Omaha Beach

This beach is so peaceful and quiet it is hard to imagine what happened here 71 years ago. There were five landing areas, two of which were American (Utah and Omaha). The idea of the landing was to open a second front to the war, along with the Eastern front with Russia where many German troops were stationed. 

The D-day landings were supposed to happen on the 5th of June for optimum tides to get them closer to the beach  and full moon for light but bad weather delayed it until the 6th. Before the landings, paratroopers were dropped behind lines at midnight; they needed the light to get to their rally points to secure the position and prevent reinforcements from arriving once the landings started at dawn. Although high ride would have reduced the amount of open area soldiers would have to run through, it would also cover the traps and mines set by the Germans so half high tide was optimal. 

Bad weather on the 5th halted the flotilla of 7,000 boats in the channel, Eisenhower waited and decided to go on the 6th. Before the landing, the entire north of France and coastline were pounded by bombs to keep the Germans guessing. But 95% of the German defenses were still in tact when the landings happened.

There are two monuments here to commemorate the landings, one modern and one more traditional. 

We took a few minutes to collect sand, walk, imagine what it was like and even kick a soccer ball. We also saw some horse racers practicing.