Omaha Beach example essay topic

Eisenhower told his forces: "You are about to embark on a great crusade". The first wave of infantry and armored troops, commanded by Montgomery, crossed the choppy English Channel under an overcast sky. On June 6, 1944 at Bernier es-Sur-Mer, France hundreds of thousands of troops came ashore to liberate Europe from Nazi rule. The Normandy invasion, the greatest amphibious operation in history, was opening phase of Operation Overload, but not everything went to plan. British, Canadians and Americans assembled almost three million men, had stored sixteen million short tons of supplies in Britain for the great invasion. The allies had 5,000 large ships, 4,000 smaller landing craft and more than 11,000 aircraft.

The invasion was assigned for June 5, but storms forced Eisenhower to postpone it for one day. Paratroopers went ahead to cut railroad lines, demolish bridges and seize landing fields. Gliders brought in men, jeeps, light artillery and small tanks. Allied warships rained shells on the German coast batteries.

"Omaha" was the code name for the second beach from the right of the five landing areas of the Normandy invasion. It was the largest of the assault areas, stretching over six miles between Port-En-Be ssen on the east and the mouth of the Bain e River on the west. A ten-foot seawall backed the western third of the beach and cliffs overlooked the whole beach one hundred feet high. The Germans built formidable defenses to protect this enclosed battlefield. The waters and beach were heavily mined and there were twelve strong points called Widerstandsnester (Resistance nests). Numerous other fighting positions dotted the area supported by an extensive trench system.

The defending force consisted of three battalions of the veteran 352nd Infantry Division. Their weapons were fixed to cover the beach with enfilade fire as well as plunging fire from the cliffs. Omaha was a killing zone. Reasons for the battle of "Omaha Beach" were listed as; Problems left unresolved from WWI, The rise of dictatorships and territory. The Normandy invasion was the result of decreased destruction and mayhem. In the course of weeks of fighting, casualties had mounted to 5,846 of which 1,225 were killed in action, more than half of these casualties came in the first day.

Heaviest losses had fallen to the 29th Division with 2,440 for the period. The first division had 1,744 casualties and the 2nd Division had 855. The battle of Normandy will be important to history until the end of the world. Several American soldiers lost their lives serving their country. Omaha Beach will be remembered as one of the greatest battles in history..