Invasion of Normandy

Execution

On June 6, 1944, D-day, the invasion of Normandy began. At 2 a.m., paratroopers dived down to the western and eastern end of the invasion area. Allied planes began a two hour bombing raid on German barracks. French resistance groups, which were notified through coded messages on the radio, began to sabotage German communication by cutting telephone and cable lines. In doing so, eighty seven civilians were executed for helping the Allied invaders. At 6:30 a.m., the first two American troops disembarked on Utah and Omaha beach, the western flank of the landing area. The landing on Utah beach was remarkably successful as troops met no fierce resistance from the Germans. Of the 23,000 men landed, there were 197 casualties. However, the second landing on American troops on Omaha beach played out entirely differently. The German bunkers were not hit by the allied bombers and German soldiers had machine guns ready on the beach when the first wave of Americans landed. The biggest flaw in Omaha beach was the absence of DD (duplex drive) tanks. These tanks were made to operate in water with propellers and canvases that kept it water proof; on land, it would shed its screen and move forward to fire at enemy positions. These tanks were effective but waves broke the canvas screens and tanks sank out at sea before it reached Omaha beach. At Omaha, 34,000 men disembarked and 25,00 soldiers were dead or wounded within few hours of arrival. At 07:35 a.m. the Canadian brigade launched their action on the Juno Beach. There were 14,000 Canadian soldiers participating and 450 of these soldiers were paratroopers. The commander for this beach was General Miles Dempsey. The main assault force was the Third Canadian Infantry Division, whose goal was to cut the Caen-Bayeux road to form a link between the two British beaches Gold and Sword, which was separated by Juno. However just before they arrived at the shore, they were faced with a rather vexing situation. Six months before the invasion was launched, German general Erwin Rommel had planted about 4 millions antitank traps all around the shore of Normandy including the dragon's teeth, tetrahedral, and the hedgehogs; all jagged metal traps and barriers designed to blow up tanks. These traps were hidden underwater and although they can be avoided during low tides, high tides were needed so that the boats would be able to travel the least amount of distance. This dilemma caused the Canadians to wait ten minutes for the arrival of the right tide (midway between the high and low tides) in order for the troops to be able to travel less ground in the sea while detecting the great number of undersea obstacles. These stakes were also twice as dangerous since they were also mined, damaging or destroying 30% of the ships. Many of the Canadian soldiers had to wade to shore. But, when the Canadians reached the beach, the Germans were ready and armed on the beach,