If you were to run the beaches, omoha(?) beach. Would you survive?
2007-06-12 15:12:45 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Let's see, commonly reported, there were some 150 thousand allied troops in the invasion on D-Day, while some half-million crossed over into France in the first two weeks. Also commonly reported, the clean numbers, because various groups have numbers that seem to add up to more when you put them together, was some 10 thousand Allied casualties, of which about 2,500 were dead.
Simplistically put, you had about a 6-7 percent chance, in hindsight because they had over a hundred thousand hospital beds ready for that day's casualties, of being hit or hurt and about a 1-2 percent chance of dying--no matter what Speilberg shows in his movies. Still, it was abundantly obvious that the beaches were terribly dangerous places, so if you wanted to "run the beaches" I wouldn't bet on your survival. German losses, by the way, run from 50 thousand to a quarter-million depending on where you draw the lines and who you are listening to. It was an undoubtedly horrible day and the many, many survivors on both sides can thank God's grace and mercy for living to tell of it.
2007-06-12 15:37:33 · answer #1 · answered by Rabbit 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes if you weren't in the first wave the odds were with the soldiers that were landing. Remember that allot of soldiers hid at the base of the bluffs and then pushed up the draws and off the beach. It was the first wave suffered the most casualties at Omaha. Read Steven Ambrose's D-Day for a great book on the whole D-Day Operation.
2007-06-12 15:25:03 · answer #2 · answered by redgriffin728 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The attack in the West put the Nazi empire into a vise, squeezed from East and West and South, not to mention pounded from above by bombers which the Luftwaffe could do little to stop that late in the war. The territories occupied or liberated by the Western allies assured that at least half of postwar Europe would not fall into Soviet hands, an empire nearly as evil as that of the Nazis. Sorry Jason D, but the Marines did not storm the beaches at Normandy. No marines took part in the landings. It was strictly an Army show. The only marines around were those who acted as police on capital ships. They stayed afloat.
2016-05-18 22:40:05 · answer #3 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think my chances of surviving would be fair - but I would not run Omaha Beach - I would run Juno Beach instead.
2007-06-12 15:32:38 · answer #4 · answered by WMD 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, many died, but most survived. Or did you mean me, personally? I probably wouldn't make it. Hope you'd have better luck.
BTW, it's Omaha
2007-06-12 15:18:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋