A few months ago, in October 2018, my family and I went to Northern France. We had spent months studying about the invasion of France in World War II. We went to many historical sites, including Normandy. What really caught my interest and curiosity was how the Americans and British stormed these beaches. Looking at the geography of the area, I thought of all the men that died storming the Normandy beaches and how impossible it looked with ten story high vertical cliffs. At the top, were bunkers, artillery, Czech hogs, barbed wire and sheer manpower of the enemy on the defensive. I wondered to myself, how did these men do it? How did they storm this beach, with all this defense. Especially Pointe Du Hoc, which overlooked the bunkers of Utah and Omaha beaches. The American Rangers had to scale a 95 foot cliff under heavy enemy fire, then take the bunker, again under heavy enemy fire. And that is only one reason that it looked impossible to storm. I really could go on all day but I want to play xbox so, here are just a couple reasons why it should have been impossible:
- The water. The American Rangers, along with the British, had to get from their ships twelve miles off the shore to the beaches, under gunfire, artillery fire, Luftwaffe air bombing, and the danger of the water, which had a tendency to sink boats that had holes in them.
Omaha Beach, Normandy
2. The beach. After they made it out of the water – which a lot of them didn’t – they had to make it up the exposed beach and open shoreline under German gun and artillery fire, through barbed wire, and wearing a ninety pound backpack.
Museum of the Battle of Normandy
3. The death. Can you imagine seeing people all around you being shot, dying or lying dead but still having to push forward towards the bunkers, constantly being fired upon? I know I wouldn’t want to do that if I had a choice.
Normandy American Cemetery
These are just a few of the hundreds of reasons that storming the Beaches of Normandy should have been impossible. Thank you for giving me the time of day to talk about my ridiculous theories.
