OMAHA BEACH ON 6 JUNE 1944. From Grandcamp, cliffs extend eastward to Arromanches-les-Bains with only two breaks, one in the Vierville-Colleville region which was the V Corps area. The Aure River behind Omaha Beach is a serious obstacle for a distance of ten miles from its mouth, near Isigny. Between the Vire and Orne Rivers the area is covered to a depth of forty miles inland by bocage (land divided into small fields by hedges, banks, and sunken roads). Observation was limited, and vehicle movement was restricted to the roads. The highlands that extend across the invasion front, with a depth up to twenty-five miles, are broken with steep hills and narrow valleys. Although narrow, the roads in this area are generally good. Vital initial objectives were the towns of Carentan, Saint-Lô, Bayeux, and Caen.
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U. S. TROOPS WADING ASHORE FROM AN L C V P at Omaha Beach during the assault. Elements of two U. S. infantry divisions, with engineer troops and tanks of an armored unit, made the first landings. The beaches selected for these landings were about 7,000 yards in length. From the beach the ground curves upward and is backed by bluffs that merge into the cliffs at either end of the sector. H Hour was at 0630 6 June. The mission of V Corps was to secure a beachhead in the area between the Vire River and Port-en-Bessin, from which troops would push southward toward Caumont and Saint-Lô, conforming to the advance of British Second Army to the east.
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INFANTRYMEN WADING ASHORE FROM AN LCT(6) (top). Troops leaving an LCVP to wade ashore (bottom). Half-tracks and 2½-ton amphibian trucks can be seen on the beach, and in the background men marching in columns start southward toward the bluffs. On the shelf the enemy strung barbed wire and planted mines. Lanes had to be cleared through these obstacles before the infantry could advance. Beyond this strip containing obstacles, the enemy laid out firing positions to cover the tidal flat and the beach with direct fire, both plunging and grazing, from all types of weapons. The men landing were fired upon from these positions, which for the most part had escaped destruction during the prelanding bombardment.
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