Omaha Beach and Widerstandsnest 62
Omaha Beach extends for 5 miles (8 km) from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer. Post-war research of German military archives by the authors Randy Holderfield and Michael Varhola reveal that beach defences at Omaha consisted of 8 concrete bunkers containing 75mm or greater artillery, 35 pillboxes, 18 anti-tank guns, six mortar pits, 35 Nebelwerfer (multi-barrel rocket launchers), 85 machine gun nests, 6 tank turrets and supporting infantry.
Infantry deployments on the Beach consisted of five Companies concentrated at 15 strongpoints called Widerstandsnester (Resistance Nests), numbered WN-60 in the east to WN-74 in the west. Severloh was part of WN-62, the largest strongpoint defending Omaha Beach.
The American plan of attack divided Omaha Beach into ten sectors, codenamed Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. WN-62 at the eastern side of Omaha Beach overlooked both Easy Red and Fox Green sectors.
Read more about this topic: Heinrich Severloh
Famous quotes containing the words omaha beach, omaha and/or beach:
“The first dead man on Omaha Beach must be a sailor!”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)
“The first dead man on Omaha Beach must be a sailor!”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)
“Your last words as you led the charge up the beach were, “Okay, men, let’s show ‘em whose beach this is!””
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)