GERMAN CASEMATED FORTIFICATION inland from the beach (top); destroyed enemy gun emplacement (bottom). During 1943 the Germans had developed heavy frontal defenses at all the principal harbors from Den Helder to Brest. As the invasion threat grew, Cherbourg and Le Havre were further strengthened, while heavy guns were installed to block the entrance of the Bay of the Seine. Between the ports stretched a line of concrete defense positions and coastal and flak batteries. A program of casemating the coastal guns and strengthening the defense posts was still in progress on 6 June. The beaches were mined and obstacles were placed in the water offshore and on the beaches, but there was no secondary defense line behind the coastal defenses which the Germans thought would stop the invading troops.
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MEMBERS OF THE FOLLOW-UP DIVISION aboard an LCI(L) headed for Utah Beach on D Day. Other LCI’s in the background have barrage balloons flying overhead. These balloons were attached by cables to ships crossing the Channel so as to keep low-flying enemy strafing planes away from the craft.
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A MEMBER OF AN ENGINEER UNIT using a mine detector SCR 625. The ground outlined with white tape had not been cleared of enemy mines and enemy signs were used to mark the mined areas. Army and Navy demolition teams, following the assault infantry, found the beach less thickly obstructed than expected, and Utah Beach was cleared in an hour. Engineers prepared exits from the beach by clearing lanes through the mine fields.
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