Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe, began in the first minutes of today with the landing by glider of men of the British 6th Airborne Division to seize the bridge over the canal at Benouville, north of Caen.
These few men, a small part of a force scattered by high winds, were the advance guard of a huge airborne army. No less than 23,400 men of Britain's "Red Berets" and the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions have been landed begin Utah Beach in the southern part of the Cotentin Peninsula, by parachute and by towed glider.
The high winds have caused chaos with the drop. Parachutists and gliders are spread over the Normandy countryside, and many of the men have been blown into trees.
Commanders are struggling to gather their units together, using any men they can find to attack their vital initial objectives. However, the very disorganization of the drop is making it very difficult for the Germans to respond. To them it seems as if the whole of Normandy is swarming with aggressive troops, and they cannot see a pattern to the movements. Small groups of paratroopers are attacking the Germans wherever they come across them. One group from the 82nd has ambushed General Falley, the commander of the German 91st Division. His division is now paralysed and cannot respond to the landings on Utah Beach.
In one of the most courageous and bloody actions fought today, the British 9th Parachute Battalion, led by Lt-Col Otway, stormed the heavily defended German battery at Merville, although Otway could muster only 150 men. So tonight the airborne warriors have secured both flanks of the invasion.
RAF 108 Transport Command Dakotas from Broadwell, Down Ampney and Blakehill Farm dropped the main body of the 3rd Parachute Brigade and also towed the Horsa gliders in actions. They were joined by RAF Short Stirling IVs of Nos. 190 and 622 (Fairford Common) and Nos. 196 and 299 (Keevil) Squadrons of Transport Command. Amongst the heavy-lift capability are 70 General Aircraft Hamilcar gliders, each capable of carrying a light tank into action.(22)
The US 101st Airborne Division was assigned
the mission of securing four causeways over the marshes leading from Utah Beach
at which the US 4th Infantry Division would land. The 4th would need these
causeways in order to leave the beach and move inland. The naval bombardment was
effective in neutralizing many of the defensive works that the Germans had built
in the area. The 8th Infantry Regiment, along with 12 Sherman tanks which had
been made amphibious for the journey to the beach landed at 0631, one minute
behind schedule. They overcame the remaining resistance and began their move
inland. The causeways had been secured by the 101st and elements of both
divisions met at 1200 hours on the first road south of the beach
Further to the east the US 1st and US 29th Infantry Divisions were assigned the
mission of securing Omaha Beach. In March 1944, the 352nd Infantry Division had
moved into the Omaha Beach area. Allied intelligence discovered this only a
short time before the landings. The move of the 352nd was to make Omaha a much
more difficult operation than had been foreseen. There was a high bluff behind
Omaha Beach. At the base of the bluff there was a wall about six feet high. At
high tide there was a beach of only 10 feet. In order to get off the beach the
Americans had planned to use the four roadways (exits) that led inland. The
naval bombardment had not been effective at Omaha and the defenders of those
exits were prepared when the Americans began their landings. Many men became
casualties from the German fire as they crossed the water from their landing
craft. There was much confusion and disorganization and men huddled behind the
wall not daring to move. Much of the grass on the bluff had been set on fire.
The smoke from this fire reduced the visibility of the German defenders. At
about 1000 hours small groups began using bangalore torpedoes to make breaks in
the barbed wire and moved up the bluff to attack the Germans from the flanks and
rear. By nightfall the Americans had moved inland from between 1,000 yards to 2
miles.
Further to the east at the British and Canadian beaches, Gold, Juno and Sword, high tide was one hour later, as was H-Hour. The Germans did not fire on the landing craft as they approached the beaches. The UK 50th Infantry Division had the mission of securing Gold, then moving inland in order to seize Bayeux, blocking the Bayeux-Caen road so as to prevent Germans from approaching Omaha. The assault was conducted by the 231st Infantry Brigade which led with the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the Dorset Regiment. In addition, the 47th Royal Marine Commando landed at Gold. It's mission was to secure Port-en-Bessel. By 1200 it was in position on the high ground above Port-en-Bessel. At the end of the day, while not securing all their objectives, the British had established a beachhead of six miles by six miles.
At Juno, H-Hour for the Canadians of the 3rd
Infantry Division was 0735 but they were unable to land until 0805 because of
the vicious weather.The division's mission was to move inland 11 miles, join in
the attack on Caen, and seize the airfield at Carpiquet, five miles east of Caen.
Because of the late arrival and the tide had covered obstacles and the mines
placed on some of them. Therefore demolition parties were unable to remove the
mines. German fire and mines took out 90 of the their 306 landing craft. The
Canadians were accompanied by the 48th Royal Marine Commando which had the
mission of linking up with the British at Sword Beach, further to the east. They
would be stopped by Germans in the heavily fortified town of Langrune for a day.
The 7th Canadian Brigade landed a battalion each of the Royal Winnipegs and the
Regina Rifles. This force overran German defenses at Courseulles but because of
crowding on the beach follow on forces were slow getting off the beach. At
Bernieres, the 8th Canadian Brigade landed a battalion of the Queens Own Rifles.
After heavy casualties it secured the town.
Sword was the most easterly beach and the closest to Caen, the capture of which would open much of the countryside to British and Canadian forces. The capture of Sword was assigned to the UK 3rd Infantry Division and two Royal Marine Commando brigades, the 1st and the 4th.The commandoes were to join up with the Canadians at Juno and link up with the UK 6th Airborne Division, including the forces of the Oxs and Bucks at Pegasus Bridge. The first few minutes of the landing was the worst. In one hour the 1st of the South Lancs, the 1st of East Yorks and the commandos had seized the beach. The South Lancs led the movement inland and by 0930 were through Hermanville, a mile and a half on the road to Caen when they ran up against the leading elements of 21st Panzer Division coming out of Caen. Three anti -tank guns on Periers Ridge had caused the halt. The South Lancs dug in, and waited for the King's Shropshire Light Infantry to arrive from the beach. The Shropshires were waiting for the 65 tanks of the Staffordshire Yeomanry. The brigade commander finally ordered the Shropshires forward at about 1400. Some of the tanks arrived soon after and the force moved forward. However, the German corps commander seeing the chance to drive a wedge between Sword and Juno ordered the 21st Panzer to drive for the beach. The British and German forces collided and both veered off and were halted, even if a small element of the 21st Panzer did reach the beach at 2000, it soon had to withdraw.
101st Airborne: D-Day just before dark at 2100 (might have been confused by some with 0001, or later, on D+1) 32 large Horsas attempted a landing on an LZ near Hiesville. They were carrying 165 soldiers about 1/3 of whom were lost with 14 KIA. There was considerable loss among the gliders.
At dawn on D+1 a Horsa carrying soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division crashed in the zone of the 101st near Holdy. There were 18 KIA.
On D+1 at 0630 an aerial resupply mission was flown by USAAC aircraft which dropped supplies to a force of 250 soldiers led by Colonel Johnson, commander of the 501st Parachute Infantry, at the La Barquatte Locks. The nearest bundles landed in swamps one mile away and were covered by German fire. (William Jay Stone)