Chapter 491 Bloody Battle in Normandy (2)
At 4:30 on June 6, the S formation arrived at the transfer area. At 5:30, the German army dispatched four torpedo boats from Le Havre to attack the S formation and sunk the Norwegian destroyer "Svenel".
At 7:30, the first tier brigade began to land. Due to the effective preparation of aviation fire and naval artillery fire, 32 of the 40 amphibious tanks in the first tier were successfully landed, which provided strong fire support for the landing troops, making the landing troops progress very smoothly and quickly, and almost no tenacious resistance was encountered.
At 10 o'clock, the second echelon brigade was landed, and at 13 o'clock, the reserve brigade of the 13 o'clock division was landed. Except for the initial slight casualties, everything went smoothly and unexpectedly, which made the soldiers who were expected to fight bloody on the beach at a loss. They did not take advantage of the victory and stopped to dig trenches to hold on. Only the 1st Special Service Brigade continued to advance and quickly occupied Caulleville. At 13 o'clock, at 13 o'clock, Major General Talbot, commander of the S formation, went ashore to inspect and found that the personnel and vehicles on the beach were in chaos, and then ordered the beach control team to be sent ashore to rectify the beach order.
At 21:00 p.m., they seized the bridge on the Orn River near Benoville and met with the 6th Airborne Division. The 171 free French soldiers who were incorporated into the 3rd Division became the first French army to liberate their motherland. When they sat on tanks and greeted the residents on the roadside in pure French, they surprised the people who suffered for several years under the occupation of the German army. The news of the French landing spread immediately, and thus received extremely warm welcome along the way, and their enthusiasm even affected the advancement of the troops.
Judging from the overall situation on D-Day, the Allied forces succeeded in all five beaches, with a total of 132,715 people on land, and the casualties were much lower than the expected, with only 10,300 people. On the day of landing, the Navy lost 4 destroyers, one frigate, gunboat and minesweeper each.
However, the situation is not optimistic. The Allied forces did not complete the mission that day and did not occupy the planned occupied areas, especially Caen and Baye. Among the five beaches, only Golden Beach and Juno Beach were connected together, and there were quite a gap between the other beaches, especially the United States and British armies. You should know that only after resisting the subsequent counterattack of the German army and connecting the five beaches into one, expanding into a unified landing field can we talk about victory!
In the early morning of June 6, 1944, Samuel Fuller, as a corporal of the 16th Regiment of the 16th Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division of the US Army, participated in the landing battle at the beachfront of Omaha, Normandy. Due to his bravery in combat, Fuller won the Silver Star Medal. After the war, he devoted himself to the film career of Hollywood in the United States and served as a director and playwright. Now, he lives in Paris, France.
"Before we landed, the sky began to break through. Many American soldiers jumped into the sea. Some were swept away by the sea. We couldn't stay there because we had a combat schedule: a batch of landing craft arrived every 5 minutes.
At first, everything seemed to be going well: we were covered by heavy fog. We could move forward step by step. According to the information of the French resistance organization, the German army in front of us were only more than 150 German youths equipped with bicycles. However, we did not expect that in front of us was the 352nd German Division. As soon as we landed on the beach, we were attacked by fierce artillery fire from the German army stationed in a solid position.
Oh God! There was such an elite force in front of us! Our plans were completely disrupted. Our situation was in danger. We could not cross the beach, climb up the hills, and act according to the original plan. We were blocked by the Germans, and behind us was the sea. We advanced only 7 yards on the beach without fire. At that time, the highest place nearby was a reef."
"The only way we can leave the beach is to blow up the waste tank that blocked our way. Finally, one of our young men successfully blows the tank away. The squad leader ordered me to find our commander, Colonel George Taylor, and told him that we had passed through the beach. So I stood up and prepared to run.
When you run past the injured soldiers or fallen in pools of blood, it is difficult to maintain balance. Since there is no place to settle down, we can only run in the sea. The waves hit the corpse, sometimes slapped towards the shore, sometimes push towards the sea. The limbs of the dead can be seen everywhere - here is a testicle, there is a head, here is a butt, it is really a place where flesh is chugged. Intestines, intestines, or intestines, this is the scene of Omaha Beach."
“When I found Taylor, he was taking a cigar off his mouth. He handed it to me and said, ‘Do you want to smoke?’ Then, he said, I don’t think there is any heroic meaning, I believe in miracles.
He stood up and said to us that very famous saying. He said, 'There are two kinds of people on this beach, one is dead, and the other is dying. Let the fuck hell go to hell.' Then he started crawling and ran. He led us all across the beach under the fire. This was not bravery, but the feeling of anger and a sense of mission.
No matter what you say, don't say anything brave, heroic, fearless, and strong. We are American infantry, this is our business, no one is a hero."
Kenneth Buckmann participated in the Normandy Landing War as a corporal in the Second Division Camp of the 5th Army of the U.S. Army. He and his comrades successfully launched an attack on a 30-meter-high cliff at Cape Hawk and occupied it.
Their mission was to eliminate the 155mm heavy artillery positions that controlled Utad Beach and Omaha Beach. To the high-ranking commanders of the Battle of D-Day, there were many cannons located near the coast, and the rangers were going to search and blow up them.
As a result, the casualties were heavy: after the landing battle, less than one-third of the 255 people in the battalion could still fight, so the battalion was withdrawn soon. On June 7, Buckman was captured by the German army. After the war, he received retirement insurance and became an investment businessman. Now, he lives in Kensington, Maryland, USA.
"Anyone who tells me that he is not afraid is either an idiot or a liar. You will definitely be afraid. You cannot get close to this 100-foot cliff. Without fire cover, the enemy fires at you, and you are not afraid at all. This is impossible.
A simple-equipped landing craft has no fire cover. A landing craft is a basic landing unit, carrying more than 30 people, and at most only 2 naval soldiers driving the boat. It has no keels, so as long as there are winds and waves, you will feel it. (To be continued)
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Chapter completed!