Caleb Jessee
Mrs. Kent
8th English
March 10, 2015
The D-Day Landings
World War II was one of the bloodiest wars in history, because many men died fighting for the Allies or the Nazis in their attempt for either peace or world domination. One of the most dangerous parts of WWII was the D-Day Landings, or Operation Neptune (O’Neill 254). The landings at Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword Beach were some of the most dangerous parts of DDay.
Omaha Beach was the most dangerous of the D-Day landings, because debris and
German gunfire made it hard for the Allies to go up (Axelrod 311). Two hours after the landing began, the attack was delayed because of German defenses (Symonds 281). While the Allies were landing on the beach, their tanks began sinking because of gunfire damage and other …show more content…
Though the German defense was not as strong as Omaha, the Allies took heavy damage from enemy machine guns and snipers (123).
Another problem for the Allies were the German mortars with support from machine gun fire, which was the main weapon that killed Allied soldiers (118) Because the German resistance built up during the attack as the Allies gained more of a foothold on the beach, they suffered major casualties (Bishop and McNab 141). Although the German forces were strong, they lacked certain advantages such as high ground like the forces at Omaha (Symonds 281). Even though the Germans at Juno were losing the battle, Hitler had forbidden any withdrawal of troops, making it easier for the Allies to attack (Der Vat 139). Juno Beach was harder than Gold Beach was, suffering more casualties. Of the 21,400 men that landed, the Allies lost 1,200 men
(Kennedy 272).
Jessee 4
The last landing was at Sword Beach. Like Gold and Juno, this beach was also attacked by British forces (Symonds 281). During the landing, the Allies met much more German resistance and obstacles than they had believed. The main issue for this was the pictures they