[MEG33]

http://www.kansasheritage.org/abilene/ikedday.html
Fact Sheet D-Day, 6 June 1944 Normandy, France
snip
Omaha Beach
The landing by regiments of the 1st and 29th Infantry divisions and Army Rangers on OMAHA Beach was even more difficult than expected. When the first wave landed at 6:30 a.m., the men found that naval gunfire and prelanding air bombardments had not softened German defenses or resistance. Along the 7,000 yards of Normandy shore German defenses were as close to that of an Atlantic Wall as any of the beaches. Enemy positions that looked down from bluffs as high as 170 feet, and water and beach obstacles strewn across the narrow strip of beach, stopped the assault at the water's edge for much of the morning of D-Day.
By mid-morning, initial reports painted such a bleak portrait of beachhead conditions that Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley, United States First Army commander, considered pulling off the beach and landing troops elsewhere along the coast. However, during these dark hours, bravery and initiative came to the fore. As soldiers struggled, one leader told his men that two types of people would stay on the beach--the dead and those going to die--so they'd better get the hell out of there, and they did.

Slowly, as individuals and then in groups, soldiers began to cross the fire-swept beach. Supported by Allied naval gunfire from destroyers steaming dangerously close to shore, the American infantrymen gained the heights and beach exits and drove the enemy inland. By D-Day's end V Corps had a tenuous toehold on the Normandy coast, and the force consolidated to protect its gains and prepare for the next step on the road to Germany.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-eur/normandy/nor4o2.htm

[Stoat]

Fact Sheet D-Day, 6 June 1944 Normandy, France

Thank you so much for your essential post.  It is imperative that we never forget the incredible heroism as well as the heartbreaking losses of our soldiers.

The world we live in today is a far better place, thanks to them.

[ken5050]

Can anyone post a map? I'm trying to visualize the range of the battery to the beachhead..

[Gamecock]

The landing by regiments of the 1st and 29th Infantry divisions

"No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great, Duty First."
If you have to be one, be a BIG RED ONE!

[rochester_veteran]

Supported by Allied naval gunfire from destroyers steaming dangerously close to shore, the American infantrymen gained the heights and beach exits and drove the enemy inland. By D-Day's end V Corps had a tenuous toehold on the Normandy coast

My Dad was a gunner on the USS Doyle and that was his destroyer group that almost grounded themselves in order to get close enough in to offer effective artillery support for the Omaha Beach landing. My Dad said they were awake for 3 days during the whole ordeal. MEG33, thanks for posting the fact sheet! It gave me the chance to brag about my Dad and the other hero's of D-Day!

BTW, that was one heckuva find that British treasure hunter Gary Sterne found, real interesting stuff. I've been to Normandy and Omaha Beach and I would've loved to have found it too!

rochester_veteran

[aculeus]

The bunker sprawls over 20 acres and is thought to be the hidden German battery that decimated US soldiers at Omaha Beach, seven miles away.

Your post conforms with my understanding of Omaha. A battery seven miles distant does not.