Against this company minus, the British had effectively massed a reinforced brigade, achieving about a 9 to 1 advantage in manpower.Īt 0521 hours, naval guns of all calibers opened fire. The defenders were also supported by one of the famous 88mm guns, 2 artillery pieces and some mortars. These minefields were composed primarily of blast anti-tank (teller) mines and bounding antipersonnel ("S") mines.
These platoons covered three belts of complex obstacles consisting of hedgehogs (2.5 kilometers) then minefields (2.5 kilometers) backed by anti-tank ditches (800m), road craters (3 large ones), wire entanglements (5 kilometers), and more minefields (another 2.5 kilometers). The 736 th had approximately two platoons with supporting automatic weapons manning 11 concrete bunkers on the 2500m of beach in the brigade's sector. The 69 th Brigade was opposed by elements of the German's 736 th Grenadier Regiment, 716 th Static Division (1/3 of whom were Soviet and Polish "volunteers"). The breaching organization in the brigade sector provided two flail tanks and four CEVs per lane with 6 breach lanes planned in the brigade sector (one per infantry company). This force landed on King Sector, Gold Beach near the coastal town of La Riviere. For example, the 69 th Brigade of the British 50 th (Northumbrian) Division was led by flail tanks from the Westminster Dragoons, CEVs from the 81 st squadron of the 6 th Assault Regiment, Royal Engineers, and amphibious Sherman tanks from "C" Squadron, 4/7 Dragoon Guards, all of the 79 th Armored Division (Hobart's Funnies). "Slices" from the 79 th were assigned to each of the three British beaches (Gold, Sword & Juno) and rehearsed with their respective units. The Crab was a Sherman tank equipped with a rotating chain flail, which beat the ground ahead of it as it rotated in order to detonate mines from in front of the vehicle. The AVRE (Armored Vehicle, Royal Engineer) was a CEV (Combat Engineer Vehicle) based on a Churchill tank chassis equipped with a 12 inch demolition gun (called a Petard) and either an AVLB a fascine, or a bobbin (portable roadway).
These included the AVRE, the Crab, and the D. This unit was equipped with a variety of specialized vehicles that would be familiar to today's combat engineer. Army Combat Engineer, LTC William Schneck writes īased on their hard won experiences from the breaching operations conducted during the Second Battle of El Alamein and the disastrous amphibious raid on Dieppe in which the Canadians were trapped on the beach and took heavy casualties, the British organized and equipped a specialized armored division composed of nothing but special purpose armored engineer vehicles, the 79 th (Hobart's Funnies).
#JRTC PREPO FLEET FREE#
The British and Canadians quickly move off the beach and push inland without heavy casualties using folding bicycles lead by their specialized tanks, where they then take the brunt of the German Panzer Lehr Division with Panther and Tiger tanks to take the critical cross-roads town of Caen and free the Americans to break out at St. They have General Percy Hobart's " funnies" special track-laying tanks of the 79 th Armored Division that swim ashore and provide fire support, others shot rocket mine-clearing charges and flail where land mines are with chains, others reducing and clearing obstacles without men having to charge a hail of bullets to lay a demolitions charge.
Meanwhile, to the north, the British and Canadians land but are better prepared. The men surge forward with bangalore torpedoes and explosives, blasting a cut through the dominating rock face, and the Americans pour through, routing the Germans. Brigadier General " Norm" Cota walking up and down the beach finds a group of Army Combat Engineers and Rangers.after asking who they are, he tells them, " Lead the way.get us off this beach". The beachhead is in jeopardy and General Omar Bradley considers withdrawing.
Massive supporting air strikes and naval bombardments fail to clear dug-in German infantry overlooking Omaha beach.as American Soldiers struggle ashore they are torn by criss-crossing machine guns, mortars and rifle fire. " I don’t know what the hell this logistics is that Marshall is always talking about, but I want some of it." Air-Mech-Strike from Land and Sea: Airborne-Amphibious U.S.