From the beginning everything went wrong at Omaha! The Germans under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had built formidable defences to protect this enclosed battlefield. The waters and beach were heavily mined, and there were 13 strongpoints called Widerstandsnester (“resistance nests”). Numerous other fighting positions dotted the area, supported by an extensive trench system. The defending forces consisted of three battalions of the veteran 352nd Infantry Division. Their weapons were fixed to cover the beach with grazing enfilade fire as well as plunging fire from the cliffs. In short Omaha was a killing zone.
The objectives of the 1st Division were ambitious. First it was to capture the villages of Vierville, Saint-Laurent, and Colleville; then it was to push through and cut the Bayeux-Isigny road; and then it was to attack south toward Trévières and west toward the Pointe du Hoc.
Elements of the 16th Regiment were to link up at Port-en-Bessin with British units from Gold Beach to the east.
Special “DD” tanks (amphibious Sherman tanks fitted with flotation screens) that were supposed to support the 116th Regiment sank in the choppy waters of the Channel. Only 2 of the 29 launched made it to the beach.
With the exception of A Company, no unit of the 116th landed where it was planned. Strong winds and tidal currents carried the landing craft from right to left. The 16th Regiment on the east half of the beach did not fare much better, landing in a state of confusion with units badly intermingled.
Throughout the landing, German gunners poured fire into the ranks of the Americans. Bodies lay on the beach or floated in the water. Men sought refuge behind beach obstacles, or where trying to sprint across the beach to the seawall, which offered some safety at the base of the