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MEMBERS OF A SHORE FIRE CONTROL GROUP operating Signal Corps radios. Man at left is operating an SCR 284, while the second man operates the hand generator GN 45; man at right is using a hand-held radio set, “handie-talkie” SCR 536 (top). An enlisted man looks up a number before placing a telephone call on a field telephone EE 8 (bottom). The function of the Signal Corps was to furnish radio, wire, and messenger communications. Often Signal Corps personnel went inland, sometimes ahead of the infantry, to observe and correct the fire from the naval guns offshore.
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UTAH BEACH, 6 JUNE 1944. In the VII Corps zone the smooth and shallow beaches in the vicinity of Saint-Martin-de-Varreville are backed by sand dunes that extend inland 150 to 1,000 yards. Behind the sand dunes the low ground had been inundated for a width of one to two miles, restricting travel from the beaches to four easily defended causeways. Farther inland the Merderet River, running parallel to the coast, and the Douve River, from which the ground rises northward to the hills around Cherbourg, restrict traffic to the established roads. Sainte-Mère-Eglise, Saint-Sauveur, and Barneville are key points on the road nets leading to Cherbourg. Southeast of Utah Beach the Douve and Vire Rivers flow into the shallow, muddy Carentan estuary which marked the boundary between VII and V Corps.
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ASSAULT TROOPS LANDING ON UTAH BEACH ON D-DAY (top). Men and equipment along Utah Beach on D Day (bottom). The mission of VII Corps was to assault Utah Beach on 6 June 1944 at H Hour, 0630, and to capture Cherbourg with a minimum delay. The troops, landing just west of the Vire estuary, encountered less opposition than any other Allied forces on D Day.