Precisely what the enemy knew: ALH, vol. 2, 35–36; Hinsley, 466–67 (5 percent); Leppert, “Communication Plans and Lessons, Europe and Africa,” lecture, Oct. 30, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, L-7-44, 22–24; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 479–82; Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 290 (electronic signature); Dear, ed., The Oxford Companion to World War II, 333 (simulate two large naval fleets).
The actual OVERLORD fleets: Allen, “Electronics Warfare,” lecture, Sept. 21, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, L-7-44, 4; Leppert, “Communication Plans and Lessons, Europe and Africa,” lecture, Oct. 30, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, L-7-44, 22–24; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 479–82 (Jamming had begun).
Of particular concern were glide bombs: DOB, 217–19; Sunset 592, June 6, 1944, NARA RG 457, E 9026, SRS–1869 (145 radio-control bombers); Martin J. Bollinger, “Warriors and Wizards: The Development and Defeat of Radio-Controlled Bombs of the Third Reich,” ts, 2010, a.p., 326, 345–46; Orus Kinney, “Nazi Smart Bombs,” VHP, Jan. 2010, www.kilroywashere.org/003-Pages/03-OrusKinney.html (“like a man’s erect penis”).
“Each time they woke us”: Stiles, Serenade to the Big Bird, 127; WaS, 42–43; Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 336 (“a late tea”); Philip Cole, “Air Planning for Overlord,” lecture, Oct. 28, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 14–16; Mason, ed., The Atlantic War Remembered, 403 (crash amid the waves).
Behind the British came: Balkoski, Utah Beach, 87–91.
Less precise was the main American force: ibid., 92; Juliette Hennessy, “Tactical Operations of the Eighth Air Force,” 1952, AFHRA, historical study no. 70, 15–17 (forty-five coastal fortifications).
Conditions were far from perfect: memo, “Statement of Result of D-Day Bombing by 4-Engine Aircraft,” Eighth AF, Aug. 8, 1944, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG; AAFinWWII, 190–93.
For an hour and a half: Robert W. Ackerman, “The Employment of Strategic Bombers in a Tactical Role,” 1954, AFHRA, study no. 88, 78; Crane, Bombs, Cities & Civilians, 70–71; memo, “Statement of Result of D-Day Bombing by 4-Engine Aircraft,” Eighth AF, Aug. 8, 1944, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (“many seconds”); Davis, Bombing the European Axis Powers, 357.
Heavy chains rattled: Naval Guns, 35–36; Breuer, Hitler’s Fortress Cherbourg, 83 (“For Chrissake”); IFG, 93 (“Anchor holding”).
Aboard Princess Astrid: J. H. Patterson, ts, n.d., IWM, 05/491, 1/7, 6 (“Troops to parade”); Ewing, 29 Let’s Go!, 37–39 (blackout curtains); Smith, The Big Red One at D-Day, 32 (“metal shoeboxes”); diary, Cyrus C. Aydlett, June 6, 1944, NWWIIM (“a great abyss”).
Nautical twilight arrived: “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 6, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46; Beevor, D-Day, 92 (“gigantic town”); Raitberger, “French Remember D-Day Landings,” Reuters, May 18, 1994 (“more ships than sea”).
Minesweepers nosed close: Yung, “Action This Day,” Naval History (June 2009): 20+; Yung, Gators of Neptune, 178; IFG, 96 (Two destroyers also took fire); Naval Guns, 36–37 (“Commence counterbattery”).
Soon enough eight hundred naval guns: “Notes on the Assault,” vol. 1, ts, n.d., Sidney Negretto Papers, MHI, box 4; VW, vol. 1, 161; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 204 (“air vibrated”); Naval Guns, 37; Liebling, Mollie & Other Pieces, 180 (“yellow cordite”); Baker, Ernest Hemingway, 501 (“railway trains”); Reynolds, Hemingway: The Final Years, 96–98, 102; Heinz, When We Were One, 10–11; McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 261 (blue steel); Lankford, ed., OSS Against the Reich, 60–61 (“There is cannonading”).
“The arc at its zenith”: John F. Latimer, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 12; Dailey, Joining the War at Sea, 1939–1945, 314 (height of the splash); Ryan, The Longest Day, 162 (“monstrous thing”); Raitberger, “French Remember D-Day Landings,” Reuters, May 18, 1994 (“It is raining iron”).
Allied planes swaddled: The smoke plane in Corry’s sector was shot down, weakening the screen. Buffetaut, D-Day Ships, 83; AR, U.S.S. Corry, June 19, 1944, MMD; McKernon, Corry, 38–52.
“We seemed to jump”: Karig, Battle Report: The Atlantic War, 334;
Most sailors on the destroyer: W. H. Greear, lecture, n.d., NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 7; Hinsley, 478 (“overlooked it”); “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 504; http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u-boat_photos/d-day_photos.htm. The cause of Corry’s sinking remained controversial long after the war.
Eight minutes after the first explosion: AR, U.S.S. Corry, June 19, 1944, NARA RG 38, CNO, 370/45/31/1, box 932, 5; Robert Beeman, “The Sinking of the U.S.S. Corry, June 6, 1944,” ts, n.d., MMD (necktie); memo, R. M. Allan, “U.S.S. Corry—Sinking of,” n.d., SEM, NHHC, box 81; OH, George D. Hoffman, CO, U.S.S. Corry, July 11, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 214–15; Hinsley, 478; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 504.
Experience from the Pacific: Yung, “The Planners’ Daunting Task,” Naval History (June 2009): 12+; WaS, 31–33; “Notes on the Assault,” vol. 1, ts, n.d., Sidney Negretto Papers, MHI, box 4 (140,000 shells); “Enemy Defenses and Beach Obstacles Above Highwater Mark,” bulletin Y/23, Nov. 1944, COHQ, CARL, N-6530-12, 7 (few enemy casemates); Yung, Gators of Neptune, 209 (Houlgate battery); AR, Don P. Moon, Force U, June 26, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #217 (none were completely knocked out); Yung, “Action This Day,” Naval History (June 2009): 20+ (pesky St.-Marcouf battery).
The Channel’s idiosyncratic tidal flow: Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 220; Babcock, War Stories, 97 (“I can jump”); Jeffers, In the Rough Rider’s Shadow, 236 (“there are shadows”).
“Away all boats”: Vining, ed., American Diaries of World War II, 101.
He was an unlikely vanguard: Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 221; Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 112–13 (“frazzle-assed”); Jeffers, In the Rough Rider’s Shadow, 4, 243; Morris, Colonel Roosevelt, 548.
“achieve the same heights as his father”: Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 173 (steel-rimmed spectacles), 307, 330, 461–63, 474, 487; AAAD, 85–86; DOB, 94–95; Hamilton, “Junior in Name Only,” Retired Officer (June 1981): 28+; http://www.loc.gov/rr/mss/text/roosvlt.html*, TR, LOC MS Div; http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/smith-al.htm*.
“What man of spirit”: Morris, Colonel Roosevelt, 509; Renehan, The Lion’s Pride, 239 (“first, best destiny”); DOB, 160; Michael David Pearlman, “To Make Democracy Safe for the World,” Ph.D. diss, University of Illinois, 1978, 606 (“manhood”); Roosevelt, Day Before Yesterday, 450–51 (“all right to pull strings”); Eleanor Roosevelt to GCM, Feb. 7, 1944, GCM Lib, box 83, folder 31 (“matter considered so serious”).
The Army’s chief capitulated: TR to R. O. Barton, May 26, 1944, TR, LOC MS Div, box 39 (“the behavior pattern”); Jeffers, In the Rough Rider’s Shadow, 5 (“can’t be that rough”); TR to Eleanor, July 11, 1944, TR, LOC MS Div, box 10; IFG, 100.
He was on the wrong beach: Balkoski, Utah Beach, 182; IFG, 98; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 172–73; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 231 (two thousand yards south); Naval Guns, 44 (“Higher than her length”); Maynard D. Pederson et al., “Armor in Operation Neptune,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, 21 (the remaining Shermans).
“We’re not where we’re supposed to be”: James A. Van Fleet, SOOHP, H. Williams, 1973, MHI, 55–56.
The accidental beach: “Combat Engineering,” CE, Dec. 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 19–21; Baker, Ernest Hemingway, 501 (“pikemen”); Ryan, The Longest Day, 179 (“real estate”); Rollyson, Nothing Ever Happens to the Brave, 197 (“heavy, dry glove”).
“How do you boys”: Astor, June 6, 1944, 229; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 236 (“great day for hunting”); “Notes on Utah Beach and the 1st Engineer Special Brigade,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #359A, 67; Fane and Moore, The Naked Warriors, 68 (“Fire in the hole”); OH, Herbert A. Peterson, Naval Combat Demolition, Oct. 1, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 2–3 (“no fea
r of impaling”).
Through the dunes and across the beach: Royce L. Thompson, “American Strength in D-Day Landings,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AE.P-5; Ingersoll, Top Secret, 126 (“ironed flat”); Fowle, ed., Builders and Fighters, 448–49 (Four causeways); Balkoski, Utah Beach, 236 (“arm signal”).
The mutter of gunfire: Maynard D. Pederson et al., “Armor in Operation Neptune,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, 28–29; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 181 (shaving cream); Balkoski, Utah Beach, 254 (horse-drawn 88mm guns); diary, Cyrus C. Aydlett, June 10, 1944, NWWIIM (“It sure takes a lot”); “D-Day Experience of Eugene D. Brierre,” ts, March 15, 1998, NWWIIM, 2001.160, 5–6 (snipped the unit flashes).
East of Pouppeville: CCA, 283; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 233–34 (“Where’s the war”); Babcock, War Stories, 52 (“Hey, boy”).
Eleven miles offshore: “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 5–6, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46; Chandler and Collins, eds., The D-Day Encyclopedia, 373 (delay seven assault waves).
At age fifty, Admiral Moon: Alter and Crouch, eds., “My Dear Moon,” no pagination; John A. Moreno, “The Death of Admiral Moon,” n.d., a.p., 225+.
In his spare office aboard Bayfield: “Conference on the Operations of the VII Corps,” May 16, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Collins, Lightning Joe, 200–201 (“I had to put my foot down”); CCA, 329. Historian Joseph Balkoski believes 4th ID casualties for June 6 were “certainly over 300.” Balkoski, Utah Beach, 322.
“It is our good fortune”: “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 5–6, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46.
Hell’s Beach
Fifteen miles southeast of Utah: IFG, 110–11 (Spanish galleon); ALH, 21; “Beach 46—Omaha, Tidal Curves,” n.d., CARL, N-7374E; “Operation Report Neptune,” Provisional Engineer Special Brigade Group, Sept. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #951, box 24198, 57; CCA, 18; 1st ID, HI; “Operation Report Neptune,” Provisional Engineer Special Brigade Group, Sept. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #951, box 24198, 60 (two knots to three).
That Norman tide: IFG, 138; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 566; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 41 (twenty feet deep), 22; Royce L. Thompson, “American Strength in D-Day Landings,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AE.P-5; “Strategy of the Campaign in Western Europe, 1944–1945,” n.d., USFET, General Board study no. 1, 25 (without stranding the boats); Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 53 (only half an hour).
OVERLORD’s plan called for nine infantry companies: Omaha Beachhead, AFIA, 42; Buffetaut, D-Day Ships, 101. The nine included a Ranger company.
To minimize the risk of German shore fire: Yung, Gators of Neptune, 216; Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 264; IFG, 124. Fourteen hundred tons of naval shells fell at Omaha, one-third the bombardment weight at much weaker Kwajalein Island. “Amphibious Operations: Invasion of Northern France,” CINC, U.S. Fleet, Oct. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #252, 2–27.
The German defenses were fearsome: “Comparison of British and American Areas in Normandy in Terms of Fire Support and Its Effects,” Army Operational Group Report no. 292, Aug. 14, 1945, UK NA, WO 291/270; McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 305 (“murder holes”); OH, J. D. Small, June 23, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 9 (“like huckleberries”); Drez, ed. Voices of D-Day, 283 (“New England town hall”); “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 512; IFG, 114–15 (aerial photos).
Also undetected and unexpected: Hinsley et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. 3, part 2, 842–43; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 119 (radio blackout); Fritz Ziegelmann, “The 352nd Infantry Division,” FMS, #B-432, in Isby, ed., Fighting the Invasion, 122–24 (requisitioned milk), 194–95, 202; Bennett, Ultra in the West, 45; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 48–49; Beevor, D-Day, 93; Zetterling, Normandy 1944, 277–79; Holt, The Deceivers, 578; Foot, SOE in France, 386–87 (British tricksters).
If the Omaha defenses had been thinned: Murray, “Needless D-Day Slaughter,” MHQ (spring 2003): 26+; Hinsley et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. 3, part 2, 842–43; Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead, 67, 78; Clay, Blood and Sacrifice, 201 (odds of three to five).
For those who outlived the day: “Greek lyric,” epigram, Ridgway, Soldier (this high thing).
“utterly inhuman noises”: memo, Cleave A. Jones, July 4, 1944, NARA RG 498, UD 603, ETO HD, box 1, SLAM 201 file; Baumgartner et al., The 16th Infantry, 1798–1946, 84 (gas capes); OH, J. D. Small, June 23, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 9 (“It’s yours”).
They remembered the red splash: Cawthon, Other Clay, 51–53; Lebda, Million Miles to Go, 81–82 (“wind-driven hail”); Alan Anderson, ts, n.d., 467th AA Bn, NWWIIM (“corn cobs”); diary, Jack Shea, ts, Nov. 1, 1944, NARA RG 407, CI, 29th ID, box 24034, 17 (size of shovel blades); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 134 (“wicked living things”); Scannell, Argument of Kings, 152 (“insectile whine”); Gaskill, “Bloody Beach,” American Magazine (Sept. 1944): 26+ (frightened animals); AAR, 146th Engineer Combat Bn, June 30, 1944, CEOH, X-37A (spoons); Whitehead, “Beachhead Don,” xxii (barked knuckles); W. Garwood Bacon, ts, n.d., 7th Naval Beach Bn, NWWIIM (eardrums).
“walking in the face”: Pogue, Pogue’s War, 67; Gaskill, “Bloody Beach,” American Magazine (Sept. 1944): 26+; Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 155 (“dying scream”).
Army and Navy engineers: OH, John T. O’Neill, 299th Engineer Combat Bn, June 9, 1944, NARA 407, E 427, ML #2210; Beck, 308, 320; “Combat Engineering,” CE, ETOUSA, Dec. 1945, report no. 10, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 10–16 (all drifted left); Omaha Beachhead, 42–43; AAR, 299th Engineer Combat Bn, July 1944, NARA 407, E 427, ML #2210 (Team 14’s landing craft); McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 340 (“V for victory”); Fowle, ed., Builders and Fighters, 438 (Seven died in Team 11); AAR, 146th Engineer Combat Bn, June 30, 1944, CEOH, X-37A (“like fence posts”).
Demolitionists shinnied up pilings: Field Order No. 35, 1st ID, Apr. 16, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, 301-3.9; Fowle, ed., Builders and Fighters, 438 (the fuse man’s fingers); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 134 (“cluster of bees”); Fane and Moore, The Naked Warriors, 56–58 (engineers screamed); Yung, Gators of Neptune, 187; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 143 (only six of sixteen gaps); OH, W. M. Hoge, CO, Provisional Brigade Group, July 3, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #493C; CCA, 317; IFG, 138n.
The fiascos multiplied: Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 135 (“like toads”); Lewis, “Landing Craft,” lecture, Sept. 18, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 18; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 234 (nine inches of freeboard); OH, Robert K. Skagg, 741st Tank Bn, June 18, 1944, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (of thirty-two Shermans); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 147 (“a certain gallantry”).
Artillerymen also struggled: Marshall, “The Mobility of One Man,” IJ (Oct. 1949): 6+ (eighteen sandbags); “111th FA Bn on D Day,” n.d., NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (“unseaworthy”); Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 239 (“I can still hear”).
Two infantry regiments washed: Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 28–29, 161 (“lose heart”); OH, 116th Inf, Co A, n.d., NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG; Marshall, Battle at Best, 54–55 (“inert and leaderless”); Kershaw, The Bedford Boys, 144–51 (“didn’t get to kill”); Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 213 (“like hay”).
“a venetian blind being lifted”: Baumgarten, Eyewitness on Omaha Beach, 17; Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead, 125 (LCA-1015); S. L. A. Marshall, “First Wave at Omaha Beach,” Atlantic, Nov. 1960, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1960/11/fir*; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 209 (“he sat down”); Ryan, The Longest Day, 176 (safety pins); Richler, ed., Writers on World War II, 508 (“I run on”); Cawthon, Other Clay, 57 (“a debacle”).
“the greater portion of the dead”: Baumgartner et al., The 16th Infantry, 1798–1946, 107; Pogue, Pogue’s War, 87 (rank insignia); William Haynes, Co. E, 16th Inf, HI, box 24242 (“big and little stuff”); Lebda, Million Miles to Go, 81–82 (“twenty thousand bullets”); Capa, Slightly Out of Focus, 139–40 (“Es una cosa”).
The four-hundred-ton LCI 85: AR, LCI (L) 85, June 24, 19
44, NARA RG 38, CNO, 370/45/3/1, box 1102; AAR, Company A, 1st Medical Bn, n.d., NARA 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG; Clay, Blood and Sacrifice, 195–96 (White bandages); Kenneth C. Davey, “Navy Medicine on Bloody Omaha,” in “Sixth Naval Battalion 1998 Reunion,” MRC FDM (“we could hear”).
By 8:30 A.M. the Omaha assault: McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 327; Cowdrey, Fighting for Life, 248 (“Face downwards”).
Two large boats burned furiously: AR, LCI 91, June 10, 1944, MMD; Robert E. Walker, “With the Stonewallers,” n.d., MMD (soles of his boots); AR, LCI(L) 92, Sept. 2, 1944, NARA RG 38, CNO, 370/45/3/1, box 549 (champagne corks); “Actions Group, CT 116,” n.d., John P. McKnight papers, HIA, box 1; Seth Shepard, “The Story of the LCI(L) 92,” June 25, 1944, MMD, 9–12; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 223 (“Terror seized me” and “shipwreck”).
Only where escarpment: 2nd Ranger Bn, AAR, July 22, 1944, and “A Narrative History of the Second Ranger Infantry Battalion,” n.d., both in Robert W. Black collection, MHI, box 3; CI, 2nd and 5th Ranger Bn, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, folder 337; IFG, 126–29; Ryan, The Longest Day, 182–84.
“ripped-open dirt”: Heinz, “I Took My Son to Omaha Beach,” Collier’s (June 11, 1954): 21+; “Amphibious Operations: Invasion of Northern France,” CINC, U.S. Fleet, Oct. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #252, 2–11 (Texas’s 14-inch barrels).
Rangers hauled themselves over the lip: Interview, Leonard G. Lommell with author, May 2008; OH, Leonard G. Lommell, 2nd Ranger Bn, Mar. 16, 1993, NWWIIM; Kingseed, Old Glory Stories, 198–99; author visit, May 2009.
Back on Hell’s Beach: Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 212–13 (“They’ll come swarming”); FCP, “The 25th Anniversary of D-Day,” Congressional Record, June 25, 1969, E5246+ (“couldn’t look back”); Kingseed, From Omaha Beach to Dawson’s Ridge, 145–49, 163 (“The limitations of life”).
From the gray deck of the command ship: Pyle, Brave Men, 246; CBH, June 3 and 6, 1944 (First Army war room); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 252–53; Hastings, OVERLORD, 92; memoir, William Puntenney, 29th ID, n.d., MMD, 40–41 (“bunch of hogs”).
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