If you can stand my stories here's a couple more!!
Thought you may or may not have read this data - hope you do!!
Another part of the Omaha Beach History:-2 scenarios
The assault by the Rangers on the Pointe du Hoc was a bad situation all around!
The Intel was wrong when they said that there was a battery on the headland 30 meters high(100 ft)aimed at Utah/Omaha because when the Rangers reached the top there was NO battery there. There was one further inland but that was not properly manned and the story was the two(2) Rangers managed to "spike the barrels" and render the battery useless.
According to the data we had there were ONLY 90 men of the ORIGINAL 226 standing at the end of two(2) days of intense fighting. If my memory is correct it was the 101 AB that linked up with the Rangers on the Vivre River.
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The Rangers of Pointe du Hoc
"Located Pointe du Hoc, Mission accomplished, Need ammunition and reinforcements, Many casualties." --Lt. Col. James Rudder, 2nd Ranger Battalion, D-Day message
Between Utah and Omaha Beaches stands a large promontory called Pointe du Hoc. Allied planners learned the Germans had placed a battery of 155 mm howitzers here. With a firing range of 14 miles, these guns threatened the assault forces on both American beaches.
Allied planners gave two battalions of U.S. Army Rangers the job of neutralizing the German guns. These elite troops were trained to make an amphibious landing on the beach in front of Pointe du Hoc, scale its 100-foot cliffs, and destroy the German battery.
On D-Day the Rangers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder, used rocket-propelled grappling hooks attached to ropes and ladders to climb the cliffs. As they worked their way up, the Germans dropped grenades on them and cut some of their ropes. Still, within five minutes, the Rangers made it to the top and drove off the defenders.
They then made a startling discovery,the German guns were missing. Sergeant Len Lomell and two other Rangers scouted inland. A short distance away they found the guns. They quickly destroyed them.
By 9:00 A.M. the Rangers had accomplished their mission. But for the next two days they faced intense German counterattacks. The 2nd Ranger Battalion took over 50 percent casualties.
"We fired our rockets with the grappling hooks two at a time. Some ropes didn't make it to the top of the cliff.... the enemy cut some, but we did have enough of them... to get the job done. I was the last one in from my boat, and when I finally got to the base, there was a rope right in front of me, so I started to go up.... The enemy was shooting at us, and throwing grenades by the bushel basketful." --Cpt. James Eikner, 2nd Ranger Battalion.
Sgtleo 