Battle Of Normandy Research Paper
U.S. History 4th Paper
Battle of Normandy, Utah Beach
5/31/13
Flooded Zone on Contentin Peninsula. Shows what the terrain was for the incoming troops
In the Battle of Normandy, France; more specifically Utah Beach, it was the westernmost of the five landing beaches on the Contentin peninsula we were invading. It was located at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, northwest of the Carentan Estuary on sandy dune beaches. Also located between two villages; Pouppeville and La Madeleine. It was called “Operation Overlord.” Originally, the plan did not call for landing on the Contentin, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of our expeditionary Force, added it to ensure an early capture of the port of Cherbourg, which is the northern tip of the peninsula. Dwight realized that the advance throughout Western Europe would need great amounts of equipment and Cherbourg would be the only port that can handle it, during the initial steps of the war.
Omaha Beach had many fortifications and defenses made by the Germans. Although, Utah Beach had them, the defenses were sparse. I later only realized this because there was flooding in low lying areas and the Germans were able to control the flooding with locks which controlled where they chose to …show more content…
flood. The locks were more like dams that controlled the flow of the water. The Germans planned on flooding the area of the beach when and if we attacked. That is a reason why there were few defenses. Although the flooding is an obstacle, a main obstacle we had to overcome were the currents. They were so powerful that it delayed our troops’ landings. The currents also pushed us farther than we expected to be, about 2 kilometers off course. This helped us out because it caused us to go to the part of the beach were there were less Germans and in turn, led to few casualties which were less than two hundred killed, which is the complete opposite of what happened at Omaha Beach. Not only did the currents ruin our original plan, but the smoke from the bombs dropped/fired were being blown in our direction causing us to not be able to see where we were to land. Although it is not geographical, it was still an obstacle thrown in our way that we overcame.
Our strategy is simple, first drop paratroopers inland during the night to support the assault at Utah Beach. The drop zones were labeled A, C and D. These drop zones were in the area of the roads leading from the beach. Drop A was west of Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, D and C were west and southwest of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. These zones were designated for the 101st airborne division. The 82nd division also had drop zones. The zones were given the letters; N, O, and T. These were north of the Douve River and on the sides of one of its, the river’s, tributary the Merderet. These zones were all to the west of Sainte-Mère-Église. The paratroopers suffered few casualties during the first few hours of the attack. The assault sectors for the soldiers coming by ship were designed west to east, Tare Green, Uncle Red, and Victor. The paratroopers were only to help the shipped troops that were coming in from the sea land on the correct beach and to capture the bunkers that were in the possession of the Germans. The Germans did not know what type of attack to launch as a counterattack against our paratroopers. This was why we dropped the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions the way we did. This was successful because there were a few unoccupied bunkers that were easily captured by us. When we had these bunkers, we fired around the beach and the surrounding area to blow up any land mines.
The main attack was planned in four waves. First was consisted of 20 Higgins boats, which were also known as LCVPs; the LCVPs/Higgins were designed by Andrew Higgins and could hold a platoon of men, about 36, at a speed around 9 knots. The Higgins boats carried an assault team from the 1st and 2nd Battalion of the 8th Infantry Regiment led by Assistant Division Commander Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.; they were 1800 meters off their target. He is known for his remark “We’ll start the war from here!” The second wave also consisted of Higgins boats that carried troops. These troops had soldiers of two assault battalions, combat engineers, and eight naval demolition teams to clear the beach of underwater obstacles, like mines. The third wave had eight more Higgins boats carrying DD Tanks. Following closely to the third wave by two minutes was the fourth wave. This wave had detachments of the 237th and the 299th Combat Engineer Battalions that cleared our beaches between the high and low water marks.
The Germans facing us on the beach was forces two regiments from their 91st division, which also consisted one battalion of tanks. They also had the 6th parachute regiment. This was what we were facing of the Nazi Army, but not what they relied upon if and when we attacked. Like I mentioned previously, behind the beach was flooding. The flooding in fact was marshes, everywhere, and the Germans had control of the water. They had hoped that they could stop us with their few soldiers and tanks with the help of Mother Nature. When we dropped the troops from above, they didn’t want to risk releasing the water because of confusion and doubt. The paratroopers caused chaos among the Germans because they, the Germans, did not know whether we had dropped a decoy to distract them from another attack or whether we had just dropped our main assault force.
Dropping the paratroopers was one of our main objectives in this invasion. we were successful in the completion of the objective because we were able to deploy our men safely, allow for more of our men to come ashore safely. As the first full day of our landing at the Utah Beach, we landed 20,000 men and 1,700 vehicles. The Germans did not counterattack us on the sea and this was a major factor in our victory on Utah Beach. There were very few casualties, which led to a successful launch and the achievements at the beach were very spiritually uplifting because it showed us that there was promise in ending this war in our favor. The other main objective was to capture the port of Cherbourg. This was only because we needed that port to handle all of our ships carrying our troops and tanks. The German’s objectives were to keep us away from capturing the beach or anything that we could find to be any use to us. They had planned on destroying everything by flooding the marsh land with the locks. That had failed because we came in with more troops than they could handle and we used that to our advantage and took control of just about everything within a 5 to 8 mile range of the beach. The only turning point in the battle was that the Germans did not know where to really attack because we landed men by air and by sea which meant that we had men all over the place and not in the place they had thought we were going to be. So, the turning point would be the beginning of the invasion, during the landing and storming of the beach.
We had won.
The Americans had won the battle. With the help of Mother Nature and some unlikely errors with the communication between the Germans and their commanders, we had done it. We had gained a very big victory which helped ease the pain of the gruesome battle at Omaha Beach. The reason we had fought this battle in the first place was because Stalin needed our help. He needed us to set up a second front in West Europe so that he and his men would not be getting the big losses in men during the war. We had agreed with Stalin and planned the invasion of Normandy. Britain helped us out on three other beach invasions. We had this war in our hands now, we just needed to end it soon, and we
did.
WORKS CITED:
"Military History Online - D-Day June 6, 1944." Military History Online . N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. .
Ruppenthal, Roland G.. Utah Beach to Cherbourg (6 June - 27 June 1944). Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Dept. of the Army :, 1984. Print.
"Utah Beach." History Learning Site. HistoryLearningSite.co.uk, n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. .
"Utah Beach (World War II) : The landing beach -- Encyclopedia Britannica."Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. .
"Utah Beach | D-Day | Normandy Invasion." D-day Beaches | Holiday Vacation Rentals | Utah Beach | Normandy. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. .
Battle of Normandy, Utah Beach
5/31/13
Flooded Zone on Contentin Peninsula. Shows what the terrain was for the incoming troops
In the Battle of Normandy, France; more specifically Utah Beach, it was the westernmost of the five landing beaches on the Contentin peninsula we were invading. It was located at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, northwest of the Carentan Estuary on sandy dune beaches. Also located between two villages; Pouppeville and La Madeleine. It was called “Operation Overlord.” Originally, the plan did not call for landing on the Contentin, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of our expeditionary Force, added it to ensure an early capture of the port of Cherbourg, which is the northern tip of the peninsula. Dwight realized that the advance throughout Western Europe would need great amounts of equipment and Cherbourg would be the only port that can handle it, during the initial steps of the war.
Omaha Beach had many fortifications and defenses made by the Germans. Although, Utah Beach had them, the defenses were sparse. I later only realized this because there was flooding in low lying areas and the Germans were able to control the flooding with locks which controlled where they chose to …show more content…
flood. The locks were more like dams that controlled the flow of the water. The Germans planned on flooding the area of the beach when and if we attacked. That is a reason why there were few defenses. Although the flooding is an obstacle, a main obstacle we had to overcome were the currents. They were so powerful that it delayed our troops’ landings. The currents also pushed us farther than we expected to be, about 2 kilometers off course. This helped us out because it caused us to go to the part of the beach were there were less Germans and in turn, led to few casualties which were less than two hundred killed, which is the complete opposite of what happened at Omaha Beach. Not only did the currents ruin our original plan, but the smoke from the bombs dropped/fired were being blown in our direction causing us to not be able to see where we were to land. Although it is not geographical, it was still an obstacle thrown in our way that we overcame.
Our strategy is simple, first drop paratroopers inland during the night to support the assault at Utah Beach. The drop zones were labeled A, C and D. These drop zones were in the area of the roads leading from the beach. Drop A was west of Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, D and C were west and southwest of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. These zones were designated for the 101st airborne division. The 82nd division also had drop zones. The zones were given the letters; N, O, and T. These were north of the Douve River and on the sides of one of its, the river’s, tributary the Merderet. These zones were all to the west of Sainte-Mère-Église. The paratroopers suffered few casualties during the first few hours of the attack. The assault sectors for the soldiers coming by ship were designed west to east, Tare Green, Uncle Red, and Victor. The paratroopers were only to help the shipped troops that were coming in from the sea land on the correct beach and to capture the bunkers that were in the possession of the Germans. The Germans did not know what type of attack to launch as a counterattack against our paratroopers. This was why we dropped the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions the way we did. This was successful because there were a few unoccupied bunkers that were easily captured by us. When we had these bunkers, we fired around the beach and the surrounding area to blow up any land mines.
The main attack was planned in four waves. First was consisted of 20 Higgins boats, which were also known as LCVPs; the LCVPs/Higgins were designed by Andrew Higgins and could hold a platoon of men, about 36, at a speed around 9 knots. The Higgins boats carried an assault team from the 1st and 2nd Battalion of the 8th Infantry Regiment led by Assistant Division Commander Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.; they were 1800 meters off their target. He is known for his remark “We’ll start the war from here!” The second wave also consisted of Higgins boats that carried troops. These troops had soldiers of two assault battalions, combat engineers, and eight naval demolition teams to clear the beach of underwater obstacles, like mines. The third wave had eight more Higgins boats carrying DD Tanks. Following closely to the third wave by two minutes was the fourth wave. This wave had detachments of the 237th and the 299th Combat Engineer Battalions that cleared our beaches between the high and low water marks.
The Germans facing us on the beach was forces two regiments from their 91st division, which also consisted one battalion of tanks. They also had the 6th parachute regiment. This was what we were facing of the Nazi Army, but not what they relied upon if and when we attacked. Like I mentioned previously, behind the beach was flooding. The flooding in fact was marshes, everywhere, and the Germans had control of the water. They had hoped that they could stop us with their few soldiers and tanks with the help of Mother Nature. When we dropped the troops from above, they didn’t want to risk releasing the water because of confusion and doubt. The paratroopers caused chaos among the Germans because they, the Germans, did not know whether we had dropped a decoy to distract them from another attack or whether we had just dropped our main assault force.
Dropping the paratroopers was one of our main objectives in this invasion. we were successful in the completion of the objective because we were able to deploy our men safely, allow for more of our men to come ashore safely. As the first full day of our landing at the Utah Beach, we landed 20,000 men and 1,700 vehicles. The Germans did not counterattack us on the sea and this was a major factor in our victory on Utah Beach. There were very few casualties, which led to a successful launch and the achievements at the beach were very spiritually uplifting because it showed us that there was promise in ending this war in our favor. The other main objective was to capture the port of Cherbourg. This was only because we needed that port to handle all of our ships carrying our troops and tanks. The German’s objectives were to keep us away from capturing the beach or anything that we could find to be any use to us. They had planned on destroying everything by flooding the marsh land with the locks. That had failed because we came in with more troops than they could handle and we used that to our advantage and took control of just about everything within a 5 to 8 mile range of the beach. The only turning point in the battle was that the Germans did not know where to really attack because we landed men by air and by sea which meant that we had men all over the place and not in the place they had thought we were going to be. So, the turning point would be the beginning of the invasion, during the landing and storming of the beach.
We had won.
The Americans had won the battle. With the help of Mother Nature and some unlikely errors with the communication between the Germans and their commanders, we had done it. We had gained a very big victory which helped ease the pain of the gruesome battle at Omaha Beach. The reason we had fought this battle in the first place was because Stalin needed our help. He needed us to set up a second front in West Europe so that he and his men would not be getting the big losses in men during the war. We had agreed with Stalin and planned the invasion of Normandy. Britain helped us out on three other beach invasions. We had this war in our hands now, we just needed to end it soon, and we
did.
WORKS CITED:
"Military History Online - D-Day June 6, 1944." Military History Online . N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. .
Ruppenthal, Roland G.. Utah Beach to Cherbourg (6 June - 27 June 1944). Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Dept. of the Army :, 1984. Print.
"Utah Beach." History Learning Site. HistoryLearningSite.co.uk, n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. .
"Utah Beach (World War II) : The landing beach -- Encyclopedia Britannica."Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. .
"Utah Beach | D-Day | Normandy Invasion." D-day Beaches | Holiday Vacation Rentals | Utah Beach | Normandy. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. .