D-Day Landings: Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach was one of the five main landing beaches for the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6th June 1944. Omaha was the largest of the five beaches and was vital in order to link up with the Americans at Utah Beach to the West and the British at Gold Beach to the East. Omaha Beach was assigned to the Americans.

Omaha Beach was defended by the German 352nd Infantry. Little went right for the Americans on D-Day at Omaha. Landing craft missed their targets and the 352nd were much stronger than anticipated. Virtually all of the amphibious Sherman tanks that were meant to support the infantry never made the beaches. The ones that left their landing craft 5,000 yards out, experienced heavier swells in the sea than they were designed for and they sank. 10 landing crafted were also swamped and lost.

The landings started at 6:30am and as the infantry disembarked the landing craft they wade to wade for 50-100 yards before making the beach. Once there, it was a further 200 yards of open shingle beach to cross. Beyond these were steep escarpments that offered few possible routes off the beach. Casualty rates on Omaha were high and for duration of the morning, the American position was on a knife-edge. It is entirely likely that if German reinforcements had arrived, the Americans would have pushed off the beach.

Ultimately, it was the US Rangers who led the advance off the beach by scaling the cliffs. As German resistance was slowly overcome, the Americans gained the upper hand. By the evening, Omaha Beach was under American control. 34,000 men had landed on Omaha Beach and suffered 2,200 casualties.

Tours for 2010

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