Normandy's Omaha Beach landing divided into sectors, labeled via alphabetical callsign : Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox. 116th Infantry Regiment assigned to Dog (or Dog One) beach sector, subdivided into Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green sectors.

116th Infantry Regiment divided into 3 battalions of 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Each battalion assigned about 3 companies, each company had about 100 men. Thus a regiment consisted about 1,000 soldiers. 1st Battalion had Company A, B, C. 2nd Battalion had Company D, E, F. 3rd Battalion had Company I, K, L, M. Omaha Beach Order of Battle - www.sproe.com/o/omaha-beach.html

Order of battle placed initially beach landings to 116th/A company at Dog Green, 116th/F & G companies at Dog Red, it was these companies which took massive casualties during initial beach assault, and became combat ineffective. In addition, tidal currents pulled landing crafts away from destinated beach sectors, hence units were intermixed upon landing. 116th survivors had to wait for reinforcements from remaining regiment to continue the assault.

Map above shows mid-day advance by 116th, left flank taking bluffs over Hamel-Au-Preire, driving inland towards western village of Chateau de Vaumicel. 116th right flank secured bluffs east of Les Moulins and drove inland towards St. Laurent village. In all, Allies landed about 35,000 troops on Omaha Beach by end of June 6th, suffering about 2,200 casualties.

Inset 1 : German in bluff trench lines armed with innovative ball-type grenades, used to roll down embankment against armored vehicles or clusters of men immediately below (which could not be directly targeted). Allied Intelligence failed to detect German transfer of combat-experienced 352nd Infantry Division from Eastern Front to Omaha Beach to bolster defenses in April 1944. Thus, instead of Allied anticipation of 4 battalion size enemy troops at Omaha, Germans fielded 8 battalions and they were all hardened combat veterans. The Atlantik Wall In Normandy - www.atlantikwall.org.uk/wn64_&_wn_65.htm

Although German 352nd Infantry Division capped American landings at Omaha in early morning hours, no major reinforcements were forthcoming (with exception of bicycle-mounted infantry units) as Germans dealt with British/Canadian breakout on eastern Normandy beaches of Sword, Juno, Gold targeting city of Caen : a major transportation hub. By mid-day, the 352nd forced to withdraw southwest towards city of Saint Lo. D-Day landings lasted only one day, the real hard fighting in French heavily foliage hedgerow countryside would persist for another 2 months, both Allies and Germans enduring much combat attrition. The Battle of Caen, 1944 - www.wwii.ca/page21.html

• Waffen-SS: Caen: Battle of Attrition, 1944 - www.germanwarmachine.com/waffenss/1944/caenbattleofattrition.htm

Related Model and History : UweM German 8-rad Puma armor car and 1944 US offensive against St. Lo, Normandy - UweMilitaria.org/1-Wheel/Puma/19.html

Rollover : Normandy beachhead battles between June 6th landings (blue line) and June 12th inland advance (red line). Across Allied beachheads, inland advance achieved with US at UTAH beach linking up with US airborne units on Contentin Peninsula to cut off northern Cherbourg port. British and Canadian forces at GOLD, JUNO, SWORD beaches making significant progress inland on D-Day in advance towards transportation hubs of Bayeux and Caen. Only major concern was Americans at OMAHA pinned down throughout D-Day morning (as depicted in famed Hollywood WW2 epics of The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan), with mounting casualties there was consideration in upper Allied echelons of canceling future OMAHA landings and withdrawing surviving troops. German Offensive Attack Tactics - www.feldgrau.com/gerofftac.html

However, need to form a continuous Allied line of advance across all beach fronts necessitated continual OMAHA operation, otherwise Germans could mount counter-attacks to isolate individual beach heads and repeat their successful defeat of 1942 British/Canadian invasion of Dieppe-France. Side history note, British Lord Louis Mountbatten was commander of this failed Dieppe invasion (but he insisted lessons learnt from this raid enable Allied forces to properly train and equip for 1944 Normandy invasion), he was also last India Viceroy before country 1947 independence, he was assassinated by Provisional IRA terrorist at Mullaghmore-Ireland in August 1979. Dieppe Raid - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_Raid

Panoramic distant bluff is Pont du Hoc where Army Rangers landed to knock out large caliber German artillery which could severely damage offshore battle cruisers and troop disembark ships. US Rangers discovered Germans placed wooden telephone poles inside concrete pillboxes to resemble large caliber gun. This historical episode is well scripted in PC WW2 FPS game "Call of Duty 2". The Ultimate Sacrifice: Rudder's Rangers at Pointe-du-Hoc - www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/pontduhoc.aspx

• Pont du Hoc Slideshow - www.flickr.com/photos/photozither/sets/72157594152109525/show/

• Pont du Hoc photo share - photojo.com/galleries/SharedAlbumPage.asp?album_id=4237