stuck behind men began to advance up the obstacles with no engineers beach through the rising surf to aid its progress. The tank along with the two DD tanks that promptly took a direct hit from had made it to Dog Green. As a German mortar or artillery they progressed up the beach, the round. Overstreet realized that Germans opened fire with MG- the Germans would target large 42 machine guns, mortars, rifles, clusters of troops that were bound and artillery fire. The men of A to be behind a tank or destroyed Company had never experienced landing craft. He immediately combat, and their baptism of fire ran away from the tank and was an unfair and swift slaughter. was wounded by machine gun Every single man of the thirty- fire. He eventually made it up one in Sub-Lieutenant Green’s the beach and survived the day LCA including Captain Fellers huddled behind the sea wall.43 died in the wall of death that As historian Joseph Balkoski rained down on A Company. Of stated so well, “The men of the 155 men of A company, 100 Bedford had trained for almost died in those opening minutes. three and a half years for this Most of the others fell wounded.41 moment, only to be cut down If other boats had landed on in seconds like stalks of wheat target with a more effective felled by a scythe.”44 Their barrage from the Navy and Air training failed to prepare them Corps and tanks in a higher to move forward into enemy fire, concentration with supporting something that many combat combat engineers in the same veterans learned by necessity. place, far fewer casualties Instead, most of the men sought would have been sustained. ineffective cover or fell back The survivors froze and into deeper water to hide. just searched for any cover All over Omaha Beach, the they could find on the beach as first wave of the 1st Infantry bullets whizzed by and shells Division and 29th Infantry crashed down around them, Division met stiff resistance and sending deadly shrapnel flying death wherever they went. The indiscriminately through the green 29th Infantry particularly air. Some retreated to neck suffered through their horrible deep water or hid behind the baptism of fire. The battle- various obstacles littering 42. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 121. the beach. Others took cover 43. Kershaw, The Bedford Boys, 130–131. 41. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 121. 44. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 123. 16 hardened men of the 1st Infantry Men fell, left and right, and the knew to quickly advance into water reddened with their blood. and through the incoming hail of A few men hit underwater mines fire as they took the left portion of some sort and were blown out of the beach. Instead of taking of the sea. The others staggered cover, many of them rushed on to the obstacle-cover, yet forward. Allied planners should completely exposed beach…. Men have landed two regular army, were falling on all sides, but the experienced divisions instead survivors still moved forward of just the 1st Infantry Division. and eventually worked to a pile An experienced division such of [shingle] at the high water as the 3rd Infantry should have mark. This offered momentary been transferred from the Italian protection against the murderous theater to northwest Europe to fire of close-in enemy guns, but his accompany the 1st Division in mortars were still raising hell.46 the first wave on Omaha instead of the 29th.45 Captain Edward The recognition, by officers Wozenski, commanding officer and enlisted alike, that the beach of E Company, 16th Infantry, 1st offered no cover—despite the Division, remembers how his men false security of beach obstacles courageously pushed forward: and destroyed tanks or landing craft—saved many of the 1st The boats were hurriedly Infantry Division’s soldiers who emptied, the men jumping into hit Omaha Beach. Most were water shoulder-high under intense experienced combat soldiers machine gun and antitank fire. who served in North Africa and No sooner was the last man Sicily before being tapped for the invasion of Normandy. Unlike out than the boat received two th direct hits from an antitank the 29 Infantry, they were not gun, and was believed to have crippled by the hail of incoming fire, saving many of their lives. burned or blown up. Now all st the men in the company could Despite some men, mostly 1 be seen wading ashore into the Infantry, making it up the beach field of intense fire from machine and to the sea wall or shingle that guns, rifles, antitank guns, and provided temporary cover, there mortars. Due to the heavy sea, seemed to be too few to take the the strong cross current, and the German-held bluffs ahead. The loads that the men were carrying, surviving men who stayed on the no one could run. It was just a beach were slowly being wiped slow, methodical march with out, and those at the shingle or absolutely no cover up to the sea wall clung to their bit of cover enemy’s commanding positions. as German mortars began to attempt to neutralize this cover 45. The argument of having two combat- as well. Here and there, groups of experienced divisions was first proposed in enlisted and noncommissioned detail by historian Adrian R. Lewis in Omaha officers and maybe a junior officer Beach: A Flawed Victory, though he does not decided they must push on, for make the same distinction that I do between regular and National Guard units. 46. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 137. 17 that was their only chance to live. the shoulder-deep cold water Lieutenant Spaulding of of the English Channel amid the E Company, 16th Infantry, enemy fire as the lifeless bodies 1st Division and his men were of their comrades floated by, one such group who seized the face down. Somehow, they initiative and pushed forward made it to the water’s edge past the false safety of the sea where the dejected soldiers of wall. Spaulding and his men blew the 116th Regiment clung to life, a hole with a Bangalore through utterly defeated. Edlin urged the barbed wire holding them on them forward, but to no avail. the beach and pushed forward.47 The Rangers rushed across the By this time, it was roughly beach, hell-bent on completing 7:00 A.M., thirty minutes the objective. Men all around after the first wave landed. Lt. Edlin were gunned down. The subsequent waves would As Edlin made it to the safety soon begin to hit the beaches of the sea wall, he realized how at around 7:15 A.M. In small few men had successfully made groups, men of the 1st Infantry the run to the wall. For a reason on the left flank began to push unknown to him, he went back up the beach and toward the into the maelstrom to urge his bluffs through murderous fire men forward. He ran up and and horrendous casualties. The down the beach stirring scared situation for the 29th, particularly men into action. Edlin was shot on Dog Green with the few in both legs as he returned to survivors of A Company, was the sea wall. Still, he and his dire. The only way out of the comrades moved forward in any jaws of death would be to go way they could. Edlin crawled as straight into the monster itself. he fought the pain of his multiple bullet wounds. One of Edlin’s sergeants crawled from the safety “Rangers Lead the Way!” of the sea wall through intense fire and dragged Edlin to safety, In an attempt to salvage the quite possibly saving his life. As quandary on Dog Green, the mortar fire came in on Edlin and 5th Rangers and two companies nd his comrades, the sergeant and a of the 2 Rangers, the elite of medic covered Edlin, sheltering the U.S. Army, were diverted him from incoming fire. “They from their original position to were the heroes,” said Lt. Edlin.49 Dog Green to aid in the efforts With all the officers dead there when they did not receive or wounded, Edlin ordered Bill the code words to land on Point White, his platoon sergeant and Du Hoc.48 The two companies nd now the company commander, of the 2 Rangers and Lt. Bob to get his Rangers forward and Edlin found themselves landing off the beach. Edlin recalled in the killing fields of Dog Green what happened when he sector. They waded through ordered Sergeant White and 47. Ambrose, D-Day, 350. 49. Moen and Heinen, The Fool Lieutenant, 28, 48. Moen and Heinen, The Fool Lieutenant, 27. 90–91. 18 the remaining men to move example, and told the Rangers forward: “Everybody that could to remember just who they were. move went. There were only The legend that is remembered four or five of them and they is the shout, “Rangers lead the got up and went. That was all way!” Today, that is the motto that we had left. They went. No of the U.S. Army Rangers.52 questions asked.” That small Through the efforts of General group of Rangers pushed up the Cota and the elite 5th Rangers Vierville Draw courageously under Colonel Schneider, the and neutralized most of the German strong points along the German positions on the bluffs. 29th Infantry’s sector were mostly “There were no generals here, neutralized by 8:30 A.M., two no colonels. Just three sergeants hours after the initial landings.53 and a couple of pfcs.”50 Meanwhile, the 1st Infantry, To the left of the 2nd Rangers, spearheaded by Lt. Spaulding, the 5th Rangers landed on Dog Capt. Joe Dawson, and Capt. White. They were supposed to Robert Walker, was pushing its land on Dog Green, but their way up the bluff and taking the veteran commanding officer various strategic draws in the 1st Colonel Max Schneider saw the Infantry’s area of operations.54 slaughter on Dog Green and Slowly but surely, Omaha Beach the heavy smoke on Dog White was being secured. Hitler’s caused by a burning LST or LCT Atlantic Wall had been breached. and the relatively safe situation on Dog Red.51 He knew that this smoke screen would provide No Greater Love his men cover as they advanced on the less heavily defended By day’s end, that Wall beach. Then they could flank the had been toppled. U.S. forces heavy defenses of the Vierville secured a vital toehold on Omaha Draw. The value of a combat- Beach from which they could experienced commanding launch operations to break out officer was demonstrated, of Normandy and start on the and many lives were saved. long road to Berlin. The Allied General Norman “Dutch” victory throughout Normandy Cota, commanding officer of spelled the beginning of the end the 29th Infantry, was already for Germany in World War II. on Dog White trying to get his Despite the eventual success men moving when the Rangers of the operation, the pre- surged onto the beach. It is invasion bombardment proved uncertain exactly what General to be completely ineffective. Cota said as he valiantly urged The way in which the tanks, his men forward. He encouraged engineers, and infantry arrived his men to follow the Rangers’ on the battleground separately diluted combat effectiveness. 50. Moen and Heinen, The Fool Lieutenant, 91–93. 52. Ambrose, D-Day, 430. 51. Moen and Heinen, The Fool Lieutenant, 93; 53. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 236. Ambrose, D-Day, 427. 54. Ambrose, D-Day, 352. 19 The planners did not account for for their families back home, but strong cross-current conditions. most say they fought for the man U.S. landing craft operators were next to them. It was simple: they poorly trained to get troops to did not want to let their buddies the correct location through down. Though they varied in swirling currents. Inexperienced preparedness, the courage of each National Guardsmen were and every man who set foot on asked to do a job that should the killing fields of Omaha Beach have been assigned to hardened should never be questioned, for veterans. Amphibious DD tanks so many of them did lay down were a complete disaster when their lives on that lonely stretch implemented the way planners of beach so that others might live. intended. When so much went so terribly wrong, how did the battle for Omaha Beach not end with the Germans holding the heights as the sun set over France on the night of June 6, 1944? The 4,720 casualties on Omaha Beach were staggering, but if it had not been for the ability of officers to adapt to the changing situation on the battlefield and seize the initiative like Colonel Schneider or the unknown Navy Lieutenant and the ability of small groups of young men to never quit like Lt. Edlin’s men or Lt. Spaulding and Capt. Dawson, the operation to seize Omaha Beach might have been an utter failure.55 At the very least, the casualty numbers would have been even higher. There are surely countless unsung heroes of Omaha Beach whose names and deeds of valor and self-sacrifice are lost to the annals of history. We are forever indebted to them, the named and unnamed, the living and the dead, and we must not forget what they did. Their reasons for fighting so courageously varied. Some fought for the ideal of freedom and nationalism, others

55. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 352. 20 Bibliography

Primary Sources: Adams, Jay S. Interview by Tom Swope. Painesville, OH, July 5, 2001. Beazley, Jesse A. Reminiscing on World War II experiences. January 13, 2004. Bradley, Omar N. A Soldier’s Story. Scranton, PA: The Haddon Craftsmen, 1951. Garman, Gale E. Interview by Jordan Bowling. Dayton, OH, November 14, 2005. Delaney, Kenneth T. Reminiscing on World War II experiences. Undated. Giangreco, D.M., with Kathryn Moore. Eyewitness D-Day: Firsthand Accounts from the Landings at Normandy to the Liberation of Paris. New York: Sterling Publishing Co, 2005. Library of Congress: Veterans History Project. While a potentially useful source, the lack of the exact unit that each veteran was in and the time they landed vastly limited the usefulness of almost all interviews for my purpose. Loncaric, William V. Interview with William S. Switzer. Undated. Marcia, Moen, and Margo Heinen. The Fool Lieutenant: A Personal Account of D-Day and World War II. Elk River, MN: Meadowlark Publishing, 2000. Woodring, Claud C. Interview by Andrew Fisher. January 2, 2003.

Secondary Sources: Ambrose, Stephen E. D-Day: June 6, 1944, The Climactic Battle of World War II. New York: Touchstone, 1994. Astor, Gerald. June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day. New York: Dell Publishing, 1994. Balkoski, Joseph. Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1989. Balkoski, Joseph. Omaha Beach: D-Day June 6, 1944. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004. Balkoski’s work is the absolute best book on Omaha Beach. It is written in a hybrid style with narrative by Balkoski and quotes only coming in usually long block form. Kershaw, Alex. The Bedford Boys: One American Town’s Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2003. Lewis, Adrian R. Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. Though I disagree with many of Lewis’s views, he is a needed and thought provoking voice in the muddle of patriotic cheerleading that makes up the bulk of historical writings about Omaha Beach. Pogue, Forrest C. George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory. New York: Viking Press, 1973. Ryan, Cornelius. The Longest Day: June 6, 1944. New York: Touchstone, 1959. about the author: Tyler Abt, Virginia Tech class of 2015, developed this paper in Professor Peter Wallenstein’s class in Historical Methods in the fall of his sophomore year. Published in memoriam.

21