#Normandy beach war full#

Something interesting Tuckwiller learned was that the US military would officially declare a soldier dead after he was missing for a full year.

Then she combed through what’s left of WWII military records-many were lost in a fire in the 1970s-looking for “after action” reports from the invasion that included confirmed D-Day deaths. Tuckwiller began with all of the grave markers at the Normandy American Cemetery inscribed with a June 6th death date. “Their mission was to win a World War against Hitler,” says Long, “not to keep records that would satisfy peacetime researchers 75 years later.” Commanders did their best under difficult circumstances to accurately register the fallen, but death dates weren’t always definitive in the fog of war. In the chaos of the beach landings, for example, some soldiers ended up fighting, and ultimately dying, in different companies. While military records clearly showed that thousands of troops perished during the initial phases of the months-long Normandy Campaign, it wasn’t nearly as clear when many of the troops were actually killed. By the end of June, the Allies had seized the vital port of Cherbourg, landed approximately 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles in Normandy, and were poised to continue their march across France.Men from the Red Cross give a blood transfusion to an injured man on the shore of Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. In the ensuing weeks, the Allies fought their way across the Normandy countryside in the face of determined German resistance, as well as a dense landscape of marshes and hedgerows. Moreover, the Germans were hampered by effective Allied air support, which took out many key bridges and forced the Germans to take long detours, as well as efficient Allied naval support, which helped protect advancing Allied troops. He also hesitated in calling for armored divisions to help in the defense. Reinforcements had to be called from further afield, causing delays. At first, Hitler, believing the invasion was a feint designed to distract the Germans from a coming attack north of the Seine River, refused to release nearby divisions to join the counterattack.

Less than a week later, on June 11, the beaches were fully secured and over 326,000 troops, more than 50,000 vehicles and some 100,000 tons of equipment had landed at Normandy.įor their part, the Germans suffered from confusion in the ranks and the absence of celebrated commander Rommel, who was away on leave. According to some estimates, more than 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives in the D-Day invasion, with thousands more wounded or missing. However, by day’s end, approximately 156,000 Allied troops had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches. forces faced heavy resistance at Omaha Beach, where there were over 2,000 American casualties. The British and Canadians overcame light opposition to capture beaches codenamed Gold, Juno and Sword, as did the Americans at Utah Beach. The amphibious invasions began at 6:30 a.m. Frank DeVita Describes Landing on the Beachīy dawn on June 6, thousands of paratroopers and glider troops were already on the ground behind enemy lines, securing bridges and exit roads.

Normandy beach war