OMAHA BEACH - Tuesday 6th June 1944 (GB)

Number of pages : 126

Language : English 

At dawn on tuesday, the 6th of June 1944, the German sentries posted along the beach of the Golden Sands and on Pointe du Hoc spotted worrying silhouettes out at sea. An incredible forest of ship's masts and hulls gradually emerged from amidst the dissipating morning mist. So the Allies had chosen Normandy to land and to launch the operation that would liberate Western Europe. Of the five designated landing beaches, the one the Allies codenamed Omaha was the best defended and the less propitious for an amphibious assault. 

Miraculously spared by prior aerial and naval bombing, the German defences opened fire on the first barges tha grounded 400 meters offshore at 6:30 am. The infantrymen and sappers that formed the first wave of assault were stopped dead in their tracks by intense enemy fire. The Allies' misfortune was further exacerbated by the sinking of many amphibious tanks off shore. For several hours, the GIs endured sheer hell. For a short period, General Bradley even considered abandoning the operation. Yet, thanks to their bravery and tenacity, the GIs succeeded in leaving the beach and in neutralisaing the German positions one by one. On the evening of D-Day, the operation was deemed a success - however, at a cost of terrible human and material losses. 

Via this richly illustrated work, Christophe Prime offers a detailed account of the battle on Omaha and of its prior preparation. Photographs, testimonies and period objects plunge readers into the heart of events, enabling them to fully grasp what the combatants went through over these tragic hours.