machine gun at Omaha Beach

In the last days i heard the story of the German MG-gunner at Omaha Beach, who fired several hours during D-day at the landed soldiers, killing hundreds - perhaps thousends of them.

1. Question: Why was is not possible to stop this shooting with the overwhelming firepower, the US had?

2. Q: In Saving Private Ryan was a scene, where the whole group in a landing boat was killed , when the ramp opened and all soldiers were crowded in the boat and were an easy aim for a machine gun. Wouldn't it be better, if the soldiers could leave the boat through doors in the side, or, if the boats were not directed directly to the coast, but in an angle of lets say 45 degree to the coast line, which would prevent MGs to shoot into the boats?

Because the air and sea bombardment was to have supposedly wiped out most of the beach fortifications and disable the enemy. The soldiers landing were under the impression they would meet little resistence when off loading from the boats and the battle would really begin for them when they moved inland.

Dear Mr. Selck,

The planning for the invasion at the two U.S. beachs while very good also demonstrated that operational failures and planning mistakes happen. What happened on Omaha Beach was a series of operational failures/ planning errors.

1. Question: Why was is not possible to stop this shooting with the overwhelming firepower, the US had?

The allies did plan such operations and the Naval forces and the Air Force tried very hard to accomplish those missions. As has long been noted - every operational plan will work until contact with the enemy. The Fourth Tactical Airforce was supposed to fly over before the landing started approximately before 7 AM and with more than 1000 heavy and medium Bombers and drop bombs in the general area of the invasion beach obstacles and defensive positions. This effort failed because there was too much cloud cover over the beaches. The bombers could not see the primary beach targets, so they went for the secondary targets. The operational plan also included that the DD Tanks were to hit the beaches at the same time as the troops. The LCTs were running in under artillery fire and released the DD tanks to soon on the edge of the rough Channel seas. The rubber skirts were not able to withstand the heavy waves and the skirts collasped and the tanks sank a mile or so from Utah beach. Thus the troops had no armor support, when they hit the beach and since the arieal bombarbment had not gone as planned the Wehrmacht/Rommel designed beach defenses were largely intact and unharmed. This allowed the beach defenses to work as they envisioned by General Rommel. However part of the operational plan of the allies d- Day plan worked superbly. The Wehrmacht would have been unable to rush in more reinforcements to the Wehrmacht units at the beach. But these units on scene were sufficiently in shape after the pre-invasion naval bombarment to put up extremely stiff resitance to the landing forces on Utah Beach.

The Army and Naval commanders on the Allied ships were receiving reports with visual conformation that the troops were pinned by the beach defenses and were unable to advance against the stiff Wehrmacht resistance. The Allied destroyers moved in closer to Utah beach and procedded to apply direct fire against the Wehrmacht defenses. This direct fire support destroyed enough of the beach defenses, so that some troops could move on the beach and attack the additional beach defenses that helped create more holes that allowed additional infantry to land and follow up attacks to the other additional defenses on either side of the gaps in the beach defenses. These infantry attacks were costly and delayed the landing. These lateral infantry attacks ultimatly destroyed the resistance against the landing.

In Saving Private Ryan was a scene, where the whole group in a landing boat was killed , when the ramp opened and all soldiers were crowded in the boat and were an easy aim for a machine gun.

That was a Higgins boat/ LCT you are saw in the opening sequence of the movie. There was little that could be done to prevent that kind of attack during the assualt. That is why amphibious landing during WW II and afterward were rated as the most dangerous/ costly military operations, any military could conduct.

if the boats were not directed directly to the coast, but in an angle of lets say 45 degree to the coast line, which would prevent MGs to shoot into the boats?

This was General Rommels designed beach obstacles that prevented any such boat maneuvers and the allies failure to destroy enough of the obstacles to allow the higgins boats/LCT to off load the infantry any other way except straight in to the face of the beach Defensive postions.

yours truly,

The Americans suffered so heavily on Omaha in particular because apart from the D.D. tanks(Which as has been said were launched much too far off shore by U.S. forces) they disdained the Brits offer to accept specialised tanks designed purely for this operation.

These tanks were known as Hobarts "Funnies" and included amongst others heavy mortar tanks,mine clearing tanks,carpet laying tanks(To allow vehicles to cross soft sand)bridge laying tanks and ditch filling tanks.

After WW2 these tanks and variations of them became a standard part of all nations armored inventories.


On a different topic,the scene in S.P.R. where the m.g. massacres the troops in the landing craft almost exactly replicates a scene from a much older English movie (Whos name I'm ashamed to admit that I cant remember) about the Gallipoli landings in WW1 even down to the surviving English soldiers jumping over the sides of their vessel to get ashore alive.