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| There were five landing beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword and Juno.
Six divisions were to land on on these beaches on the first day of the invasion; three U.S., two British and one Canadian.
The Americans were assigned Utah and Omaha, while British forces had to attack Gold and Sword beaches and the Canadians were responsible
for Juno.
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| Map of Normandy landing beaches |
| The Allies needed to capture a major port as soon as possible. By taking Utah Beach the
VII (US) Corps would put the Allies within 60 miles of the port of Cherbourg.
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| Capturing Utah Beach was relatively easy. The only effective defence the Germans had was
a single outnumbered strong point called W5 which had been pulverised by the pre-invasion bombardment. The commander of
Strongpoint W5, Lieutenant Arthur Jahnke, had no choice but to surrender when their only effective gun (a dug-in 88mm)
malfunctioned as a result of shrapnel damage.
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| Omaha was arguably the most important beach to be targeted. It was a critical link between
the Contentin peninsula and the flat plain in front of Caen. The US 1st and 29th Divisions, as well as the 5th Ranger Battalion
and 5th Engineer Special Brigade were allocated the responsiblity of capturing the beach.
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US troops advance on Omaha Beach |
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In contrast to Utah, the taking of Omaha Beach was, by far, the most difficult. The geography of
the beach made the advance extremeley treacherous. The Germans frequently had the advantage of high ground overlooking the attackers.
Also their pillboxes were very well protected, thereby surviving the pre-ivnasion naval pounding. Similarly the rugged terrain meant
that the Americans has to scale many bluffs and unsurprisingly suffered many losses in doing so.
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| The enemy infantry was also greatly underestimated at Omaha. The 352nd Division,
which had been believed to be 20 miles inland, was waiting for the Allies directly behind the beach. Together, with the
84th German Corps and 3rd Sturm-Flak Korps, this battle-hardened (from the time on Russian front) force provided a powerful
defence of the coastline. Again the previous naval attack assisted US efforts, having killed many of the German infantry.
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| The 50th Northumbrian Division landed on Gold Beach. Their primary directive was to take control of
the small port of Arromanches. This was to be a site of one of the (two) Mulberrys - artifiacial harbours for bringing supplies on land.
They were then to penetrate inland while linking up with the US forces from Omaha Beach to the west and the Canadian army from Juno Beach
to the east.
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| Initially, the enemy response was fierce. However, the British quickly broke through the defences, obtaining their
objectives with very light casualties. One reason for this speedy advance was the poor quality of opposition. The 'Ost' army of Russian and Polish
conscripts forced to fight for the Nazis put up little resistance, as did the 716th Infantry Division - a second-rate German force. In addition, the
British were well equipped with armoured vehicles, including the 'Flail' tank (Shermans fitted with a large roller and chains) which cleared the
beach of mines easing the the advance and saving many British lives.
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| A Britsih Flail Tank in Action on Gold Beach |
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It is widly believed that the loss of life at Omaha Beach would have been greatly reduced had the Americans accepted use of 'Flail' tanks.
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| Juno was chosen for attack because of proximity to the airfield at Carpiquet near Caen. The Canadian 3rd Division
were given the task of taking this beach.
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| Having recently seen their 2nd Division all but annihilated during the raid on Dieppe (a precursor to invasion)
the Canadians were wary. However lessons had been learned from Dieppe such that the invaders overwhelmed the enemy defences. 'Ost' forces were defeated
at the shore after which the Canadians pushed farther inland than the US or British with only limited losses.
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| Sword was the responsibility of the British 3rd Infantry Division. After capturing the
beach they were to advance inland to Caen and join up with British Airborne forces east of the Orne River/Caen Canal.
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| The British were quick to head inland. Having quickly defeated the well dug-in, but over-stretched
716th Infantry Division, the Allied force advanced south to Pegasus bridge where they linked up with Major John Howard's glider commandos.
Unfortunately the march inland was stalled when the invaders met with counter-attacks from the 12th and 21st Panzer divisions.
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| Britsih troops move inland from Sword Beach |
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