Remember the D-Day by Heinz Baade

Remember the D-Day
The liberation of the world from Hitler`s fascism began first by the defeat of the
“Wehrmacht” in Stalingrad and then by the Allied landings in the Normandy.
Operation Overlord, the Allied effort to stop Nazi Germany during World War II, began on
June 6, 1944, commonly referred to as D-day. The largest air, land and sea operation in
history included 5,000 ships, 13,000 airplanes and more than 160,000 military members
from the Allied Forces. Operation Overlord began with the invasion of France via the
beaches of Normandy.
After years of meticulous planning and seemingly endless training, for the Allied Forces, it
all came down to this: The boat ramp goes down, then jump, swim, run, and crawl to the
cliffs. Many of the first young men (most not yet 20 years old) entered the surf carrying
eighty pounds of equipment. They faced over 200 yards of beach before reaching the first
natural feature offering any protection. Blanketed by small-arms fire and bracketed by
artillery, they found themselves in hell.
By day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy and more than 100,000
Soldiers began the march across Europe.
The images were taken at Pointe du Hoc which is a clifftop location on the coast of
Normandy in northern France. It is situated between Utah Beach to the west and Omaha
Beach to the east, and stands on 100 ft (30 m) tall cliffs overlooking the sea. Marking the
Western end of the Omaha beach sector, it was a point of attack by the United States
Army Ranger Assault Group.
At Pointe du Hoc, the task for the 2nd Ranger battalion commanded by Lt. Colonel James
Rudder, was to scale the 30 metres (98 ft) cliffs under enemy fire and grenades with ropes
and ladders and then destroy the guns there. The beach fortifications were vital targets
since a single artillery forward observer based there could have directed fire on the U.S.
beaches. The Rangers were eventually successful and captured the fortifications. They
then had to fight for 2 days to hold the location, losing more than 60 percent of their men.
The D-Day cost was high - when it was over, the Allied Forces had suffered nearly 10,000
casualties; more than 4,000 were dead -- but finally more than three million allied troops
were in France by the end of August to defeat Hitler.
Heinz Baade / Hamburg / December 2015