Ok, first let me say that I was truly humbled. I felt that I was not worthy of walking on such historic grounds.
0630, 6 June 1944. Freedom landed.
Utah Beach
Utah Beach was the furthest west of the five beaches designated for the D-Day landings in June 1944. Located at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, it was added by General Dwight Eisenhower to the original D-Day plan to ensure the early capture of the vital port of Cherbourg, at the north of the peninsula. Eisenhower realised that the Allied advance throughout Western Europe would require vast amounts of equipment and that the only major port that could handle this in the initial stages of the war was at Cherbourg.
The target 'Utah Beach' was about three miles wide. Much of it was made up of sandy dunes and the German fortifications here were weak when compared those of Omaha Beach. The land behind the target beach was easily flooded by locks and it is assumed that the Germans believed that the area need not have too much defence as their main defence would be to flood the region when and if the Allies attacked there. There were only four main ways off the beach area and flooding would have severely restricted any form of movement, but especially that of vehicles. The nearest major town for the Allies was Carentan, to the south-west of the beach. Through Carentan ran a main road to the east to Bayeaux, which would link the Allies who landed at Utah to the Allies at Omaha and to Gold, Juno and Sword. This same road ran north-west from Carentan to Valognes. Cherbourg was only 13 miles from Valognes.
The landing at Utah was scheduled for 06.30 and the Allied force came from the US 4th Infantry Division. The plan for Utah included an airborne drop by the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions at various points two to five miles inland of the beach. Those landing on the beach were scheduled to link up with the paratroopers as soon as was possible. The paratroopers were dropped primarily to secure the main road from Valognes to Carentan and to cause general chaos as they dropped at night at 01.30. German commanders did not know if they were a decoy to a main attack elsewhere or the primary attack force in the area. For this reason, the Germans did not know what forces to deploy against the 82nd and 101st - such chaos and uncertainty was perfect for the Allies and precisely why the paratroopers were dropped.
The airborne drop worked well. The sea borne landing did not go to plan – though ironically, a battle against Nature was to be of great value to the Allies. Strong currents meant that the landing craft were taken off of their intended targets on the beach. They landed on the beach, but 2000 meters away from their main landing target. Ironically, this was one of the lesser-defended areas along the entire beach front and the casualties as the Americans came ashore were minimal when compared to Omaha. The most senior American commander on the beach, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt told his men that, “We’ll start the war from here!” and ordered an advance. By midday, the men of the US 4th Infantry had met up with the men from the 101st Airborne unit. German opposition was swiftly dealt with. By the end of the day, the Americans had
advanced about four miles inland and they were about one mile from the 82nd at St. Mère-Eglise, some six miles north of Carentan
Normandy American Cemetery
The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 and the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its ½ mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. On the Walls of the Missing in a semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial are inscribed 1,557 names. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.
This is a picture of Utah Beach from the Normandy Cemetery.
I will post some pictures of Omaha Beach and Point Du Hoc soon.
Tim
