The Omaha beachhead was possibly the most important beach of the five. It constituted the bridge between Utah and Gold beaches, and if the assault on Omaha were to fail the entire Overlord plan would fall into ruin. It was the job of the United States Army to gain a foothold on the beach and keep the invasion of Europe a reality. .
The Navy's Task Force "O" had the responsibility of carrying the assault teams to the beach. To accomplish this mission required 288 landing craft in addition to the battleships, cruisers, and destroyers that would provide escort and bombardment. .
The initial assault force consisted of 34,000 men and over 3,300 vehicles. In order for the plan to go off without a hitch, the weather would have to cooperate. The original date of the invasion was set for 5 June, but Eisenhower postponed the invasion another twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours later, the weather had subsided a bit, but the conditions were not yet ideal. To wait another day could compromise the secrecy of the mission so Eisenhower gave the command to go. .
Due to the rough seas and high winds, the unloading of men and equipment started behind schedule. The seas hampered the ability of the ships and landing craft to get to their designated positions on time. When the assault craft were released for the run to the beach, they discover that rough seas severely hampered the craft. Almost from the outset, the LCVP's and LCA's were drenched with spray. The onboard pumps in many of the craft could not handle the water and the men had to bail with their helmets. .
The combination of cold, wet conditions led many of the troops to be overcome by seasickness. Thus, when the craft finally reached shore, the men who were to take the beach were cold, wet, tired, and seasick. .
The invasion plan also called for Companies B and C of the 741st Tank Battalion to lead in the assault. These companies consisted of dual drive tanks (DD's). These tanks were specially designed to float and "swim" onto the beach under their own power. Unfortunately, due to the rough seas, only five tanks made it onto the beach, and three of those were beached by an LCT who's launching ramp was damaged. .
The situation when the first waves landed on the beach was dire. Most of the landing craft landed well east of their intended targets. Thus, despite all of the preparation, the landing troops were put in unfamiliar places. This led to general confusion on the beach because the men did not know what to do. They had trained to attack certain targets and now those targets were nowhere to be found. In addition to the confusion because of the botched landings, the troops arrived to see that the beaches were largely untouched by the massive bombardment that had taken place all through the night. .
Because of overcast conditions, the RAF and USAF were forced to use Pathfinder instruments. By using this technique the margin for error is greatly increased. The result was that the beach defenses were left largely intact. .
Of the missions that were to take place during the first assault on Normandy, the Army-Navy Special Engineer Task Force had the most important and difficult. They were to blow gaps in the obstacle on the beach and then mark lanes through which the next waves could land. These men were among the first to land and the first to be targets for the German defense. Due to the landing mistakes, many of the teams came ashore with out the benefit of protective tank and infantry fire. .
With the German defenses taking potshots at them, the Engineers took to salvaging whatever equipment they could find and blowing the nearest obstacles. Unfortunately, even that was a problem. The advancing infantry waves were taking cover behind the obstacles, preventing the engineers from blowing them up. A sum total of six complete gaps were blown in the enemy defenses, at a cost of forty-one percent of the Task Force. .
The infantry companies typically grounded on sandbars fifty to one hundred yards out to sea. The troops suffered their heaviest fire and causalities just after touchdown. The men that did make to the beach were exhausted and then had two hundred yards to make it to the nearest cover. .
By the time the surviving troops reached the beach, they were in complete disarray. Many of the officers were casualties of the German fire and the troops were more concerned about surviving than mounting an attack. In over an hour, the invasion had not yet accomplished what was expected in the first five minutes. It was up to a few unsung individuals to get the assault started again. .
The assault had reached a standstill over the first hour of the invasion. The Germans were holding to their end of the bargain, stopping the assault at the edge of the water. The men who did make it to the shore were tired and shell shocked. However, the actions of a few individuals got the invasion going again. .
For example, Lt. Col. Thorton L. Mullins, of the 11th Field Artillery Battalion came to lead the attack on Les Moulins. The attack on Les Moulins was being led by Major Sidney V. Bingham Jr. He was improvising an attack on the stronghold with a ragtag group of fifty soldiers. Col. Mullins saw what was happening on the beach to the Majors men and led his troops into the water to help with the attack. His first order of business was to get the men who were to dazed and confused to do anything to join in the attack. He crawled up and down the sea wall urging the men to pick up their weapons and fight. During this time, he spotted a pair of DD tanks that seemed to be firing in no particular direction. Col. Mullins walked back out onto the open beach and began to direct the tanks to fire up at the pillboxes on Les Moulins. In the course of directing the second tank, Mullins began to walk in front of it to make sure that it did not encounter any mines. In this duty Col. Mullins was hit in the stomach and fell forward, dead.
It was actions such as Col. Mullins that eventually made the invasion of Normandy a success. Up and down the coast men such as him led impromptu assaults on the German positions. Without the bravery of men such as these the invasion may not have been such a success.
