Added: 05/02/2006 |
The History and Present of Omaha BeachThe main objective of the Omaha Beach landing was to secure line between the Vire River and Port-en-Bessin before pushing towards Saint-Lo. The Germans has managed to prepare the Atlantic Wall defenses along the beach, with the downward slope providing them with excellent field of fire. Defended Omaha Beach the 352nd German Division, ranked with the best trained units in the area.
However, adverse weather conditions have resulted in the majority of the swimming Sherman DD Tanks being lost in the waters before reaching shore. In addition, the allied air bombardment and initial naval bombardments were ineffective as well, owing to lack of time allotted to naval guns. The assault troops lacked craters or cover on the 400-yard deep beach and also had no vision of German troops at the opposite end of Omaha Beach. Thus, carefully planned attack turned into chaos, as waves and wind scattered the landing craft far from the assigned targets.
The Omaha Beach's landings resulted in heavy casualties on part of America, where every officer had been wounded or killed. Overall, the invaders suffered more than 2,400 casualties, the majority of them occurring in the first few hours. Commanders offshore decided to abandon the attack and redirect Omaha forces to the Utah Beach. A few small groups of rag-tag infantry, however, have abandoned eventually their original plan to move up through the fortified beach and carried out an attack up the bluffs through minefields, which has resulted in the first breakthroughs. In addition, a number of allied destroyers assisted in turning the battle in favor of U.S. forces by carrying out an attack on the German positions.
Despite the fact that the Omaha Beach was not an ideal place for the amphibious assault and presented a number of risks and challenges, it was certainly the only possibility between the British sector to the east and the other American beach - Utah further west. Due to its topography, the place wasn't difficult to defend, with more than fourteen resistance nests situated at the entrance to the gullies, leading to the plateau.
The entire area has been covered with barbed wire, mortars, machine-gun nests and guns.
In March 1944, the site was given its codename Omaha Beach, and three months later it became known as Bloody Omaha, due to the terrible losses suffered by US Corps, composed f the 29th Infantry Division under Major-General Gerhard and the first Infantry Division under Major-General Huebner. After an ordeal that lasted several hours, the American soldiers had finally gained the upper hand by launching an attack from the rear. The losses totaled over 3,000 men, which is 15 times more as compared to those on Utah Beach.
Located close to D-Day beaches are some of Omaha apartments, such as Hotel Mercure Omaha Beach, nestled on a 27-hole golf course overlooking the sea. Available are rooms for disabled people, two restaurant bars and five meeting rooms, as well as a number of modern amenities, including air conditioning, bar lounge, porters, casino, copy service, concierge desk, express check-in and express check-out, fax, free parking, exercise gym, free newspaper and more.
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