They tabulated men and matériel in excruciating detail. Allied planners determined the number of troops, tanks, and aircraft needed for such an operation. Morgan’s staff performed the unheralded but vital task of number crunching that would be done on a monumental scale. Morgan and his staff immediately set to work developing preliminary plans for an invasion of France.įormulating a workable scheme for what promised to be the largest invasion in military history was a herculean logistical endeavor. Sir Frederick Morgan to serve as chief of staff to the Supreme Allied Commander, or COSSAC. In March 1943 the Allies selected British Lt. If the Allies could establish a beachhead, they would have an ideal path to the Ruhr industrial region of western Germany. In this way, Anglo-American forces battered away at the edges of an overextended Nazi empire.īut perhaps the greatest prize of the war remained occupied France. Beginning with Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, the Allies maintained their momentum against the Third Reich with landings in Sicily and Italy in 1943. Since Germany’s declaration of war on the United States on December 11, 1941, an Allied assault against continental Europe was inevitable. Each assault company was assigned to one of eight sectors. Elements of the 29th and 1st Infantry Divisions landed on the six-mile-long stretch of sand flats at Omaha Beach. “They’re leaving us here to die like rats!” screamed Private Henry Witt above the steady roar of enemy fire. Terrified and demoralized, the green troops of Company A had entered the worst killing zone on Omaha Beach. Enemy positions were well concealed, and the hapless riflemen of Company A, unable to effectively fight back, fell in mangled heaps. Struggling forward through a hail of machine-gun and shellfire, the survivors desperately sought cover behind tank obstacles placed by the Germans. Those who could not get free of the loads drowned. They thrashed about while strapped to heavy loads. Once in the water where they were weighed down with their equipment, they faced a life-and-death struggle to keep their heads above water. Some men chose in their desperation to jump overboard instead of exiting the front of the craft. Their lifeless bodies toppled into the water. Many of the first men who exited the landing craft were slain by machine guns positioned to have interlocking fields of fire. As the ramps were lowered, the troops were fully exposed to the fury of the German machine guns. When it was about 30 yards offshore, the flat-bottomed vessel struck a sandbar. “We figured the chances of our survival were very slim,” recalled Roach.Īt 6:30 am the landing craft carrying Company A quickly closed the distance to the beach. Private George Roach recalled that he and his fellow soldiers were well aware that their assignment to the first wave would result in heavy casualties. Assigned to the first wave of assault troops landing on Omaha Beach’s Dog Green sector, the troops were the spearhead of a massive Allied invasion aimed at breaking Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.Īs the landing craft approached the beach, the soldiers inside could hear the telltale sound of machine-gun rounds striking the raised ramps. 29th Infantry Division that the coming hour would be the gravest test of their lives. As their landing craft plunged through heavy surf on the morning of June 6, 1944, it was obvious to the men of Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, U.S.
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