Page 11 - Cause & Effect: World War II

Th e troops landing at Omaha Beach encountered much stiff er resis-
tance. German machine guns opened fi re as soon as the Americans left
their landing crafts. Moreover, the beach was heavily mined—killing
many troops as they stepped on explosive devices planted in the sand.
And the naval and air bombardments had failed to wipe out most of
the German positions. S.L.A. Marshall, a US Army offi cer who par-
ticipated in the invasion, later described the landing at Omaha Beach:

Already the sea runs red. Even among some of the lightly
wounded who jumped into shallow water the hits prove fatal.
Knocked down by a bullet in the arm or weakened by fear
and shock, they are unable to rise again and are drowned
by the onrushing tide. Other wounded men drag themselves
ashore and, on fi nding the sands, lie quiet from total exhaus-
tion, only to be overtaken and killed by the water. A few
move safely through the bullet swarm to the beach, then fi nd
that they cannot hold there. Th ey return to the water to use
it for body cover. Faces turned upward, so that their nostrils
are out of water, they creep toward the land at the same rate
as the tide. 29

Peril Beyond the Beach

All morning, landing craft continued to discharge American troops
onto Omaha Beach, where they found themselves pinned down by
German fi re. American ships stepped up
“Two kinds of people
their bombardment of the German posi-
are staying on this
tions, and by 11:00 a.m. the battle fi nally beach, the dead and
turned in favor of the Americans. On the those who are going
beach, commanders pressed their men to to die.” 30
rise and attack. “Two kinds of people are
— US Army colonel George
staying on this beach,” shouted Colonel A. Taylor
George A. Taylor to his troops, “the dead
30
and those who are going to die. Now let’s get the hell out of here!” A
major breakthrough occurred when US Army Rangers scaled a 100-
foot (30-m) cliff overlooking the beach and knocked out German bat-
teries raining fi re down on the beach below.

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