Slaughter on D - Day

[has]

With only watching news footage & the opening scenes to Saving Private Ryan, who's job was it to remove all the poor souls that perished that morning? And how? And when.

R.I.P

[123everton]

I suppose a variety of people would've been detailed to do it, most notably stretcher bearers from R.A.M.C aand then possibly Sappers the Royal Engineers because they'd be getting in the way of construction and pose a threat to the health of others.

[VHG]

The scene in the film depicts Omaha beach, one of five beaches chosen for the landings.

Omaha beach was by far the worst in terms of casulties, some of the other beaches had relatively low casulty rates.

It was all US soldiers on Omaha, and they were basically pinned down on the beach for most of the day, before eventually breaking out and getting inland.

Medical teams would have landed along with the soldiers, but of course the dead and badly injured may well have had to stay on the beach all day before the beach was "safe" enough to remove the bodies.

Not a nice job for anybody, but then it was not a nice day for anybody involved in the D Day landings.

[trevordavies]

There is a beach at the site called Omaha , but it doesn,t go far. There are high cliffs to climb. The americans had to get up those cliffs and whilst doing so would have been sitting ducks.Open to heavy fire on both sides . The off beach area had been bombed and fired on for hours,so why were the germans still there?I think there was a major mistake.Of course the germans were always good tunnel makers , like in the first world war, and they had prepared well for an invasion.But the first attacking soldiers were poorly protected really. Their leaders were pathetic.

[dundurn]

Omaha is a reasonably broad and deep beach although there are higher cliffs at either end. Large-scale combined operations such as Overlord are always prone to unforeseen problems and it is exceptionally difficult to allow for the commanders (both strategic and tactical) to allow for all the possible permutations.

At Omaha the weather materially affected the landing craft navigation and the effectiveness of the swimming tanks. As a result many troops tasked with specific targets found themselves in the wrong place and/or with little heavy gun support.
Intelligence reports had failed to recognize that experienced German troops nominally in support had been brought forward to take over primary defence positions. As a result the German defence was both heavier and more professional than expected. Because of the high initial casualty rates many units ceased to be effective until local command could reorganize them "on the ground".
The weather also badly affected the proposed bombardment of shore defences from the air. Because the bomber force was late in arriving there was concern that it might drop ordnance on the landing forces. A high proportion of the attack therefore took place behind the relatively shallow German defence lines and was wasted.

The Omaha Beach assault was bedevilled by more than its fair share of issues but to categorise its leaders as pathetic is plain unfair. The strategic leaders were the same ones who planned the "successes" of Gold, Juno, Sword and Utah. The tactical leaders were themselves caught up in the problems on the beach and a high proportion of them were among the casualties.

[derekpara]

Why don't people read the question ?

HAS wasn't asking for a history lesson - and I wonder how many of the posters have actually walked Omaha beach ?

In addition to medical teams there were special squads tasked with collecting bodies and identifying them, if possible, before burial, and proper records were kept. There were specific collection points above Omaha for this purpose.

[has]

Thanks to all you guys that posted, an appreciated history lesson, however, biggest thanks goes to derek. You obviously read the question.

[derekpara]

Thanks, HAS.

I go to Normandy (Pegasus Bridge) every year and visit all the D-Day beaches as well. If you walk Omaha beach at low tide you begin to understand the daunting prsopect for the Yanks. Their major error was off-loading the skirted waterproof tanks too far off shore so that they sank pretty quickly. Consequently, the PBI (Poor Bloody Infantry) landed without almost any armour - unlike the British and Canadians further east.

The collection parties who picked up the bodies not only took them off the beach but had to dig up and collect those buried in 'field', or temporary graves, marked with an upturned rifle and helmet. Basic post mortems were carried out -mainly GSW (gun shot wounds) or 'drowned'. but it was meticulously done and recorded before final burial in the US Cemetery above Omaha. Many of the graves are empty because N of K could pay for the bodies to be returned home.

There are many cemeteries and monuments scattered across Normandy and I recommend anyone to go and visit the area to see not only the villages, but St Lo, St Marie Eglise, theMerville Battery and the museum at Caen ,and of course Pegasus Bridge, where there is a replica Horsa glider near the markers where they landed in the early hourrrs of D-Day. I stay in Arromanche at the Marina hotel on the beach, above whichis a wonderful panoramic museum. Altogether, Normandy is a terrific place to visit.

I'm off to Arnhem in September for the 65th Pilgrimage - but that's another story.

Regards.

Derek

[has]

Thanks derek. That journey does seem really interesting & it's something that I would love to do & hopefully will do at some point.

Thanks for the answer, much appreciated.

Best wishes to you & have an enjoyable trip in September.

Kind regards.