American movie star Tom Hanks was impressed by the opening bloody battle on Omaha Beach when he recalled the war movie "Saving Private Ryan" in which he starred.
Saving Private Ryan is one of the most classic World War II films
In order to capture the real expressions, eyes, and movements of people on the bloody battlefield, the director did not tell him what the scene was after booting, and as a result, when the landing craft springboard was opened, his comrades around him were immediately hit by the "fire tongue" of the "MG-42" machine gun, and Tom Hanks, who was sprayed with a body of "plasma and broken flesh", was frightened and stunned, completely unable to move, and constantly trembled, which was the truest reaction of human beings in the face of massacre.
The American soldiers in the landing craft desperately suppressed their postures, and the fear in their eyes was shocking
On 6 June 1944, the Allies launched Operation Overlord, the Normandy Landings. This day, code-named D Day, was also called "the longest day" by the bloody landing forces, because the fighting was so bad that every minute and every second seemed terrifying and long.
As in the movie, as soon as the landing craft opened its springboard, the fire tongue of the machine gun shot over and tore the man to pieces
The Allies embarked on a series of deceptive operations before landing, and Hitler mistakenly believed that the Allied landing site was in the Calais area, and transferred the elite armored forces stationed in Normandy to support them, resulting in a defensive emptiness. And on D Day, General Rommel, known as the "Desert Fox", was not on the front line on vacation.
The soldiers were terrified in their hearts, but they still went to the battlefield without hesitation
Young soldiers will know the horrors of the battlefield at once
During the Normandy landings, about 29,000 Americans were killed; 11,000 people were killed in Britain; 5,000 people were killed in Canada; About 12,200 civilians have died or gone missing in France; The Germans lost about 23,019 men.
The 100 meters from the landing craft to the land is the most dangerous, because the soldiers have to move slowly in the waist-deep sea, almost a living target
Omaha Beach was the most fiercely fought landing battlefield in the Normandy landings. The Allies suffered heavy losses at the Omaha beachhead, with 2,500 killed alone, hence the name "Bloody Omaha."
Blurry photos were taken by photographers in a panic
The main force of the landing was the British and American forces
The U.S. military was most unlucky and landed on Omaha Beach
The Allied landings at Gold Beach, Juneau Beach, and Arrow Beach were relatively easy, and the most difficult was Omaha Beach, which was the responsibility of the U.S. military.
Some places require a rope ladder to climb up
Omaha Beach is 6.4 kilometers long, the coast is mostly more than 30 meters high cliffs, the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the US Ninth Army, which undertook the offensive task, suffered a lot here.
The German-built cement machine gun forts on Omaha Beach are towering high enough to sweep across the beach
The MG-42 harvested the lives of American infantry with intensive firepower
The large-caliber artillery hidden in the cement fortress made the U.S. Navy ships afraid to go near the beach to support the infantry
A main regiment of the elite German 352nd Infantry Division was stationed at the beachhead of Omaha. The force had a machine gunner known as the "Beast of Omaha Beach", and when 8,000 American troops rushed to the beach, he pulled the plate machine of the MG-42 machine gun, designed for 9 hours without interruption, fired 12,000 rounds of ammunition, and at least 1,000 people fell under his muzzle.
All of the transport ships were hung with balloons to hinder the famous German "Stuka" dive bombers from dropping bombs
The U.S. landing craft rushed desperately to the beach
Land warfare is time-consuming, and landing craft must shuttle back and forth from transport ships to the front beach
The weather conditions on the day of the landing were not ideal, and the wind and waves were very large
Shoal reefs are also abundant, and landing craft often run aground or get stuck
Infantrymen had to jump into the water with all their equipment and walk hard onto the beach
On the day of the landing, the hydrology and weather were surprisingly bad, 10 landing craft were overturned by the wind and waves, and more than 300 officers and men fell into the water. The people on the landing craft were also exhausted by the bumps, as the backbone of the impact on the beach, 32 Sherman main battle tanks equipped with waterproof smoke pipes and floating boxes sank 27 in the water, 2 were destroyed by artillery fire, only 3 rushed to the beach, but immediately trapped by the complex terrain of the beach, and could only rely on infantry to kill and attack the German fortress.
The Germans also laid a large number of obstacles on the beach to prevent landing craft and amphibious tanks from landing
The infantry were forced to disembark and storm the beach on their feet
The German barriers became one of the few bunkers on the bare beaches, saving the lives of many American troops
Soldiers who were suppressed on the beach and could not move
The thin-skinned amphibious transport vehicles did not provide any protection for the infantry at all, and they were difficult to protect themselves
The first wave of 2,000 people, 6:30 a.m., hit only 600 people at 8:30 a.m., for two hours without a single U.S. soldier rushing to the beach in the western section, and only occupying a 9-meter-wide section of the beach in the eastern section, the landing operation was almost completely unsuccessful.
At the moment of collapse, the Navy stepped forward
Destroyers cleared the way for infantry with direct-fire onshore fire
German tanks, bastions, and small- and medium-caliber guns were vulnerable to large-caliber naval guns
Air Force bombers also came to help
The infantry, supported by strong firepower, finally gained a foothold at the beachhead
With the opening of the landing field, soldiers and supplies were able to go ashore, and the German defense line was gradually crushed
Wounded soldiers were also able to be transported away
Seeing that the landing operation was about to collapse, the Navy commander ordered 17 destroyers to reach only 730 meters from the beach to provide fire support for the landing Americans at close range, despite the danger of mine exposure, stranding and being blown up by 155mm coastal guns. The Americans, blocked on the beach, also began to charge under the leadership of the elite First Division. U.S. Navy battleships and cruisers also began to fire at the shore, and under the fiery fire of large-caliber naval guns, the German defense line began to soften, and finally it was broken by the American army.
The casualties of the U.S. military are staggering
The dense craters can still be clearly seen on Omaha Beach today
After the war, the U.S. Army's 1st Division wrote in its war report that more than 4,700 soldiers were killed or wounded on a beach just 8 kilometers long and 130 meters wide, and almost one soldier was shot and fell at almost every step.