This turned up on my Quora feed, which appears to resist linking. Its by someone called Thierry Etienne Joseph Rotty who describes himself as a "Senior Controller at Nato". Dunno the truth of that but if you google his name he apparently comments quite frequently of military matters, past and present. A take on D Day I haven't heard before....
Could the US have landed on Omaha Beach on D Day with less casualties?
Of course.
If the Americans had followed British advice. The main problem was navigation. There were very few landmarks that could be used to determine ones position. So the British had scouted the coastline (some divers went ashore) and had constructed picket ships.These were small boats with a searchlight shining away from the coast. These searchlight were colored and had patterns in them that allowed
aircraft and ships to determine their position at night and at dawn.
Very simple, very effective. The Americans refused to use these. So the airborne troops missed most of their drop zones that night. At dawn, the US Navy shelled the wrong positions and the USAAF bombed the wrong positions. This means the German artillery in the dunes was still intact. On top of that, again ignoring all British advice, the Americans launched their amphibious tanks too soon and most sank.
But it gets worse. Omaha was defended by bunkers at both ends, but the middle was nearly undefended. Yet without those picket ships, US troops were landed smack in front of the intact bunkers at both edges. Those troops that were put ashore in the middle now faced the intact German artillery in the dunes. If you realize that in a modern war at least 75 % of casualties is caused by artillery fire, you realize in what a pickle these troops found themselves.
On to top it off, the supply craft landed in the wrong areas as well so the troops in the middle of Omaha were out of supplies rather quickly and under constant artillery fire. Forget all those stories about heavy machine gun fire and a high seawall....
[ A photograph here captioned "This is that famous seawall at Omaha, most photographs published in the US press were from Utah Beach".]
...Rather than admit the Americans screwed up, the American press started the myth of Omaha being the toughest nut to crack with heavy machine gun fire and an impenetrable seawall. The film the Longest Day (Hollywood) perpetuated that myth an Saving Private Ryan didn’t help either. In reality, Omaha was the least defended beach. You can still visit the fortification and the seawall today.
No once you realize what was really going on, you also understand why the tanks should have landed in the middle of Omaha Beach, here they could easily move into the dunes and clean up any remaining German resistance. That famous seawall should have worked in favour of the Americans.
Basically, it was arrogance that killed those young men, not the Germans.
I walked Omaha Beach even years back, now I wish I woulda spent more time. I'm not sure what his point is about the seawall, its a low affair as depicted in "Saving Private Ryan". What I wish I would have done is spend time on the sandy elevations above the beach (nowadays the military cemetery sits right up top and IIRC the side above the beach is fenced off). I dunno what fortifications remain there, I don't recall seeing a bunch above the beach, not like Point du Hoc for example.
Last edited by Birdwatcher; 01/31/23.
