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tanks would be deployed from LCTs ~ (landing craft, tank) three miles off the ~ beaches and swim in with the assault !;;~ forces.Foradditional protection,DUKW amphibious vehicles would remain just outside the surf line to provide additional counterfire when needed. As planning progressed, Eisenhower felt that the forces allocated would not be enough to guarantee success, so the assault forces were increased to three airborne and five seaborne divisions. This increase in manpower meant more landing craft were needed , so the invasion was shifted from May to June. The actual day of "Neptune," the seaborne assault component of Overlord , had to be selected for the necessary combination of low tide an hour after dawn (to provide an hour for the air and sea bombardment to soften the defenses) in conjunction with a rising moon at midnight, needed by the transport and glider pilots to drop the airborne troops on target. Low tide at dawn only occurs twice a month on the Normandy coast,
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After a rendezvous ten miles southeast of the Isle of Wight, the ships proceeded toward the coast of Normandy in ten columns, each led by a squadron of minesweepers. and only once a month with a rising moon. The first of these windows, June 5th , was selected as D-Day . Eisenhower, who had commanded the North African and Mediterranean landings, now put together a formidable Anglo-American team to direct Operation Overlord. Britain's Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder would serve as Deputy Supreme Commander, General Montgomery would command all land forces, with Lt. General Omar Bradley in direct command of American ground forces. Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay was in overall command of the Allied naval forces , Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory was in command of the invasion air forces , and General Walter Bedell Smith served as Chief of Staff. Sir Frederick Morgan was retained as Deputy Chief of Staff as COSSAC was superseded by SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force) . The fifty-nine miles of Normandy coast selected for the landings were di12
Dunkirk
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... the choppy seas swamped ten of the landing craft before they even reached the beach.
CO URTESY NA VAL HISTORICAL CENTER
vided into five beaches, two American and three British and Canadian . Farthest to the west was the first American beach, code-named Utah. Backed by flooded lowlands, only four dry causeways exited this stretch of beach . About ten miles to the east lay Omaha, the second American beach . Omaha was dominated by 150 foot bluffs pierced by four ravines which led up to the villages above. These ravines had been heavily lined with strong points and machine gun positions . Six miles farther along the coast, the three British/Canadian beaches , Gold, Juno, and Sword had more conventional terrain. The beaches were faced by a number of small villages backed by solid ground. After months of training, the troops returned to their marshaling areas and on May 25th the camps were sealed off
for security reasons , with D-Day set for June 5th. By June 3rd all 170,000 assault troops were on board the transports, and some of the ships based in distant Scotland , Ireland, and Bristol , had already put to sea. However at 0430 on the morning of the 4th, Eisenhower was forced to postpone the invasion due to an approaching gale. The invasion rules called for winds no higher than 13 to 18mph offshore , visibility at least three miles, and cloud cover to be no more than six tenths. But at the following night's briefing the RAF's chief meteorologist predicted a break in the weather beginning on the afternoon of the 5th and lasting until late on the 6th. After considering his staff's opinions, Eisenhower made the decision to risk an invasion on the 6th. Conditions would be less than desirable, but Eisenhower SEA HISTORY 69 , SPRING 1994