by Mehlo, Noel
Figure 239: Castle Gruchy family residence Loys and in 1944, the company PC 9/726, which defended the Breakthrough and Englesqueville (open source) The German Army established the Command Post of the 726th Infantry Regiment, 9th Company (9/726) at the manor under the command of Captain Grünschloss (Figure 240). This particular German Captain was not considered a fanatical Nazi. He was a professor of Law in civilian life. He was a Bavarian and spoke fluent French. I have found that I respect this man in studying him. He showed himself a gentleman to Madame de Loÿs on May 25, when after an old aunt in the family died; he asked the Madame what he could do for her. After a discussion with the lady of the house, he cleared his soldiers in order for the family to have time for a dignified treatment of the deceased. He even made an appointment in his dress uniform to pay his respects to the family. On this morning, Captain Grünschloss saw to it that the French family was evacuated to an underground basement that was part of the estate. At 6:00 a.m. Madame de Loÿs overheard near the German Command Center that a major enemy fleet was sighted located 8 miles out to sea. Shortly after overhearing this, the German soldiers were placed on alert at their active defensive positions. Only the German operator and nurses remained in the shelter.
Figure 240: Captain Grundschloss, killed in action on June 6 Its 9th company (9/726) stopped the attacking Americans (5th Ranger Infantry Battalion) trying to reach the Pointe du Hoc from Vierville. (German Federal Archives) On the northern end of Vierville, the Hotel du Casino overlooked Exit D-1 and Omaha Beach. It was owned by the Piprel family and was lost to the occupation at the time. The German Wehrmacht soldiers had used the home for rest and relaxation beginning in February, 1944. On June 5, 1944, an Allied bomber overflew Vierville, dropping a load of bombs along the crest of the bluff. Pierre and Fernando Piprel ventured outside at around 5:00 a.m. to see the damage and to visit a local friend, aeronautical engineer, Mr. Mary. The boys navigated through a secret path through minefields along the bluffs to get there. Mr. Mary told the boys that this bombing was nothing out of the ordinary, and they returned home just as the sun rose. Upon reaching their home, they went to their attic bedroom. Their view of the sea was unobstructed from this perch. They recorded seeing “the multitude of black dots covering the sea beyond. My word”, said Pierre, “they look like boats…” The boys then went back to the home of Mr. Mary as he owned a pair of contraband binoculars. The Germans did not allow ownership of binoculars. “Come Mr. Mary! Take your binoculars, we believe we see boats!” Mr. Mary had been skeptical, but looking out to sea from an attic window, he exclaimed “Yes! Yes! It is full of boats! It’s everywhere!” The young men noted that the armada moved closer to shore by the minute. They were perplexed as they noted the silence. They wrote: “All these vessels advancing forward, tearing the haze seems unreal. They look like ghosts.” At 6:00 a.m. the silence ended as the naval and air bombardment commenced. They reported that Vierville was hit in the first volley resulting in substantial damage. They referred to it as the shield launched by the Allies before the attack. The bombardment enveloped the coast. There were columns of smoke, punctuated by bursts of flames. The called it an “atmosphere of doom”. Homes in Vierville had walls collapse, the electricity flickered, and tiles shattered, power polls were sliced through and fell. They reported “there was no question of going outside.”
Some members of the Piprel family tried to head east from Vierville along the coastal highway to friends in Colleville. The boys took shortcuts and found themselves fired upon from fields by MG-42 positions. These were possibly the same gun positions that later fired upon the 5th Rangers the morning of June 6 upon their approach to the town from the east between 0900 and 1100. The Piprel boys retreated to Vierville ending up at the farm of Louis Le Terrier known as the Ormel Farm. The Ormel Farm is located on the road to Damigni. This route was a main north south route used by the Germans to move men and materials in order to reinforce or resupply the coastal defenses. The boys were at the farm when they later encountered their first Americans about a half hour after they had arrived. The soldier offered a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes to the French civilians. The group of civilians remained at the farm taking cover in a stable on the grounds.9 It is likely these boys were at the farm while B Company, 2nd Platoon protected the southern flank of Vierville for Colonel Canham.
For the D-Day landings, the combat experienced 1st Infantry Division had the designation as the command unit for the forces landing on Omaha Beach, particularly the western sectors. Under the 1st Infantry Division were subordinated the 29th Infantry Division (less their headquarters), the Provisional Ranger Group and other various units. The Eighth Air Force provided cover in three zones, a top cover, medium cover and low cover, consisting of heavy and medium bombers and attack aircraft, with fighter support. Soldiers in transit reported the airborne cover as something they had never imagined, with aircraft three deep, and from horizon to horizon. There are reports that the uppermost and lowermost planes were inbound, while the middle aircraft were outbound craft that had accomplished their missions.
Regarding the cross channel voyage, the men of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion aboard the HMS Prince Leopold (Figure 241) had supreme confidence in their British hosts. S/SGT Gail Hamilton Belmont, of the 2nd Ranger Infantry Battalion, A Company wrote:
“My Company, “Able Company” was on board the HMS Leopold, a Belgium Cross Chanel/Ship which had been pressed into service by the British Navy. This ship had taken part in several previous invasions to include N. Africa, Sicily, Salarno and Anzio; therefore, her British crew were veterans. We always felt that being assigned to this ship and crew that the higher command wanted to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that we would be landed exactly where we were suppose to be on D-Day. We had worked with this ship and crew several times in the past and we were one big happy family. ESPRIT DE CORP… was high and we had confidence that if anyone could do the job, this outfit could.”10
In a biography about his father, James F. Schneider, the son of Lt. Colonel Schneider wrote that the Prince Leopold “had a special place in Schneider’s heart”. This ship and her crew had delivered Schneider to the assault beaches of Gela, Sicily and then on Maiori, Salerno, Italy. The Colonel “had gone out of his way to be assigned to travel with them once again when bound for Normandy.” (Schneider, My Father’s War) PFC Ching echoed that sentiment even today concerning the skill of the Royal Navy. “Because the Prince Leopold was a British, there’s three of them, on our landing craft. It was run by the British, His Majesty’s Service, HMS. These landing craft got experience. They were in the Mediterranean, Sicily landings, Sicily, for the Ranger, also Italy mainland, Anzio beachhead, they use the same landing craft, so they are fairly familiar with the US Ranger.”11
PFC Carl F. Weast served in B Company, 2nd Platoon as the company messenger with his friends S/Sgt Hull, PFC Ching and S/Sgt Copeland. He spoke of the cross channel trip being like a ferry boat ride. He wrote of the boarding and waiting done aboard their LSI.
“We went aboard our transport ship on June 1st. For 5 days we had nothing to do except gab and speculate on our immediate future. Two 1 hour periods each day were spent exercising and of course we had ample literature and maps available to review the whole invasion plan. This long period of idleness and confinement resulted in many rumors. The one I recall especially was this, all troops in the initial landings were green troops, the landing schedule showed “H” hour. On the basis of this fact it was said that the big brass expected 80% or more casualties during the first part of the landings. Naturally it figured they wanted to save the good outfits and were sending the green boys in to take the beating. Most rumors were of that type, bad.”12
In his 1958 questionnaire, Cornelius Ryan had asked the veterans “What were the rumors on board the boat, ship or plane in which you made the crossing?” The Rangers either remained silent on this, or offered rumors that were not seen as credible by the men at the time. To me this was a hallmark of well-trained, well
disciplined soldiers. T/5 Dan D. Schopp, F Company responded that he didn’t “remember on the boat but after we landed the main type of conversation was snipers.”13 1st Lt Jack A. Snyder, C Company wrote: “There were no rumors aboard ship. Every one of our men knew exactly what was expected of him and had been given every bit of enemy information that was available. Everyone was briefed daily on the latest intelligence.”14 Sgt John Joseph Perry, A Company, Section Leader, offered: “We heard nothing in reference to the Germans pouring gasoline on the water, the only thing we heard was that there were two divisions of Germans on the beach instead of one battalion, which was predicted. We all talked about who would get hit first, every time we had an attack to go on.”15 S/Sgt Hamilton summed up the Ranger attitude: “Our outfit didn’t go into much for rumors. It was the policy of the Battalion to keep everybody informed and abreast of the situation at all times. We did feel there was the possibility of the Germans employing gas or other chemical agents. The fact that we were issued a new type of assault-gas masks plus we had to wear impregnated clothing when we hit the beach only added to our belief.”16 S/SGT Emil Nelson, Jr, F Company wrote: “We heard the Germans had over 200 subs in the channel and many E boats. So we were told to sleep dressed and ready to check out fast.”17 These were professionals not apparently given to unsubstantiated fear. Copeland told me Captain Whittington asked him to go a few rounds of boxing while on the HMS Leopold on the channel run to Normandy on June 5-6. JR declined Whittington’s request, smiled at me as he said it, and said that he wanted to be able to “see” the Germans on the beach.
Figure 241: HMS Prince Leopold in the Mediterranean (IWM) A briefing held by the leadership of the 29th Infantry Division on the afternoon of June 5 was recorded by Lt Jack Shea, aide to General Norman Cota. It is included as a report of combat interviews from Cornelius Ryan Collection. It shows the measure of the leadership and foresight of General Cota, who would shine through as a shining example of a highly effective combat leader on the following day. It is uncanny how accurate the predictions of the General were.
The last meeting of this staff was held in the officer's aft wardroom of the Carroll on the fifth of June, 1944, at 1400 hours. Every member of the staff realized that this was the final review of the plans. The hushed problems of several months were covered for the last time. Questions were asked. Finally General Cota addressed the little group with some remarks that he had been saving for just this moment. He had withheld them until that time in order to emphasize their critical nature. True they had been pointed out singly in other discussions of their plans and in the Slapton exercises. But these were the factors in essence, factors that had to be remembered, they were quite vital. "This is different from any of the other exercises that you have had so far," said Cota as he began a final address to the staff. “The little discrepancies that we tried to correct on Slapton Sands are going to be magnified and are going to give way to instances that you might at first view as chaotic. The air and naval bombardment and the artillery support are reassuring but you're going to find confusion. The landing craft aren't going in on schedule and people aren't going … are going to be landed in the wrong places. Some won't be landed at all. The enemy will try and will have some success in preventing our gaining a lodgment. But we must improvise, carry on, and not lose our heads, nor must we add to the confusion”.18
LTC Max Schneider, 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion Commander and many other of the Rangers under his command aboard the HMS Prince Leopold and HMS Prince Baudouin reported the channel crossing on the night of June 5 into the morning of June 6 as “very rough” with many soldiers becoming seasick. Many of the officers aboard passed the time playing card games like poker and checking on their troops and equipment. Some officers, like 1st Lieutenant Jack A. Snyder of C Company recalled playing darts, ping-pong and cards with British officers. He said “the next four days were spent keeping in top physical condition and making last minute checks on equipment and reviewing plans of attack.” Lt. Colonel Schneider allowed his men to go topside and not be confined below decks to improve morale as a result of his earlier experience.18
The enlisted men prepared equipment and performed other duties as assigned, relaxed, and were given final briefings and training during the voyage. T/5 Schopp wrote: “Had a flyover of friendly fighters for identification class. Also a flyover of a captured ME 109 and FW 190. An amphibious jeep for use of a British staff officer was accidentally sunk while trying to load. Shot the bull with British sailors and members of a Joint Army/Navy “FOO” (Forward Observation) Party who had done this stuff before.”19 PFC Weast recalled a conversation with a fellow Ranger: “Prior to loading into the LCA’s from the transport I was talking to Elmo Banning. Before we left from Ft. Dix for England, Elmo had gone AWOL to see his girlfriend back in Missouri; the MP’s got him before he had a chance to get there and returned him to us at Fort Dix. He told me that he wished he would have made it home before the MP's got him, because he felt he wouldn't see her again.”12 S/SGT Nelson wrote: “In our case we were preparing explosives on the fantail of an English manned ship, it seemed we were in a terrific state of suspense, and we all signed each other’s French occupation notes, and slept as such.”15 Sgt Perry also discussed preparing explosives for use in barbed wire and pillbox demolitions.20 S/SGT Burton Eugene Ranney, Company F, wrote: “We were kept pretty well informed of information available about D-Day and the enemy. We were told it was no picnic and that no one would be able to go back for at least 3 days. Everything would be going in and keep going in to make room for more to come. We were briefed very completely up to the last, from air photos, on obstacles, pillboxes and enemy troops. Our morale was very high!” Earlier in his interview he indicated that there had been a church service he attended.21 SSG Chance recorded that “those of us who were Catholic attended mass offered by Father Lacy, our Chaplain. In his sermon he told of Saint Theresa, who was born in France – We were about to do battle in her land, and her symbol was the rose… Approximately D plus 3 or 4… It was strange to be greeted by Frenchmen in small villages, however very heart warming for one of the first girls to greet me, about ten years old presented me with Roses. I knew then that Saint Theresa was on our side.”22 Father Lacy repeated these services aboard each of the Ranger LSIs.
After the war, PFC Weast recorded an oral interview as part of the Peter Kalikow World War II Collection of the National D-Day Museum Foundation, Inc. He noted that the Rangers boarded the HMS Leopold five days before the invasion and waited out the poor weather aboard ship. He noted that the passing of time was rather boring, “double timing around the decks, and whatnot, trying to keep in shape.” He wrote that there were not showers aboard ship, so the men really got to stinking. This was compounded by the waxy chemical water repellant impregnated into the uniforms and equipment of the men. The men wore standard issue fatigues. The Army went “knife-happy” he said. The Rangers had their standard trench knife, the Ranger daggers presented by the British Commandos, bayonets, and switchblade pocket knives made available. They had their “May West” life preservers, gas masks, load carrying equipment, all the ammunition that they desired beyond the basic load. Weast reported carrying one belt and two bandoliers of rifle ammunition amounting to 20 clips of 8 rounds each. He opted for more, so he carried a total of 4 bandoliers of ammo, plus what he stuffed in his belt. He was armed with an M-1 Rifle. He carried 4 rifle grenades, with two being high explosive types and two white phosphorous types. He packed one block of the nitrostarch explosives he trained with at USATC, along with two fuse assemblies with igniters attached. They used condoms to protect small items from the surf. Lastly, Weast was assigned to carry a spare 81mm High Explosive (HE) mortar round. He attended religious services with Father Lacy. He then recalled the last meal aboard ship consisting of fried eggs and fresh steak.23
PFC Randall Ching recalled and summed up his view of their mission in our interview. “Well, actually, the mission, the Rangers primary mission was to eliminate
the Pointe, the guns on Pointe du Hoc. That’s the Ranger battalions, the 2nd and the 5th. That’s our main primary objective on D-Day. What happened is, well, what happened during D-Day, and we left our transport in our little assault boat and head toward the Pointe. The 2nd Ranger Battalion landed three companies at the Point and try to scale the cliff. The 100 foot cliff. That’s where the guns are situated there. The six, coastal battery, the guns up there… Yeah, that’s 155 mm guns. Their range is 10 miles, so they could play havoc with the invasion fleet out to sea. Left side is American beach, Utah. Right side is Omaha Beach. They also play hell. The two Ranger battalions expendable. Their mission is to get those guns regardless of loss.”
On November 11, 1944, Lt. Colonel Charles H. Taylor, U.S. Army Historical Section Headquarters, European Theater of Operations sent a report to Colonel James Rudder detailing the events surrounding D-Day pertaining to the Rangers compiled from reports and first hand accounts commonly referred to War Department Notes, Volumes 1 and 2. Taylor recorded “To neutralize this battery (Point du Hoc) was one of the main concerns of the Neptune planners. It was bombed on 25 April, when construction of further casemates was under way. Severe damage to 2 emplacements and to supporting installations was reported from aerial photographs.”24 Elsewhere, Taylor went on to state that the PRGs mission was to guarantee the Pointe du Hoc guns were neutralized. Plan Neptune included a component for a direct assault on the position from seaward. This mission was identified as one of the most difficult in the operation. The PRG operated under the command of the 116th Infantry known for the assault as the 116th Regimental Combat Team (116th RCT) as part of the 29th Infantry Division. The 116th RCT was then assigned to the 1st Infantry for the purposes of the assault only, reverting back to control of the 29th after the landings. The 116th RCT was tasked with landing on western Omaha Beach and then to drive west along the coast toward Grandcamp and Isigny where the Maisy Battery was located. All German defenses along the way were to be eliminated in development of the beachhead.