At 4:30 the elements of the 4th and 24th Calvary Squadrons landed on the Iles St. Marcouf to capture what was assumed to be a German observation post. The island proved to be unoccupied, though heavily mined.
At 5:50 the ships of Task Force 125 began the bombardment of on shore batteries. Within minutes after the sea bombardment 4,404 250-pound bombs were dropped on 7 targets on the beach.
At 5,000 yards from the beach the first wave was launched, consisting of 20 LCVPs carrying thirty man assault teams. The ten craft on the right of the formation were to land opposite les Dunes de Vanville, the ten on the left were to land 1,000 yards to the south. It was critical for this aspect of the assault to run on schedule because the rest of the entire operation was timed against this opening wave. The second wave consisted of another thirty-two LCVPs with additional troops, combat engineers, and eight naval demolition teams. The third, timed to land fifteen minutes after the first and second was comprised of eight LCTs with dozer tanks, two minutes later detachments of the 237th and 299th engineer Combat Battalions were to land and clear beaches between high and low water marks.
At H-hour (the hour of attack) the 20 LCVPs of the first wave dispatched their troops on schedule. These troops waded the last 100 yards to the beach under surprisingly light fire to find that they were in the wrong place.
Troops of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry were the first to reach shore, followed by the 1st Battalion. Both landed well south of their intended destinations. This could have been a huge problem, but Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. volunteered to coordinate the initial attack. He contacted the 2 battalion commanders, Lt. Cols. Conrad C. Simmons and Carlton O. MacNeely. The makeshift plans worked out well. The botched landing actually proved fortunate because the terrain was more passable and German defenses were less formidable than those on the original beachheads.
The job of clearing the beaches fell to the Beach Obstacle Task Force, a special Engineer Combat Group commanded by Maj. Herschel E. Linn of the 1106th Engineer Combat Group. The plan called for the group to clear fifty yard gaps in the German Obstacles. However, the plan was not executed as planned. Two LCTs were sunk on the approach to the beach. One LCM was hit by shell fire and six men were killed. All obstacles were found above water and they were so more sparse than expected that the team decided to destroy them all rather than 50 yard gaps. After clearing the beaches for future troops and vehicles the engineers took to clearing the dunes and sea wall. Then they cleared roads and mines inland for the advancing troops. Of the 400 troops involved, six were killed and 39 wounded.
While the engineers prepared the beaches, Gen. Roosevelt moved his troops inland toward the original objectives. He took two to three hours to clear the beaches and roads immediately behind the beaches and then began the march inland. At 7:45 the 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry moved inland across Exit 2, which proved to be the only usable path off the beach, because exit 3 was covered by German fire. Thus exit 2 became congested with allied vehicles and the beach backed up with tanks and trucks. The 1st Battalion 8th Infantry moved north and west to exit 3. Under heavy artillery, it nonetheless reached it’s goal of Turqueville by evening.
The 8th Infantry had reached its D-Day objectives. It relieved elements of the 101st Airborne and could now protect the southwestern flank of the 4th division.
The assault on Utah Beach was a success. Despite unforeseen circumstances, the ingenuity and resolve of the American forces was apparent. By the end of the day the Allies had gained a foothold on Europe.
