AFTER ACTION REPORT
BRIGADIER GENERAL COMMAND aboard USS Texas commemorating D-Day (08 June 2019)
BRIGADIER GENERAL COMMAND aboard USS Texas commemorating D-Day (08 June 2019)
Omaha and Pointe Du Hoc - Story of a Landing
06h00 Standard British Double Summer Time (the
official clock of Overlord)
The Royal Navy has
failed to deliver the US Rangers to Pointe du Hoc (or Hoe as it said on the US
maps). Blown like most of the invasion fleet to the East, the Rangers, realizing
the error, decide not to storm Pointe de Percée and head West
for their original goal.
07h30
Delayed by the storm,
the Omaha landings begin as the Rangers arrive at Pointe du Hoc. For the Rangers,
the innovative technology does not work as planned: All four DUKWs with ladders
loaned by the London Fire Brigade find the beach too unstable and topple in the
wind. The ropes to assault the cliff have all become drenched with sea water
and under the weight the rockets fall short, leaving the Rangers no choice but
to climb the hard way, one hand grip at a time.
At Omaha, the Seabees
are tackling the German obstacles, with some success. Fortunately, the naval
bombardment has kept the bunkers closed while they land, but too many fall prey
to the booby traps.
08H30
Partial clearance
allows landing areas on Fox White and Easy Green beaches. The others are
impassable, leaving landing craft blocked on their approach. None of the Army
Engineers have made it ashore, so no one has mine clearing equipment at the
ready. At Fox White, remembering the training, “Die on the beach, or get off
the beach”, men of the 116th Infantry charge and find a path where
no mines explode.
Over at Pointe du Hoc,
under machine gun fire from concealed bunkers, the Rangers are having a tough
time searching for a way up the cliffs. Many wounded need treatments on the
rocks at the bottom.
09h30
Cross fire along Omaha
beach is intense. Nonetheless, two platoons of deep wading Sherman tanks and three
individual Duplex Drive tanks have made it ashore. Crowded by Infantry units
that are seeking a way off the beach, the Sherman tanks set to their task of picking
off the bunkers on the bluffs.
Lacking engineer
support the infantry choose to rush the defenses. Minefields take out many, but
paths are discernable, and platoon after platoon make the courageous choice to
climb the bluffs.
Over at Pointe du Hoc,
clearing the cliff tops, many of the US Rangers fall foul of minefields
deviously placed along the cliff path. Attacks on the nearby fortifications
will have to wait as wounded are lowered down the cliff to the medic station
below.
12h00
The US Army Air Corps
report success. Artillery of the German 312 Division that Allied intelligence had
not previously detected were sighted and destroyed.
The regimental head
quarters units aboard LCI(L) ships, decide the situation on the beach is too
crowded and confused, so opt to continue command operations from offshore,
thereby delaying the landing sequence.
US Rangers, under
penetrating crossfire from both East and West, have reached Pointe du Hoc and
report by signal lamp that it is unmanned with no artillery present.
Brave troops of the 116th
Regimental Combat team have either found their way behind the German bunkers
overlooking Omaha or chosen to assault them directly. Hard fighting is in
progress.
12h15
Exceptional Progress.
The Rangers opted to storm the enemy positions that were out-flanking them to
the West and despite heavy losses took the positions. Mortar shells continue to
rain down upon them, so they know they must advance inland.
On Omaha beach, the rush
of the incoming tide engulfs the last Sherman Tanks, leaving the poor bloody infantry
alone to take the fight up the bluffs. Paths through the minefields are lost
and regained, at a heavy toll, yet many strong points are taken, and all are being
engaged, thus suppressing every strong point from firing at further waves of
landing craft.
That said, the Germans
still have officer units in the town sectors above the beach, AA units (including
a platoon of the dreaded 88’s) in the bocage overlooking the landing approach,
and an armored grenadier battalion of reinforcements fast approaching.
