War of beach map code#
War of beach map free#

The German defensive preparations and the lack of any defense in depth indicated that their plan was to stop the invasion at the beaches. Tank turret mounted on a Tobruk at Widerstandsnest 68, June 1944 Behind the sand embankment and sea wall was a level shelf of sand, narrow at either end and extending up to 200В m (220В yd) inland in the center, and behind that rose steep escarpments or bluffs 30вЂ“50В m (33вЂ“55В yd) high, which dominated the whole beach and were cut into by small wooded valleys or draws at five points along the beach, codenamed west to east D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1. For the remaining two thirds of the beach after the seawall ended, the shingle lay against a low sand embankment. At the western end, the shingle bank rested against a stone (further east becoming wood) sea wall which ranged from 1.5вЂ“4В m (5вЂ“13В ft) in height. Above the tide line was a bank of shingle 2.5В m (8В ft) high and up to 15В m (49В ft) wide in places. The crescent-shaped beach presented a gently sloping tidal area averaging 300В m (330В yd) between low and high-water marks. Omaha was bounded at either end by large rocky cliffs. Sectors were further subdivided into beaches identified by the colors Green, Red, and White.

Eight further sectors were added when the invasion was extended to include Utah on the Cotentin Peninsula. The names of both Omaha and Utah were probably suggested by Omar Bradley, as two privates fitting out his London headquarters were from Omaha, Nebraska (Gayle Eyler) and Provo, Utah they were not named after the corps commanders, who were from Virginia (Gerow) and Louisiana (Collins). The area of beach that would become Omaha was originally designated X-Ray, from the phonetic alphabet of the day the name was changed on 3 March 1944.

War of beach map code#

The coastline of Normandy was divided into sixteen sectors, which were assigned code names using a spelling alphabet-from Able, west of Omaha, to Roger on the east flank of Sword. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won, which were subsequently exploited against weaker defenses further inland, achieving the original D-Day objectives over the following days.Дiagrammatic cross section of the beach at Omaha Small penetrations were eventually achieved by groups of survivors making improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most heavily defended points. This caused further problems and consequent delays for later landings. Weakened by the casualties taken just in landing, the surviving assault troops could not clear the heavily defended exits off the beach. Under heavy fire, the engineers struggled to clear the beach obstacles later landings bunched up around the few channels that were cleared. The defenses were unexpectedly strong, and inflicted heavy casualties on landing U.S. Difficulties in navigation caused most of the landing craft to miss their targets throughout the day. The Allied plan called for initial assault waves of tanks, infantry, and combat engineer forces to reduce the coastal defenses, allowing larger ships to land in follow-up waves. The German strategy was based on defeating any seaborne assault at the water line, and the defenses were mainly deployed in strongpoints along the coast.

Of its 12,020 men, 6,800 were experienced combat troops, detailed to defend a 53-kilometer (33В mi) front. Opposing the landings was the German 352nd Infantry Division. The battle-hardened 1st Infantry Division was given the eastern half. Army Rangers redirected from Pointe du Hoc, assaulted the western half of the beach. The untested American 29th Infantry Division, along with nine companies of U.S. The primary objective at Omaha was to secure a beachhead eight kilometers (5.0 miles) deep, between Port-en-Bessin and the Vire River, linking with the British landings at Gold to the east, and reaching the area of Isigny to the west to link up with VII Corps landing at Utah.

War of beach map free#

Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops, with sea transport, mine sweeping, and a naval bombardment force provided predominantly by the United States Navy and Coast Guard, with contributions from the British, Canadian and Free French navies.

Landings here were necessary to link the British landings to the east at Gold with the American landing to the west at Utah, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the Normandy coast of the Bay of the Seine. 'Omaha' refers to an 8-kilometer (5В mi) section of the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel, from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve River estuary. Omaha, commonly known as Omaha Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, during World War II.