To capture the port of Cherbourg, which was essential for the delivery and deployment of logistics for Operation Overlord, Allied strategists chose an additional beach west of the Baie des Veys in December 1943 to land the infantry. Codenamed after a US state, the Utah Beach sector stretched from Sainte-Marie-du-Mont to Quinéville.
The mission of landing on the beach in front of Saint-Martin-de-Varreville was entrusted to General Barton's 4th Infantry Division. Facing the Varreville dunes, the large sandy beach was the ideal location for an amphibious assault, even though access inland was blocked by a 3-kilometer-deep marshland. Once ashore and with the beachhead established, the 23,000 GIs were to link up with the airborne troops who had landed a few hours earlier in the Sainte-Mère-Église and Sainte-Marie-du-Mont sectors.
Bombing of the coasts
While the paratroopers had already been on site for more than an hour, the flagship of Task Force U, the USS Bayfield, dropped anchor around 2:30 a.m., 20 km offshore, along with nearly 800 warships and troop transports.
The assault was preceded at 5:45 a.m. by an intense naval bombardment. The battleship USS Nevada opened fire on the powerful German batteries at Azeville and Saint-Marcouf, while the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa concentrated its fire on Mont Coquerel and Crisbecq Saint-Marcouf.
A few minutes before the landing craft arrived, 276 Marauders of the 9th US Air Force pounded the German positions. Wn 5 on the beach was completely overturned. Around 6:00 a.m., six Douglas-Boston aircraft from the 342nd Lorraine Squadron, including French pilots, laid a smokescreen between the Saint-Marcouf Islands and the Barfleur headland to mask German artillery fire. This fire nevertheless managed to hinder the armada's approach and even sink some ships. Among them was the USS Corry: initially hit by a mine, the destroyer was struck at 6:30 a.m. by a shell fired from the Crisbecq battery, before sinking an hour later. Of the 284 crew members, 22 sailors perished that morning …
The landing of the first wave at Utah Beach
The landing of the first assault wave took place between 6:40 and 6:50 a.m. Supported by the amphibious tanks of the 70th Tank Battalion—28 of the 32 dropped 3 km from the coast reached the beach—the three battalions of the 8th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) of the 4th Infantry Division established a foothold approximately 1 km south of the originally planned landing site. Among the 600 men who managed to regroup was General Theodore Roosevelt , second-in-command of the division, the only general to land with the first wave. After realizing his mistake (strong currents had actually carried his men to this new landing point), Roosevelt decided to land the subsequent waves on the same beach , where the German defenses ultimately proved less formidable, but at the risk of causing significant congestion.
Around 8:00 AM, the entire 8th Regiment landed on Utah Beach and then headed inland towards Pouppeville. The long-awaited link-up with the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division took place around 13:00 PM in Pouppeville.
The arrival of the 2e and 3the waves at Utah Beach
The landing of the 2e wave
The second wave landed around 10:00 AM with the arrival of the 22nd Regiment , whose mission was to advance north towards Saint-Germain-de-Varreville and Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, while one battalion moved along the coast. Forced to cross flooded marshes , the regiment's two other battalions took more than seven hours to reach Saint-Martin and Saint-Germain. The 3rd Battalion , which had captured Wn 10, found itself trapped that evening at Hamel de Cruttes.
The landing of the 3e wave at Utah Beach
Around noon, it's the 3rd's turne wave landing on the beach of La Madeleine. The firste infantry regiment is accompanied by the 40the cavalry group, an engineering unit and 2 battalions of the 359e RI of the 90e TUE
In front of'congestion of exit routesThe 12e regiment must pass through the marshy areas behind the beaches towards the south of Beuzevile-au-Plain. From there, it establishes itself at the end of the day on the left of the 502nd regiment of the 101ste Airborne.
Find the results of June 6 in Utah
Who is General Roosevelt?
The son of a former US president from the early 20th century and a distant cousin of Franklin Roosevelt, president since 1932, Theodore Roosevelt was 57 years old when he landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. Wounded twice in France during World War I, he served in World War II with the rank of colonel. Promoted to general in 1941, he participated in operations in North Africa before being appointed second-in-command of the 4th Infantry Division. His health was fragile and his age advanced, but he managed to convince his superior to allow him to land in Normandy with the first wave of the assault. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Méautis on July 12, 1944, just after General Eisenhower had entrusted him with the command of the 90th Infantry Division. His body now rests in the American Cemetery at Saint-Laurent.
What is the Lorraine group?
Formed in September 1941 in the Levant, the Lorraine bomber group first operated against Axis troops in Cyrenaica. The Free French unit then moved to Great Britain to be converted to Douglas Boston medium bombers. Attached to the RAF in April 1943 as No. 342 Squadron, the Lorraine group redeployed in June 1943, notably targeting the destruction of V-1 launch sites in France and Belgium. Specializing in night bombing in the spring of 1944, the group was assigned by Allied command to lay a smoke screen – Operation "Screen Smoke" – from the tip of Barfleur to the mouth of the Vire River. On June 6, 1944, twelve Bostons took off in pairs from their British base to successfully carry out their mission over Utah Beach. The group then took part in the Battle of Normandy by destroying the bridges over the Seine, then in the battles of Arnhem, the Ardennes and the Rhine crossing operations in 1945. The unit was made a Companion of the Liberation by General de Gaulle in May 1945.
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