At Omaha beach none of the German strongpoints had been taken out by the pre-invasion bombardment. The bombers had dropped their loads farther inland and the naval guns hadn’t found them either. For the first few hours Omaha beach was a shooting gallery. Everything that landed was piling up near the shore. The sea literally turned red at the shoreline.
Around 9 am our destroyers came up within a thousand yards of the shore, trained their guns on the bluffs and blasted them for half an hour.
....”For the first few hours Omaha beach was a shooting gallery. Everything that landed was piling up near the shore. The sea literally turned red at the shoreline”......
Really makes you pause to consider doesn’t it.....I remember before seeing Tom Hanks film on D-Day someone said don’t go because it’s too bloody. Well, from what I read the veterans had said after they went that those scenes were pretty much just how it was. I saw the movie...and have watched it many times since.
I also understand that because of the smoke, not just from the military but the fires set by the rockets, that visibility was horrible.... then you add that the boats just kept on bringing men in, and the Germans kept right on shooting them..even before they landed.. some never made it to shore.
Horrible how brutal it was...but then the Nazi’s are just that....bloodthirsty brutes...and then some even today.