2nd ARTICLE FOR OPERATION OVERLORD. ~ D-Day – June 6th 1944 ~
The Airborne Forces
That night over 820 aircraft carrying paratroopers, or
towing gliders, left their air bases in southern England
and headed for predetermined landing zones in Normandy.
They were preceded by over 1,000 bombers to soften up
German coastal defences prior to the early morning seaborne landings. Some bombers also dropped by parachute
hundreds of life-size dummies all over Normandy as part of
a deception and confusion plan.
Shortly after midnight, the American 101st and 82nd airborne
divisions parachuted into their prescribed landing zones at
the base of the Cotentin peninsula to the west end of the invasion area. Cloud and flak disrupted the air
armada’s formation on the final run-in and scattered the paratroopers. They suffered many casualties by
drowning as some were dropped into the deliberately inundated areas. Nevertheless these elite troops
secured their main objectives and held on grimly – their link up with the main sea-borne landings was only
hours away.
The British 6th airborne division of paratroopers, and a special task force landing in gliders,
simultaneously landed in the east side of the invasion area and moved quickly to secure their objectives.
The glider task force quickly captured key bridges on the Orne River and Caen Canal. After a fierce fight
a substantially under strength paratrooper force subdued the Merville battery which was in position to
target the Allied invasion ships soon to appear off the beaches. The vanguard airborne troops landings
were considered a heartening success.
~ The Sea-borne Forces ~ The 5,000 ships and craft of the invasion fleet arrived off the beaches before
dawn. Despite a slight improvement in the weather gusty winds churned up five to six foot waves in the
English Channel and most of the 170,000 assault troops suffered from seasickness.
Stan Grayland recalls... for four days our Landing Craft Flack, ( LCF 30), numbered because such small
ships were not permitted names, sat tied to a buoy off Whale Island, the Royal Navy Gunnery School at
Portsmouth, on the South Coast of England. LCF 30 was sealed, meaning no one could leave the craft, and
was readied for what everyone knew was inevitable... the invasion of France, considered to be the
beginning of the end of World War 2... D-DAY.
It was Monday June 5th 1944 and our craft, together with some 4000 other forms of shipping with thousands
of fully trained men. lifted themselves, took up their stations and, with a last wave to onlookers on the
shore, headed slowly out into the English Channel to assemble on the southern side of the Isle of Wight.
In the early evening, with high winds and rough seas, the journey to France was about to begin.
Large passenger vessels crammed with troops, minesweepers, escort ships scurrying about, large warships
and landing craft took up their p1aces ready to move off, and the men entrusted with the initial assault
looked, thought and wondered, where would they be tomorrow. Barrage balloons floated above at the end of
steel ropes to deter low flying aircraft from attacking the invasion force. They were blown from side to
side in the strong winds and the men watched the choppy seas and knew it would be a very uncomfortable
trip ending with disembarkation onto heavily defended enemy held beaches. Sadly the journey for some would
end all too soon.
"Action Stations" for the men of LCF.30 required the manning of small Pom-Pom and Oerlikon anti aircraft
guns throughout the night, not knowing what the morning would bring. For most of those 18 and 19 year
olds, this was to be their first big adventure. Hundreds of planes flew overhead, some to drop bombs on
the beach defences, some to slow down the deployment of enemy reinforcements and some troop carrying
planes towing gliders packed full with troops with the task of landing silently to capture strategic
positions before the main assault force had landed.
At sea the invading armada kept steadily on, no lights were visible. "Maintain your station" was the
order, a very difficult thing to achieve with flat bottomed craft with no hull. Collisions at sea at this
crucial time would be disastrous and could not be allowed to happen. During the night, the coast of France
came into view. As far as the eye could see along the 80 kilometre of landing beaches, they were lit by
fires caused by bombing and shelling. At this early stage there was no indication that the enemy knew we
were coming.
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Sometime around 6.30am, and still some 8 kilometres from the
beach, the ships carrying the assault troops hove too, the
assault landing craft, LCAs. were lowered, mostly with men
already in their allotted places, and then when all were in
place. escorts like LCF30, turned to the beach and the
dangerous journey began.....
Two things remain vividly in my memory. The first were the
Rocket ships that went in with us. They carried 1020 5 inch
rockets and on each firing of say 30 rockets, at least 1 would
misfire and after wobbling its way out of the launcher would
land amongst the assault craft. My guess is there were more
casualties on landing craft at sea caused by them than any enemy fire from the beach. And my second memory
is of the sky being full of planes in the early evening, Stirling bombers towing gliders - the planes
dropping supplies and the gliders landing men some 1 or 2 miles inland. Then when darkness came we took
station in TROUT LINE where we were able to watch the tracer bullets being exchanged between sides.
German coastal batteries started firing on the fleet at 5.30 a.m. and the Allied naval bombardment
countered at 6 a.m. The battleships and cruisers were about 6 miles off the beaches and the destroyers
held off at about 4 miles. As the orange flames from their gun muzzles lit up the dawn the thunderous
noise of their bombardment rolled up and down the coast. The bombardment detonated some large minefields
and knocked out a few defensive positions but the clouds of smoke and sand soon made the shore almost
invisible. Many German strong points escaped serious damage.
The western task force of American troops started their run in to the two invasion beaches designated Utah
and Omaha. The U.S. 4th division was scheduled to land on the westernmost beach (Utah) at the foot of the
Cotentin peninsula. When about 300 yards off the beach they fired smoke signals in the air and the
bombardment lifted to defences further inland. At 6.31 a.m. the first amphibious soldiers to land in
France on D-Day walked off their landing craft into waist deep water and waded 100 yards to dry land.
There was surprisingly little response from the German defenders. Many Germans had been killed, and their
guns destroyed, by the preliminary bombardment. The survivors were too dazed and numbed to provide an
effective response. The beach area was cleared inside 3 hours and some 23,000 men and 28 tanks landed.
Casualties were less than 200.
On the next beach to the east (Omaha) it was an entirely different matter. The U.S. 1st division ran into
heavy artillery and machine gun fire as soon as the landing craft ramps were lowered. A lateral current
along the beach shore had badly scattered the men and their units and in the confusion the exceptionally
strong German fire took a large toll of the initial assault units. Many wounded men were drowned in the
rising tide and the first wave, and subsequent waves, were initially stalled at the waterline. The
majority of the American "swimming" tanks had been unloaded too far off shore and sank under the waves.
This left the troops with only their personal weapons to oppose the many beach strong-points firing at
them. Destroyers from the bombarding fleet raced in as close to the beach as they dared and provided some
covering fire. The issue was in doubt for the first 3 hours and only through improvisation and courageous
personal leadership were the troops at last able to get off the beach and onto the heights beyond.
Nevertheless, by nightfall, some 34,000 men were ashore at a cost of 2,000 casualties. At this point the
beachhead was only 2 miles deep.
Two US Ranger battalions scaled the 100-foot high cliffs at Point du Hoc, three miles west of Omaha Beach,
to silence the six 155mm German howitzers said to be in that battery. The guns had previously been moved
one mile inland and, by nightfall, the Rangers had suffered 60% casualties in overpowering the defending
German troops and beating off counterattacks. Despite these losses they later found the guns and put them
out of action.
The 3 beaches to the east of the invasion area, codenamed respectively Gold, Juno and Sword, were the
responsibility of the Eastern task force – the British Second Army. Because of the later tide, and the
fact they planned to land on a rising tide, their landings didn’t start until almost 7.30 a.m. On Gold
beach, nearest to Omaha, the 50th Division and the 8th Armoured Brigade were scheduled to land with the
tanks in the vanguard. Some initial assault units were pinned down by accurate German fire but others
overran the defenders within half an hour. Subsequent waves gradually flanked the defenders and pushed
inland. By nightfall they had advanced about 2.5 miles inland on a front of 3 miles. However they failed
to link up with the American Omaha beachhead there being a gap of seven miles between them.
Q’S TO ANSWER ON A SEPARATE SHEET: TITLE IT “SECOND OPERATION OVERLORD ARTICLE Q’S”
1.WHAT DID THE FIRST AMPHIBIOUS SOLDIERS TO LAND IN FRANCE DO AT 6:31AM?
2.ACCORDING TO GRAYLAND, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO 1 OUT OF EVERY 30 ROCKETS, AND WHAT DAMAGE WOULD IT DO?
3. WHAT WAS THE RESULT OF THE 101ST AND 82ND AIRBORNED BEING DROPPED IN “deliberately inundated areas”?
4. WHAT DID SOME BOMBERS DROP THE NIGHT BEFORE D-DAY TO DECEIVE AND CONFUSE THE NAZIS?
5. WHAT WERE THE THREE CODENAMES OF THE BEACHES EAST OF THE INVASION AREA?
6. WHAT WAS THE AFFECT OF THE “LATERAL CURRENT” ON THE U.S. 1ST DIVISION ON D-DAY?
7. ACCORDING TO GRAYLAND, WHAT LIT UP THE BEACHES OF FRANCE ON THE NIGHT BEFORE HIS INVASION?
8. What was done during the invasion to “to deter low flying aircraft from attacking?”
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