The Lost Ranger: A Soldier's Story

by Mehlo, Noel

  Ranger Victor Miller wrote that the Rangers were given their TOP SECRET briefing, and explained how the information about it was to be kept away from the Nazis at all costs. He explained how in the briefing building, there were scaled models of the entire French coast involved in the assault landing. He described how the details surrounding the assault of Point du Hoc were laid out. The training and equipment the men had used in training all had a role to play. The German defenses, and in particular the six 155 mm cannons were located where they had been expected to be in their casemates. The facts surrounding the importance of these weapons were imparted to the men in terms of the damage these cannon could inflict upon Allied Forces. He described in detail the timing and organization of the three Ranger Task Forces. He wrote:

  “The plan was that the three companies of the 2nd Bn. would assault at H-hour and take this Pointe in the following one hour. If they did our Bn. Commander, Lt. Col. Max Schneider, would receive this radio message and we would follow them in. We would climb the cliffs and then do whatever was necessary to insure the success of the invasion. Yet, if they didn't take the Pointe in that first hour, our orders were to go on five miles up the coast to the area of the village Vierville sur Mer. We would land at H plus One, or one hour after the specified time for the beginning of the invasion. The infantry would have landed there at H-hour and would have a beachhead when we arrived. We would simply leave their beachhead and proceed by the inland route to the Pointe and assault it from the rear. This was the operation we had practiced for a month in Scotland. Now we understood! The scale model of the coast showed the houses in the villages, the roads, the hedges around the individual fields, and all details like that. We were thoroughly trained, we were thoroughly informed as to our objectives, and now it was time to put them into action!” (Miller)9

  Operational and intelligence briefings intensified for the men as they all became BIGOTs. After any soldier was given their BIGOT briefing, they were sequestered to the camp and all they could do was await the final embarkation order. They now knew where they were going, and what the Germans had to throw at them based on the latest order. They now knew where they were going, and what the Germans had to throw at them based on the latest 220). They knew their code words, sign and countersigns. They knew what artillery the enemy had, where to find it and how to destroy it. They understood the German soldier, his weapons and how to take control of and use his weapons against him. They were familiar with the tides, beaches, cliffs, and locations of the minefields. Every man knew the job of all the other men in the PRG. They were made aware of the mission of the 116th RCT. Oberstleutnant Fritz Ziegelmann, of the German Army, 352nd would later write that the American attackers had “good maps, sketches, and views of the field of view of the attacker.” Each soldier was given $20 in French francs in the event of emergency (bribes, French assistance). Many of the Rangers began to gamble with this money.1

  Maintaining adequate security was another vital aspect of the mounting, entailing protection against air attack as well as against the leakage of information. Once the briefing began at the end of May a complete security seal was imposed on all marshaling camps, wire was strung around the perimeter of each camp, all contact with the outside was controlled through gates, and more than 2,000 counterintelligence corps personnel ceaselessly covered their beats to prevent strays from entering or leaving the camps without authorization.2

  The Rangers were afforded great latitude regarding personal gear. Many of the men tailored their uniform and gear from amongst what they had on hand to make their own job easier. Some wore the blue Ranger diamond, while others left it off. Some wore rank and others did not. Some men wore a mixture of their khakis and field uniforms, while others wore the chemical impregnated uniforms allotted to the invasion forces. The Rangers wore their Corcoran jump boots much to the consternation of airborne troopers. A few fights settled that matter and the Rangers kept the boots. The Rangers did not waterproof their weapons, as they would not have time to remove the waterproofing as they hit the beaches. Some of the men did things like painting their faces black or camouflage, some shaved their heads or cut in Mohawks or high and tights.1 Unlimited ammo was provided in the event the men wanted to practice fire their weapons by the Ordinance Department. Anything not going in on the backs of the Rangers was stored away, as it had for the FABIUS exercise to be returned to them upon the establishment of the beachhead in France.

  Figure 218: Operation OVERLORD BIGOT Map of Omaha Beach, West (NARA)

  Figure 219: Operation OVERLORD BIGOT Map reverse side, of Omaha Beach, West (NARA) Figure 220: Operation OVERLORD BIGOT Map of Pointe du Hoc (NARA) The Germans followed the planes nightly, however D-5 was only bombed that one time. In our meeting, JR told me the Germans eventually figured out to follow the trailing plane, and then would come bomb the airfield. The Rangers area got bombed as a result. He told me that most of the Rangers took to digging foxholes. He did not want to dig a foxhole. Captain Whittington came to him and said “you had better dig a foxhole.” JR responded to him “Well sir, we have simulated just about everything else, I’ve simulated my foxhole over there.” He told me the captain told him that “when the bombs started falling, that if he did not have a fox hole, that would be it”. Pretty soon the bombs started falling and JR changed his mind and got blisters on his hands digging a foxhole. On May 31, German bombers flew over D5. The Rangers heard the planes, but paid them no mind as they figured they were Allied planes. It wasn’t until the defensive network lit up the night sky with antiaircraft fire and flares, searchlights and the sirens went off that the men scrambled for foxholes. Bombs began to fall in the D5 area, shaking the ground with the heavy explosions, and the concussive blasts deafened some of the men. The bombing lasted ½ hour. None of the Rangers had been seriously injured. The bombs had fallen in the motor pool area directly across the road from the men. Two MPs patrolling the motor pool had been killed. Some of the Rangers vehicles and equipment had been damaged or destroyed. One of the two known bombs that fell in the motor pool was a dud, and the closest one to fall to the men in the unit was 100 yards away.

  The next morning, the Rangers moved to another section of the Staging area to not present an easy target to the Germans should they return. One member of the 2nd Rangers was wounded while conducting a police call when something he threw away in a burn barrel resulted in an explosion. This Ranger had become a BIGOT, and he had to await full and proper medical care beyond the care provided by the medics and BN surgeon until after the invasion.3 The units were broken down into boatloads to await the final move down to the ships.10 Only the weather was in doubt at this point, as the English Channel was stormy. Loading of Force U, Force O, and Force B began on 30 May, 31 May, and 1 June, respectively, and all troops were aboard by 3 June. Force U craft were loaded mostly at Plymouth, Dartmouth, Tor Bay, Torquay, Poole, Salcombe, Brixham, and Yarmouth. They were divided into twelve convoys for the cross-Channel movement depending on their missions, assembly points, and speed. Force O was split into five convoys and the craft loaded in a relatively concentrated area including the ports of Portland, Weymouth, and Poole (Figure 221). Operation OVERLORD was ready.10

  On June 1, trucks moved the PRG by truck to the Weymouth embarkation area to the half mile esplanade crescent shaped on the bay that ended at the docks. They walked the last bit through town to the waiting LCAs. They marched by columns of two with the 2nd Rangers in the lead. They were greeted by cheering locals who sang the National Anthem and waved, recognizing that the Ranger patch meant these were special troops on a special mission of some sort.7 On their way to their final boarding area, the men passed through a Red Cross comfort tent (Figure 223), where they enjoyed a doughnut and cup of coffee. The men then boarded their assigned LCAs, left the dock and embarked aboard their assigned LSIs. Figures 224-229 show this final movement of the Rangers for D-Day.

  Figure 221: The Mounting Plan for Operation NEPTUNE (USACMH)11

  Figure 222: Wartime ph
oto of Rangers partaking of Red Cross hospitality tent in Weymouth Harbor (NARA)

  Figure 223: Rangers marching through Weymouth to embarkation point (NARA)

  Figure 224: Rangers marching through Weymouth to embarkation point (NARA)

  Figure 225: 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion mounting their assigned LCAs at Weymouth (NARA) Figure 226: Wartime photos of 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion on June 1, 1944 aboard LCAs (NARA)

  Figure 227: 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion on June 1, 1944 aboard LCAs leaving Weymouth (NARA)

  Figure 228: 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion on June 1, 1944 aboard LCAs leaving Weymouth en route to LSIs on June 1, 1944. LCA 1377 transported half of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion including Captain Raaen. (NARA)

  Figure 229: HMS Prince Baudouin (LSI) receiving LCAs in Weymouth Harbor, June 1, 1944(USCG)

  16 RED SKY IN THE MORNING: D-DAY

  Figure 230: Sunrise, D-Day, June 6, 1944 off Omaha Beach from US Coast Guard film (NARA)

  A vivid account of the morning of June 6, 1944 was sent to Mr. Cornelius Ryan in June 1958. In your interviews with various participants of the “D” Day Operations, try to get a picture of the sky in the early dawn. I have witnessed many sunrises in my thirty-four years, but this one stayed in my mind. Apparently it was unusual only to me, for I have asked many others about it. I am not capable of an accurate description. There was a storm of high winds, as you well know; but it was a storm with few clouds. The first rays of the sun turned the few clouds to crimson. It would have captured the imagination of any artist or poet. You may want to know about the two LSIs (reference to LCIs 91 & 92) which had run a ground because of the storm. The sounds of the men in pain and terror as shell after shell fell on the decks could be heard above the din of other combat. Men would jump screaming into the sea only to rise as floating corpses. One man with a flame thrower on his back disintegrated into a flaming inferno.

  PFC Max D Coleman, 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion, C Company June 16, 1958 letter to Cornelius Ryan1 How does one write about a subject that has been written and written about for nearly seventy years? How does one present a story of a soldier, amongst a cast of thousands who all cumulatively did an amazing thing? Recalling from Chapter 1, the single note that contained the original information known by my immediate family, all that was presented indicated that S/Sgt Hull had climbed the cliffs of Normandy an hour before D-Day. Now it is abundantly clear that this previously shared family information is not entirely accurate. He was in fact there, but his route to Pointe du Hoc was entirely different than expected. Telling this part of the story is immensely important, but the question pondered for some time was how to do it. The stories that have been told about the Rangers on Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc (Hoe) by Glassman, Raaen, Cornelius Ryan, Black, Graves, Balkoski, Ambrose and a myriad of others lay out the action of the Ranger battalions and the units operating around the Rangers in exquisite detail. In researching this aspect of my grandfather’s service, I have discovered a wealth of source material. It is fitting to present this material and to focus largely on the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion, Company B, 2nd Platoon for this chapter to find S/Sgt Hull in the operation. While not able to find him named in official records for the day or in other written accounts of the day, everything leading to this point presents the opportunity to establish his role and that of his platoon and company on this vital day in World War II.

  Vierville Sur Mer is a French commune in the Intercommunality of Trévières in the Canton of Trévières, in the Arronddissement of Bayeux, Department of Calvados, in the Lower Normandy (Basse-Normandie) Region of France. It is located at 49°22’30”N 0°54’14”W. The average elevation for the region is 151 feet above mean sea level, with elevations ranging from 0 feet above mean sea level to 203 feet above mean sea level. During the D-Day invasion it had around 330 residents.2

  This area of France has a rich history to ancient times. Normandy was a province populated by Celtic tribes and was conquered in 98 AD by the Romans. The Romans incorporated the area into the province of Gallia Lugdunensis. In the 4th century, the province was divided into civitates which constitute the historical borders. After the fall of Rome, the Franks became the dominant ethnic group and brought Christianity to the region, resulting in a period of the construction of many of the local churches and cathedrals. Towards the end of the 8th century, the area fell to repeated Viking raids that devastated the region. The name Normandy originates from the Medieval Latin word Nortmanni “Men of the North,” and references the Viking invaders from Scandinavia. The Vikings originally saw the Christian population as weak and easy prey. Many of the place names in Normandy, particularly the rocks and cliffs owe their naming to the influence of the Norwegian language.

  In 867 AD, the Carolingian King Charles the Bald signed the Treaty of Compiègne, whereby ceding the Cotentin Peninsula region to the Breton King Salomon under the prevision that the Bretons defend the region from the Vikings. The result of this was additional warfare resulting in the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte and the establishment of the Duchy of Normandy in 911 AD. During the next 150 years the borders roughly stabilized to their present boundaries and included the Channel Islands. These islands are located just west of the Crotentin Peninsula some 50 miles from Vierville Sur Mer. This period was marked by the rise of the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons. William the Conqueror developed a base of operations west of the area of Vierville sur Mer. The Normans became strong in a naval sense, and were able to conquer England and later participate in the crusades due to their military strength. The region became wealthy. Mainland Normandy, minus the Channel Islands was incorporated into the Kingdom of France in 1204. Normandy spent the next hundred years trading hands between the French and English as part of land conquests associated with the Hundred Years War. An end result of this period of war was the heavy English influence on northwest France, particularly in areas like Brittany near Brest. The Channel Islands remain in British hands until this day. This area of the Normandy coast thus was no stranger to invasion from the sea.3

  Calvados formed as one of the 83 departments as a result of the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. Some say that this name relates to the defeat of the Spanish Navy Armada near Arromanches-les-bains in 1588. The area again saw war and after the allied victory at Waterloo in 1815, the Prussians occupied the region for three years. Bessin is a name resulting from a tribe of Gaul, relating to the city of Bayeux, and the central town of the territory. It corresponds to the former diocese of Bayeux, which was incorporated into Calvados after the French Revolution. In reading works about World War II, each of the place names discussed above are used almost interchangeably. Understanding a little about the history of the place gave a better understanding about the importance of the place itself.4

  As discussed in the War Department Report, Omaha Beachhead, CMH Pub 100-11-1, “the coast of Normandy offers only a few areas favorable for large-scale landing operations in the zone assigned to V Corps. Cliffs, reefs, and wide tidal ranges combine to present natural difficulties.” V Corps identified Omaha Beach for the assault landings in this region along a five-mile, relatively cliffless interval compared with the rest of the adjacent Normandy coastline. The beaches in the Utah, Gold and Sword sectors gave way to gradual rises in elevation in contrast. The cliffs typical of the coast in the Omaha Beach sector presented themselves as steep bluffs nearly one hundred to one hundred-fifty feet in height. The Omaha Beach shoreline formed a crescent and was bordered by the bluffs opposite the beaches and had cliffs at either end. The Germans had constructed underwater obstacles along the tidal flat. The tidal range was 18 feet on Omaha Beach, revealing approximately 300 yards of gently sloping firm sand at low tide. The high tide came in as far as the sea wall. The velocity of flows resulted in drainage features called runnels running parallel to the beach that had depths of up to four feet. Travelling ashore, the beach terminated at an obstacle up to eight feet in height called a shingle. The shingle was formed by stones and pebbles stacke
d and worn smooth by the relentless surf. This shingle might be absent in the presence of a constructed seawall. In the western portion of Omaha Beach between Vierville Sur Mer at exit D-1 and St Laurent at exit D-3, the seawall was topped with a paved coastal roadway. The Germans had placed the barbed wire obstacles on the landward side of this roadway resulting in any attacker having to expose themselves on top of the roadway to enemy crossfire as they attempted to breach the obstacle. Between the roadway and bluffs, the Germans had demolished most of the houses or other structures that impeded defensive firing along the zone or that offered any cover to the attacking forces. The bluffs overlooking the beach between D-1 and D-3 were the most abrupt on the beachhead not containing vertical cliffs.5

  When the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower made the final decision to go for D-Day on June 6; he did so with the hope of the free world on his shoulders. The weather forecasting in the English Channel had played a critical part in his decision. What he did not know, was that the lousy weather had lulled the Germans into a false sense of security. They knew the importance of the tides and other factors involved in planning an amphibious operation. The delay to wait out a gale force storm in the channel gave the Allies an unexpected advantage due to German complacency.

  With the go order, every person involved in the invasion was given a paper with the Order of the Day from General Eisenhower (Figure 231). A folded up copy of this order found in his uniform still resides in our family. I do find it disconcerting to hear revisionist historians omit General Eisenhower’s last sentence whenever hearing a reading of this order on a television program or in print. These men all knew and acknowledged that they needed God to help them this day. This expression of faith offered by their Supreme Commander on a day when so many would be lost is freedom of speech in its purest form, not some modern politically correct tripe, and all these veterans know it.