Why didn't soldiers use metal shields when landing on D-day?

Question

I mean, why just run across a beach with no protection?

Answer 1

The shield would only slow them down and would not be any good against artillery. Most soldiers were already carrying about 60 lbs of equipment with them. A metal shield to protect against a typical machine gun round the shield would be too thick and heavy to carry.

Answer 2

Let's see now. The average GI was already carrying an 80 pound pack, a rifle (15 pounds) a couple of hundred rounds of ammo (about 30 pounds), a half dozen hand grenades ( about 12 pounds), a steel helmet (4 pounds)... and you want them to try and carry a metal shield also. The Germans were firing 50 caliber machine gun ammo. It would take half inch thick steel to stop penetration by those bullets, and that was one of the smallest weapons being used. A half inch steel plate big enough to effectively protect a soldier would have weighed over 300 pounds. How long do you think it would have taken the average GI to get off the beach lugging that much stuff??

Answer 3

Good question. There didn't have large shields for two reasons:

1. Takes up to much space. I know this sounds horrible when a shield could protect someones life, but the more shields you have, the less people can fit in those boats. If you only get one chance to invade, you need as many people as possible.

2. Ineffective. Most of the fire being shot on D-Day was from 50 caliber machine gun turret nests. Each gun is as large as a fence post and fires bullets large enough to rip through about anything. A shield would have to be made of 15 inch thick steel and weigh over 100 pounds. This would make them to bulky for personal use.

Answer 4

Oh you mean like a tank....They tried that. Duh. It's called an amphibious tank. It didn't work. For one, bullets arent the only thing you worry about. Explosions from different types of weapons. And when you use a small metal buckler against explosions, your arm is blown off.

So basically, tanks don't appear from thin air, they brought them from the big gun ships. The amph. tanks floated to the shore. This made them vulnerable to water mines and tanks on shore. Once they were on shore, they were useless. Emplaced guns were located in hidden locations that even tanks couldn't get to.

So, the only thing you are left to do is run across the beach. It's a lot easier then using 100 tanks that are worthless or small metal shields.

Answer 5

The others pretty much covered it, the shields would have not stopped the heavy machine gun fire encountered, plus, the shelling and large caliber artillery pieces used in the defense.

Very fortunate that Rommel was away that day, and no one dare wake Hitler from his sleep for 6 hours!

Did you know the Nazi movement is currently the basis for several governments? Syria, Jordan, Iran, and previously, Iraq, ran under the Baath Party, the modern Arab Socialist Party formed under Hitler in 1930!

Answer 6

Any kind of shield heavy enough to protect against the bullets being fired at them would have been too heavy. If you can't carry guns and the ammunition for them, why land?

Answer 7

Because a high velocity round with go through a metal sheild.

Oh and would you want to carry 40 or 50 pounds of weight in addition to the 30 or 40 pounds you're already carrying?

Answer 8

Because you can run faster when you aren't carrying something heavy. Back then, the only way to bulletproof something was to use at least an inch of steel. That would make for a very heavy shield. Remember they had to run through water and sand on their way up too!

Answer 9

If you equip 4 men of a 12 man squad with rectangular steel shields similar to the roman scutum, then let them disembark first then form a small testudo that would protect them and let the remaining 8 men of the squad take cover behind them, that would lessen the chance of the men being gunned down. If hundreds of amphibious assault vehicles with squads like that would assault D-day, there would be hundreds of lives saved.

Answer 10

Too heavy and cumbersome.

The real problem with the D-Day landings was that the Allies sheeledbehind the German lines leaving their forward positions untouched. It was not until the Allied destroyers ran dangerously close to the beach to shell these positions that the Allies were able to break out.