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Invasion Begins!
1:00 a.m.
Glider and paratrooper units land behind German beach defenses. Many units are dropped far off course, they are scattered and disorganized but put up a fight wherever they can. The British 6th Airborne division anchored the British easter flank by securing bridges over the Orne River and the Caen canal. The U.S. 101st and 82nd Airborne were dropped near Ste. Mere-Eglise and Carentan to secure road junctions and beach exits. -
Germany Reacts
1:30 a.m.
The German 7th army received word that the allies were attacking in Caen and Cotentin. -
Beach Assault is Underway
3:30 a.m.
Assault waves begin loading into the landing craft, the rough water makes it very dangerous for the soldiers to climb down the nets. The flat bottomed LCVP's were not built for the rough waters and many sank before they got to shore, the men who did make it to shore were seasick and disoriented. -
German Counter Attack
4:00 a.m.
Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt orders two panzer diviosions to Caen. But before the order went through it had to be put on hold until Hitler coule be contacted to okay the command. This a long time because Hitler was asleep and no one wanted to go in and wake him. But eventually the order got through and the 2 panzer divisions moved on Caen. -
Allied Bombing Begins
5:58 a.m.
The Allies begin to demolish the German defenses with more than 700 warships and other vessels. One German reported it as " a relentless wave of formidable warships" -
Assault Waves Hit the Beach
6:30 a.m.
Assault waves get to shore, of all the beaches Omaha is the worst, with concrete obstacles and mines. The Germans had heavely defended this beach scattereing anti tank and anti personnel mines everywhere, along with machine gun nests and bunkers. This was the beach that was patrolled by the highly trained 352nd Infantry Division. Most of the landing craft ran ashore on a shallow sandbar 50 yards off of the coast. -
Heavy Losses
6:38 a.m.
The worst area on Omaha was called Dog Green, which was in front of the strongpoint guarding the Vierville Draw. Company C of the 2nd Rangers was in charge of taking this draw but the men could barely get ashore, losing many landing craft before they even hit the beach. When the Rangers finally made it too the wall, half of their original unit was gone. -
Lifes a Beach
7:00 a.m.
The second wave that landed on Omaha did not fair much better. Artillery and mortar batteries were destroying the landing craft at will. Less than one-third of the first allied assault wave made it to shore. As more waves landed they had the same roblems and the ones that made it ashore just mingled in with the rest of the survivors from the first wave. -
Making Progress
7:30-12:30 a.m.
Slowly but surely the troops on Omaha moved up the beach. They made it over the cliffs and with precise fire and great bravery started knocking out machine gun nests and bunkers. Once up on the cliff the rangers found a maze of trenches connected to bunkers and nests and proceded to take them out. toward the end of the afternoon they occupied the strongpoint and ended the resistance. -
Bad News
3:35 p.m.
The german 352nd Panzer division incorrectly advised its Army HQ that the allied attack had been pushed back to sea. They did not correctthis mistake untill 8:00 p.m. -
A Long Day
9:30 p.m.
By nightfall the beach was a mess of burning debris, but the German positions were in allied hands. The allies had not pushed the Germans far enough back to be out of range of mortars and artillery, so they were victims to mortar fire on ammo dumps and unloading points throughout the night. -
Allies Gain Momentum
4:30p.m.
As reinforcement waves landed on the beaches they had to make their ay through enemy sniper fire and enemy artillery. They opened 13 of the gaps and cleared one-third of the obstacles that were originally on the beach. American units advanced in pockets, encountering scattered but strong resistance along the way. They were a mile and a half deep into German occupied territory, but the foothold was made. -
Period: to
D Day
