Historical View of The Sector
Main article: Omaha Beach, Assaulting the bluffs
Between 07:30 and 08:30 WN-62 and the adjacent positions were assaulted by elements of G/16 and E/16 (G and E Company (Coy). 16th RCT (Regimental Combat Team) of the 1st Infantry Division together with E/116 (E Coy. 116th RCT) of the 29th Infantry Division, who landed at 06:29
Led by Sergeant Philip Streczyk and Lieutenant John M. Spalding the combined force climbed the bluffs at Easy Red, between WN-64 and WN-62. At 09:05, German observers reported that WN-61 was lost, and that only one machine gun was still firing from WN-62. However, as early as 07:35 a radio operator in 726th Grenadier Regiment, defending Fox Green beach, reported that 100–200 American troops had penetrated the front, with troops inside the wire at WN-62 and WN-61 and were attacking from the rear.
150 men, mostly from G/16, having reached the top, continued south to attack WN-63 and by 9:00 the whole sector was clear of enemy resistance and the 3rd battalion 16th RCT was moving inland.
Severloh probably deserted his post around the time WN-61 was lost and fled to the nearby village of Colleville-sur-Mer, with Kurt Warnecke also from the 352nd and Franz Gockel from the 716th, where he surrendered the next day. His commanding officer, Lt. Frerking was killed and most of the other defenders of WN-62 were killed or wounded at their posts by the attacking American troops.
Read more about this topic: Heinrich Severloh
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