The objective at Utah was to secure a beachhead on the Cotentin Peninsula, the location of important port facilities at Cherbourg. The amphibious assault, primarily by the US 4th Infantry Division and 70th Tank Battalion, was supported by airborne landings of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division. The intention was to rapidly seal off the Cotentin Peninsula, prevent the Germans from reinforcing Cherbourg, and capture the port as quickly as possible. Utah, along with Sword on the eastern flank, was added to the invasion plan in December 1943. These changes doubled the frontage of the invasion and necessitated a month-long delay so that additional landing craft and personnel could be assembled in England. Allied forces attacking Utah faced two battalions of the 919th Grenadier Regiment, part of the 709th Static Infantry Division. While improvements to fortifications had been undertaken under the leadership of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel beginning in October 1943, the troops assigned to defend the area were mostly poorly equipped non-German conscripts.
D-Day at Utah began at 01:30, when the first of the airborne units arrived, tasked with securing the key crossroads at Sainte-Mère-Église and controlling the causeways through the flooded farmland behind Utah so the infantry could advance inland. While some airborne objectives were quickly met, many paratroopers landed far from their drop zones and were unable to fulfill their objectives on the first day. On the beach itself, infantry and tanks landed in four waves beginning at 06:30 and quickly secured the immediate area with minimal casualties. Meanwhile, engineers set to work clearing the area of obstacles and mines, and additional waves of reinforcements continued to arrive. At the close of D-Day, Allied forces had only captured about half of the planned area and contingents of German defenders remained, but the beachhead was secure.
The 4th Infantry Division landed 21,000 troops on Utah at the cost of only 197 casualties. Airborne troops arriving by parachute and glider numbered an additional 14,000 men, with 2,500 casualties. Around 700 men were lost in engineering units, 70th Tank Battalion, and seaborne vessels sunk by the enemy. German losses are unknown. Cherbourg was captured on June 26, but by this time the Germans had destroyed the port facilities, which were not brought back into full operation until September.
On December 31, 1943, Eisenhower and Montgomery first saw the plan, which proposed amphibious landings by three divisions and two-thirds of an airborne division.[11] The two generals immediately insisted that the scale of the initial invasion be expanded to five divisions, with airborne descents by three divisions, to allow operations on a wider front.[12] The change doubled the frontage of the invasion from 25 miles (40 km) to 50 miles (80 km). This would allow for quicker offloading of men and materiel, make it more difficult for the Germans to respond, and speed up the capture of the port at Cherbourg.[13] Eisenhower and Lieutenant General Omar Bradley selected for Utah the VII Corps. Major General J. Lawton Collins, who had experience with amphibious operations in the Pacific Theater of Operations (though not in the initial assaults), replaced Major General Roscoe Woodruff as commander of VII Corps.[14]
The coastline of Normandy was divided into seventeen sectors, with codenames using a spelling alphabet—from Able, west of Omaha, to Roger on the east flank of Sword. Utah was originally designated "Yoke" and Omaha was "X-ray", from the phonetic alphabet. The two names were changed on 3 March 1944. "Omaha" and "Utah" were probably suggested by Bradley.[15] Eight further sectors were added when the invasion was extended to include Utah. Sectors were further subdivided into beaches identified by the colors Green, Red, and White.[16]
Utah, the westernmost of the five landing beaches, is on the Cotentin Peninsula, west of the mouths of the Douve and Vire rivers.[17] The terrain between Utah and the neighboring Omaha was swampy and difficult to cross, which meant that the troops landing at Utah would be isolated. The Germans had flooded the farmland behind Utah, restricting travel off the beach to a few narrow causeways. To help secure the terrain inland of the landing zone, rapidly seal off the Cotentin Peninsula, and prevent the Germans from reinforcing the port at Cherbourg, two airborne divisions were assigned to airdrop into German territory in the early hours of the invasion.[18]
The need to acquire or produce extra landing craft and troop carrier aircraft for the expanded operation meant that the invasion had to be delayed to June.[19] Production of landing craft was ramped up in late 1943 and continued into early 1944, and existing craft were relocated from other theaters.[20] More than 600 Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft and their crews took a circuitous route to England in early 1944 from Baer Field, Indiana, bringing the number of available troop carrier planes to over a thousand.[21]
Amphibious landings at Utah were to be preceded by airborne landings further inland on the Cotentin Peninsula commencing shortly after midnight.[22] Forty minutes of naval bombardment was to begin at 05:50,[23] followed by air bombardment, scheduled for 06:09 to 06:27.[24]
The amphibious landing was planned in four waves, beginning at 06:30. The first consisted of 20 Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVPs) carrying four companies from the 8th Infantry Regiment. The ten craft on the right were to land on Tare Green beach, opposite the strongpoint at Les Dunes de Varreville. The ten craft on the left were intended for Uncle Red beach, 1,000 yards (910 m) south. Eight Landing Craft Tanks (LCTs), each carrying four amphibious DD tanks of 70th Tank Battalion, were scheduled to land a few minutes before the infantry.[25]
The second wave, scheduled for 06:35, consisted of 32 LCVPs carrying four more companies of 8th Infantry, as well as combat engineers and naval demolition teams that were to clear the beach of obstacles. The third wave, scheduled for 06:45, consisted of eight LCTs bringing more DD tanks plus armored bulldozers to assist in clearing paths off the beach. It was to be followed at 06:37 by the fourth wave, which had eight Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) and three LCVPs with detachments of the 237th and 299th Combat Engineer Battalions, assigned to clear the beach between the high and low water marks.[26]
Troops involved in Operation Overlord, including members of the 4th Division scheduled to land at Utah, left their barracks in the second half of May and proceeded to their coastal marshalling points.[27] To preserve secrecy, the invasion troops were as much as possible kept out of contact with the outside world.[28] The men began to embark onto their transports on June 1, and the 865 ships of Force U (the naval group assigned to Utah) left from Plymouth on June 3 and 4.
A 24-hour postponement of the invasion necessitated by bad weather meant that one convoy had to be recalled and then hastily refueled at Portland. Convoy U2A from Salcombe and Dartmouth left on 4 June but did not receive the broadcast recall notices, and was headed for France alone. An all-day search by a Walrus reconnaissance biplane located the convoy and dropped two coded messages in canisters; the second one was acknowledged when the convoy was 36 miles (58 km) from Normandy. The convoy of about 150 vessels was carrying the 4th Infantry Division of Major-General Raymond O. Barton.[29][30][31]
The ships met at a rendezvous point (nicknamed "Piccadilly Circus") southeast of the Isle of Wight to assemble into convoys to cross the Channel.[32] Minesweepers began clearing lanes on the evening of June 5.[33]
Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, overall commander on the Western Front, reported to Hitler in October 1943 regarding the weak defenses in France. This led to the appointment of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to oversee the construction of enhanced fortifications along the Atlantic Wall, with special emphasis on the most likely invasion front, which stretched from the Netherlands to Cherbourg.[34][35] Rommel believed that the Normandy coast could be a possible landing point for the invasion, so he ordered the construction of extensive defensive works along that shore. In addition to concrete gun emplacements at strategic points along the coast, he ordered wooden stakes, metal tripods, mines, and large anti-tank obstacles to be placed on the beach to delay the approach of landing craft and impede the movement of tanks.[36] Expecting the Allies to land at high tide so that the infantry would spend less time exposed on the beach, he ordered many of these obstacles to be placed at the high-tide mark.[37] The terrain at Utah is flat, offering no high ground on which to place fortifications. The shallow beach varies in depth from almost nothing to 800 yards (730 m), depending on the tides.[38] The Germans flooded the flat land behind the beach by damming up streams and opening the floodgates at the mouth of the Douve to admit seawater.[39]
Defense of this sector of eastern coast of the Cotentin Peninsula was assigned to GeneralleutnantKarl-Wilhelm von Schlieben and his 709th Static Infantry Division.[40] The unit was not well equipped, lacking motorized transport and provided with captured French, Soviet, and Czech equipment.[41] Many of the men were Ostlegionen (non-German conscripts recruited from Soviet prisoners of war, Georgians, and Poles), known to be deeply unreliable.[3][42] The southernmost 6 miles (9.7 km) of the sector was manned by about 700 troops stationed in nine strongpoints spaced from 1,100 to 4,400 yd (1,000 to 4,000 m) apart.[42] Tangles of barbed wire, booby traps, and the removal of ground cover made both the beach and the terrain around the strongpoints hazardous for infantry.[36][43] The German 91st Infantry Division and 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, who arrived in May, were stationed inland as reserves. Detecting this move, the Allies shifted their intended airborne drop zones to the southeast.[41]
Bombing of Normandy began around midnight with over 2,200 British and American bombers attacking targets along the coast and further inland.[37] Some 1,200 aircraft departed England just before midnight to transport the airborne divisions to their drop zones behind enemy lines.[44] Paratroops from 101st Airborne were dropped beginning around 01:30, tasked with controlling the causeways behind Utah and destroying road and rail bridges over the Douve.[45] Gathering together into fighting units was made difficult by a shortage of radios and by the bocage terrain, with its hedgerows, stone walls, and marshes.[46] Troops of the 82nd Airborne began arriving around 02:30, with the primary objective of destroying two additional bridges over the Douve and capturing intact two bridges over the Merderet.[45] They quickly captured the important crossroads at Sainte-Mère-Église (the first town liberated in the invasion[47]) and began working to protect the western flank.[48]Generalleutnant Wilhelm Falley, commander of 91st Infantry Division, was trying to return to his headquarters near Picauville from war games at Rennes when he was killed by a paratrooper patrol.[49] Two hours before the main invasion force landed, a raiding party of 132 members of 4th Cavalry Regiment swam ashore at 04:30 at Îles Saint-Marcouf, thought to be a German observation post. It was unoccupied, but two men were killed and seventeen wounded by mines and German artillery fire.[50]
Once the four troop transports assigned to Force U reached their assigned position 12 miles (19 km) off the coast, 5,000 soldiers of 4th Division and other units assigned to Utah boarded their landing craft in rough seas for the three-hour journey to their designated landing point.[51] The eighteen ships assigned to bombard Utah included the US Navy battleship Nevada, the Royal Navy monitor Erebus, the heavy cruisers Hawkins (Royal Navy) and Tuscaloosa (US Navy), and the gunboat HNLMS Soemba (Royal Netherlands Navy).[52] Naval bombardment of areas behind the beach commenced at 05:45, while it was still dark, with the gunners switching to pre-assigned targets on the beach as soon as it was light enough to see, at 05:50.[53]USS Corry, a destroyer in the bombardment group, sank after it struck a mine while evading fire from the Marcouf battery under the command of Oberleutnant zur SeeWalter Ohmsen.[50] Since troops were scheduled to land at Utah and Omaha starting at 06:30 (an hour earlier than the British beaches), these areas received only about 40 minutes of naval bombardment before the assault troops began to land on the shore.[54] Coastal air bombardment was undertaken in the twenty minutes immediately prior to the landing by approximately 300 Martin B-26 Marauders of the IX Bomber Command.[50] Due to cloud cover, the pilots decided to drop to low altitudes of 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,200 to 1,800 m). Much of the bombing was highly effective, with the loss of only two aircraft.[55]
Map of the invasion area showing channels cleared of mines, location of vessels engaged in bombardment, and targets on shore. Utah is the westernmost landing area.
The first troops to reach the shore were four companies from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry, arriving at 06:30 on 20 LCVPs. Companies B and C landed on the segment code-named Tare Green, and Companies E and F to their left on Uncle Red.[56]Leonard T. Schroeder, leading Company F, was the first man to reach the beach.[57] The landing craft were pushed to the south by strong currents, and they found themselves near Exit 2 at Grande Dune, about 2,000 yards (1.8 km) from their intended landing zones opposite Exit 3 at Les Dunes de Varreville. The first senior officer ashore, Assistant Division Commander Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. of the 4th Infantry Division, personally scouted the nearby terrain. He determined that this landing site was actually better, as there was only one strongpoint in the immediate vicinity rather than two, and it had been badly damaged by bombers of IX Bomber Command. In addition, the strong currents had washed ashore many of the underwater obstacles. Deciding to "start the war from right here", he ordered further landings to be re-routed.[58][59]
The second wave of assault troops arrived at 06:35 on 32 LCVPs. Companies A and D of 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry landed on Tare Green and G and H on Uncle Red. They were accompanied by engineers and demolition teams tasked with removing beach obstacles and clearing the area directly behind the beach of obstacles and mines.[60]
A contingent of the 70th Tank Battalion, comprising 32 amphibious DD tanks on eight LCTs, were supposed to arrive about 10 minutes before the infantry. However, a strong headwind caused them to be about 20 minutes late, even though they launched the tanks 1,500 yards (1,400 m) from shore rather than 5,000 yards (4,600 m) as planned.[61] Four tanks of Company A and their personnel were lost when their LCT hit a mine about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Iles St. Marcouf and was destroyed, but the remaining 28 arrived intact.[62]
Utah landings, planned (center/right) and actual (left). North: lower right
The third wave, arriving at 06:45, included 16 conventional M4 Sherman tanks and 8 dozer tanks of the 70th Tank Battalion.[63] They were followed at 06:37 by the fourth wave, which had eight LCMs and three LCVPs with detachments of the 237th and 299th Combat Engineer Battalions, assigned to clear the beach between the high and low water marks.[60]
Company B came under small arms fire from defenders positioned in houses along the road as they headed to the enemy strongpoint WN7 near La Madeleine, northwest of La Grande Dune and 600 yards (550 m) inland. They met little resistance at WN7, the headquarters of 3rd Battalion, 919th Grenadiers. Company C disabled the enemy strongpoint WN5 at La Grande Dune, which had been heavily damaged in the preliminary bombardment. Companies E and F (about 600 men) proceeded inland about 700 yards (640 m) to strongpoint WN4 at La Dune, which they captured after a short skirmish. They next traveled south on a farm road parallel to the beach towards Causeway 1. Companies G and H moved south along the beach toward enemy strongpoint WN3 at Beau Guillot. They encountered a minefield and came under enemy machine gun fire, but soon captured the position.[64][65] 70th Tank Battalion was expecting to have to help neutralize beach fortifications in the immediate area, but since this job was quickly completed by the infantry, they had little to do initially.[66] The landing area was almost totally secure by 08:30, at which point combat teams prepared to push further inland along the causeways. Meanwhile, additional waves of reinforcements continued to arrive on the beach.[67]
Removal of mines and obstacles from the beach, a job that had to be performed quickly before the tide came in at 10:30, was the assignment of 237th and 299th Combat Engineer Battalions and the eight dozer tanks.[68] The teams used explosives to destroy beach obstacles and blow gaps in the sea wall to allow quicker access for troops and vehicles.[69] The dozer tanks pushed the wreckage out of the way to create clear lanes for further landings
Saint-Marie-du-Mont se trouve au sud-est de la presqu'île du Cotentin, juste au nord de la ville de Carentan, à l'ouest de la baie des Veys, le débouché de la Douve et de la Vire.
Le climat qui caractérise la commune est qualifié, en 2010, de « climat océanique franc », selon la typologie des climats de la France qui compte alors huit grands types de climats en métropole4. En 2020, la commune ressort du type « climat océanique » dans la classification établie par Météo-France, qui ne compte désormais, en première approche, que cinq grands types de climats en métropole. Ce type de climat se traduit par des températures douces et une pluviométrie relativement abondante (en liaison avec les perturbations venant de l'Atlantique), répartie tout au long de l'année avec un léger maximum d'octobre à février5.
Les paramètres climatiques qui ont permis d’établir la typologie de 2010 comportent six variables pour les températures et huit pour les précipitations, dont les valeurs correspondent à la normale 1971-2000Note 2. Les sept principales variables caractérisant la commune sont présentées dans l'encadré ci-après.
Paramètres climatiques communaux sur la période 1971-20004
Moyenne annuelle de température : 11,3 °C
Nombre de jours avec une température inférieure à −5 °C : 0,8 j
Nombre de jours avec une température supérieure à 30 °C : 0,3 j
Nombre de jours de précipitation en janvier : 13,4 j
Nombre de jours de précipitation en juillet : 7 j
Avec le changement climatique, ces variables ont évolué. Une étude réalisée en 2014 par la Direction générale de l'Énergie et du Climat8 complétée par des études régionales9 prévoit en effet que la température moyenne devrait croître et la pluviométrie moyenne baisser, avec toutefois de fortes variations régionales. La station météorologique de Météo-France installée sur la commune et mise en service en 1997 permet de connaître en continu l'évolution des indicateurs météorologiques10. Le tableau détaillé pour la période 1981-2010 est présenté ci-après.
In the spring of 1944, the town of La Madeleine was occupied by the 3rd company of the Grenadier-Regiment 919 (709. Infanterie Division), commanded by the Oberleutnant Matz. The village houses the Wn 7 strongpoint (also known as Wn 105), which consists of several machine guns positions and houses Oberleutnant Matz command post. In 1944, La Madeleine is located on the only road parallel to the beach and is the link between two departmental roads (D67 and D913).
On the beach, at the place called La Grande Dune, the Germans installed the strongpoint Wn 5 (also known as Wn 104). The latter is placed under the authority of the Leutnant Yahnke belonging also to the 3rd company of Grenadier-Regiment 919. This strongpoint defends the access to the road leading to the village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. Protected by an anti-tank wall on which is constructed a casemate for 50 mm gun, the Wn 5 consists of two other 50 mm guns, a 47 mm anti-tank gun, a French tank turret FT 17 of 37 mm, For 50 mm mortar, three machine-gun burials and numerous shelters and ammunition bunkers. The entire site is protected by an extensive network of mines and barbed wire.
To the south of La Madeleine, behind the Wn 5, the Germans built another strongpoint, coded Wn 4 (also known as Wn 103) but which was not operational at the time of the landing. However, the Germans use it to protect themselves during the Allied bombing.
According to plans originally planned, the Allies plan to land their troops north-east of La Madeleine, on the area called “Utah Beach”. Utah beach is divided into two sub-sectors: “Tare Green” to the north and “Uncle Red” to the south. But on June 6, 1944, strong currents deviated the boats 2,500 meters to the south. On D-Day, the Americans land east of La Madeleine, opposite Wn 5. Their right flank faces the axis of the 913 departmental road. The first wave reaching Normandy at 6:30 am consists of 20 landing craft carrying the first elements of the 8th Infantry Regiment commanded by Colonel Francis F. Fainter. Companies B and C land on Tare Green, companies E and F on Uncle Red. Ten minutes later, amphibious tanks of the 70th Tank Battalion (4th Infantry Division), led by Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Welborn, landed to destroy the resistance points along the beach. The C Company of the 8th Infantry Regiment commanded by Captain Robert Crisson mounted the assault of Wn 5 and took it without difficulty. The engineers of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade under the orders of General James E. Wharton immediately set to work to clear the beach obstacles, thus facilitating the continuation of the landing operations.
B Company of the 8th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Gail Lee, crosses the anti-tank wall and the dunes at 9 o’clock and heads inland for the German positions at Wn 7. The US soldiers are supported by the 70th Tank Battalion tanks commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Welborn. However, the aerial bombardments and shots of the Allied navy deeply disorganized the opposing defense and the men of the Oberleutnant Matz are not able to offer special resistance.
The Americans seized La Madeleine in the middle of the morning and then moved inland.
US 90th Infantry Division Monument, 2 Utah Beach, 50480 Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
Located outside the Utah Beach Landing Museum. Plenty of car parking nearby.
The 'Tough Ombres'.
Activated as a division during the First World War, the US 90th Infantry Division were also known as the Texas-Oklahoma Division and their insignia patch is a combined 'T' and an 'O' letters.
One of the most distinguished units of WW2, the first elements landed at this location on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944 and we involved in the heavy fighting to secure the bridges over the Merderet and Douvres rivers and Hill 112, suffering around 5,000 killed, wounded, or captured - one of the highest casualty rates suffered by any division during WW2. The 90th made their way through northern France to the Ardennes, and into Germany where they liberated the Flossenburg Concentration Camp.
Gallery
US 90th Infantry Division Monument. Copyright Norm
This pole marks the landing area of Utah beach. It is the start of the Liberty Road with milestones through France. It is here that Theodore Roosevelt comes to shore with his men. The planned landings should take place at 2km higher at ‘La Grande Dune’ but he ended up at La Madeleine, where there is little resistance.
From 1942 to June 1944, the old fisherman’s hut sheltered by dunes, what is now Roosevelt Café was used for the German Todt organization. Right next to the house was a bunker found by the Germans was used as a communication post. A nice comparison photo is to be made of a former bunker now a restaurant.
The main building became immediately after D-Day the U.S. Army 1st Engineer Special Brigade Communications Group accommodations. Between June and November 1944 the bunker was used as a communications center for the U.S. Navy, who oversaw the traffic between the fleet and the front. The 39 radio operators of the Command Task Group supported the NOIC (Naval Officer In Charge).
From the bunker, which is part of the Restaurant section are dated WW2 photos to find. The side view of the bunker still has two black / white painted windows as on the pictures to see that just after D-Day were taken. Mr. Methivier has made to his life’s work to identify veterans who during WW2 where living in his building . Behind large plexiglass sheets are handwritten messages to see soldiers who left behind their traces here just after D-Day.
This plaque on Utah Beach commemorates "Exercise Tiger", the exercise for D-Day on Slapton Sand in England, in which 749 Americans were killed when the Germans attacked during the exercise.
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1/8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
3./Grenadier-Regiment 919, 709. Infanterie Division
