The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 23, Number 8 | Page 28

Utah Beach
Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied
landing beaches. Utah was added to the invasion plan toward the end of the
planning strategies, when more landing crafts became available. Despite being
substantially off course, the US 4th Infantry Division landed with relatively
little resistance, in stark contrast to Omaha Beach, where the fighting was
fierce.
Omaha Beach
The primary objective at Omaha was to secure a beachhead of some five miles
depth, between Port-en-Bessin and the Vire River, linking with the British
landings at Golf to the east, and reaching the area of Isigny to the west to link
up with VII Corps landing at Utah. Opposing the landings was the German
352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, through they
were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. The
352nd had never had any battalion or regimental training. Of the 12,020 men of the division, only 6.800 were experienced
combat troops, detailed to defend a 33 mile front. The Germans were largely deployed in strongpoints along the coast—the
German strategy was based on defeating any seaborne assault at the water line. Nevertheless, Allied calculations indicated
that Omaha’s defenses were three times as strong as those they had encountered during the Battle of Kwajalein and its
defenders were four times as many. Very little went as planned during the
landing at Omaha. Difficulties in navigation caused the majority of landing craft
to miss their targets throughout the day. The defenses were unexpectedly
strong, and inflicted heavy casualties on landing US Troops. Under heavy fire,
the engineers struggled to clear the beach obstacles; later landings bunched up
around the few channels that were cleared. Weakened by the casualties taken
just in landing, the surviving assault troops could not clear the heavily defended
exits off the beach. This caused further problems and consequent delays for
later landings. Small penetrations were eventually achieved by groups of
survivors making improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most
heavily defended points. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had
been won, which were subsequently exploited against weaker defenses further
inland, thus achieving the original D-Day objectives over the following days.
Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial
Established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 and the first
American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery
site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres
and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom
lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. On the
Walls of the Missing, in a semicircular garden on the east side of the
memorial, are inscribed 1,557 names. Rosettes mark the names of
those since recovered and identified.
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