A question about D-Day (WW2)?

Question

Hi, I would like to know a little more about the beach landings of D-Day. Please excuse me if I have any of my facts wrong. I know there were many beaches assaulted, by troops of the US, UK and Commonwealth, but would like to know, how long did the actual action on a beach last for, on average, from the moment of the first man's boots hitting the sand until the final german soldier threw up his hands? Minutes? Hours? Days?

Thanks!

Haggis has the right idea; I know the actual conflict went on for years afterwards but I want to know about the actual intial fighting on the beaches themselves! Thanks

Answer 1

there were several beaches hit along a 20 mile coastline. (the entire coastline couldn't be hit due to cliffs etc)

The Canadians, virtually walked on unopppsed, the Brits had difficulties but nothing like the Americans on beaches Gold & Omaha.

It was a case of a dawn landing, and by 4-5pm, the beaches were 'secure'

Hope this helps

Answer 2

There were five invasion beaches in Normandy on D-Day.
Code named Sword, Juno , Gold, Omaha, Utah.
Two were for British forces, one for Canadian and two for American.
Attached to the British forces were elements from France and Poland.
The beaches were all cleared of enemy troops on the first day with most Allied casualties sustained by the Americans
on Omaha beach but Utah beach was a walkover where they had very few casualties.
The really heavy fighting began the following day as the Germans realised the seriousness of the situation and rushed up reinforcements.
As a result it took about six weeks for the Allies to break through the German defence and advance into France and Belgium.

Answer 3

Haggis is right the beaches were all taken in about 12 -15 hours but the main worry was the counterstrikes from german armoured reserves. Fortunately these were delayed and allowed the invasion to move inland by a few miles and consolidate. (forces ahd reached bayeux by night fall) We then could set up decent beach mastered landing zones to pour more reserves in quicker and the game was up for adolphs lads.

Dont forget the airborne drops behind emeny lines that prevented counterstrikes by holding bridges, and airstrikes that pinned down troops, these were vital to holding the beaches until we had logistic supremacy.

Answer 4

D Day was just the start of many months of fighting. The Allied troops didn't just stay on the beaches you know. They had to move miles inland and drive out the German occupiers in northern France. This took more than two months. Google "Falaise" for details of the battle there, August 1944.

Answer 5

Actually they were over the heads of the landing forces. I order to capture a country from the sea you need to establish a beech head in order to get your troops tanks etc into the country. The only way you can do this is by occupying a bit of the beech hence sending the troops in. The coastal defences whilst not completely invulnerable to attack from air or sea were very tough and need a more direct assault to destroy them or capture them so the suppressing fire was lay ed down until the troops were in position and the direct assault began. You also have to consider that the opposing forces were fairly equally matched, in that the Germans had a navy and an air force who would not sit idly by whilst the allied forces did the aerial bombardment and so they could not be considered to have enough time to flatten the enemy as they would at some point have to fight air and sea battles. Also consider the matter of range, so what if we pulverised the sea defences the Germans would just have withdrawn from range using a rear guard action and set up bases out of reach of the big guns if not the aircraft, hence again the need for troops.

Answer 6

Of the 5 beaches assaulted- Sword, Juneau, Gold, Utah and Omaha, only Omaha had to fight for hours to get off the beach. The others broke thru quickly, causing most of the German defenders to retreat into the bocage behind the beaches.
Omaha's tanks did not survive the water crossing, and the bombing pre invasion did not hit the actual beach area. So they had no craters to hide in, and no tanks for support, so they were held up several hours before breaking out.

Answer 7

Brainstorm, has it all right except they left out that the US Army Rangers assaulted the cliffs at Point Du Hoc. They had to scale up the cliffs to destroy the gun emplacements that were a major threat to the invasion fleet. When they finally got to the top they found that the guns had been moved a couple miles back.

Answer 8

Having visited the Normandy Beach, I can tell you immediately that the British walked up the sandy beaches; and the Americans scaled the cliffs. President Eisenhower chose this. It was a horrible slaughter. If you google "Normandy Beach"+the year you're interested in, it'll give you maps, facts, pictures. The Germans had bunkers cut into the sides of the cliffs. That's why we lost so many soldiers in the very beginning.

Answer 9

It started on June 6th 1944.

The end is difficult to determine, as the German army was not defeated, but pushed back (so there was no "final German soldier" throwing up his hands).

The end is sometimes stated as June 24th, when the American "Operation Cobra" started, or August 24th, when the advance to the Seine started.

Answer 10

D-Day, June 6 1944, VE Day, May 9 1945. So 338 days