OBJECTIVE OMAHA BEACH 6 JUNE 1944 – 6:30 A.M.

Omaha Beach is certainly one of the most famous of the five D-Day landing sectors. It was on this 7 km-long beach, backed by cliffs, that American troops suffered their heaviest losses on 6 June 1944.

Facing the Americans, the Wehrmacht's 716th Infantry Division defended the beach with machine-gun nests, kilometres of barbed wire, thousands of mines, flamethrowers, anti-tank ditches and walls blocking the beach exits. On 6 June at around 2 a.m., the first ships came within sight of the Norman coast and dropped anchor, concealed behind a thick curtain of artificial fog. At 5 a.m., the first landing craft made for the beach in heavy seas. At 6:30 a.m., under a hail of fire, the leading units of the 1st and 29th US Infantry Divisions launched their assault on the beach.

The American commander considered halting operations, so catastrophic were the reports. Intensive bombardments and the commitment of fresh reinforcements allowed the tide to turn. By the evening of 6 June, of the 34,250 men who had landed, nearly 3,800 had been killed, wounded or were listed as missing.

This memorial work, assembled around collections from museums and private individuals, traces the heroic paths of the 1st US Infantry Division and the 29th US Infantry Division from their formation and training through to the tragic hours of the D-Day landings and their advance through the Battle of Normandy and on into Germany.

The sacrifice of these men remains one of the great feats of arms of the D-Day landings, sealing their destinies forever to that of the beach now known as Bloody Omaha: Omaha the Bloody!