It didn't quite go as planned.

First, the early bombing of the beaches to soften the German forces missed the intended targets hitting houses in the village proper, then the heavy bombers covering the landings for fear of hitting their own men due to low cloud conditions, flew across the beach rather than along it and dumped their bombs mainly in the countryside. This left the 88mm gun, the gun emplacement near the camping and the other bunkers intact and led to the ensuing massacre.

Next, getting all the boats ready for the assault at H hour was an intricate ballet involving precision timing. The invasion force gathered about 10 miles out at sea. The sea was rough and the soldiers were packed in the boats, drenched, very sea sick and sometimes baling the water coming into the craft, even with their helmets. About ten craft sank due to the rough seas, the soldiers were rescued...sometimes hours later.

Then, at H hour the craft moved landward, they each had specific sectors on the beach to land. Dog Green sector was in front of the former chalet. Despite the careful reconnaissance and training, landmarks were very difficult to make out, plus the incoming tide and its current -in true Vierville style- proved difficult to navigate. Many of the craft in the first wave did not land in the correct sector. Visibility was further reduced by the smoke resulting from the "cover" bombardment of the cliffs by the fleet at sea.

The final hitch to a smooth landing, was that the tanks which were supposed to clear obstacles on the beach never even made it to the beach, the Sherman DDs were amphibious but could not deal with the weather and many sank. Some were simply deposited in too high water by the landing craft.

BEST LAID PLANS