Doug,

I made these's pictures in 2006 on Omaha beach were you could still recognize the wood used to barricade the beach, you know the ones were the Germans put on their mines against the landing crafts.

Peter.

Peter, Nice photos. Do you know which beach you were at
Omaha?

doug wilber

I was at wiederstandsnest 62 in 2007,this tekst was on a plaque mounted on a bunker.

Strong Point WN 62 June 6th, 1944
The best armoured of 15 strong points in the 6 km long bay with the American Omaha-sectors Dog, Easy and Fox was permanently occupied with 28 soldiers of the 3rd company of the Gren. Regt. 726 / 716th Infantry Division. Soldiers of this company were distributed on the strong points WN 59 to WN 64, the command post was stationed in the strong point WN 63, which was situated 1.340 m backwards.
June 6th, 1944, besides 13 soldiers were stationed here. They were from the 1st Department of the Arty. Regt. 352 of the 352nd Infantry Division of the 1st Battery (which was placed in the 4,5 km distant Houtteville), the artillery observation post in the WN 62. The casemates (gun bunker), the men bunker and the Tobruk positions were erected in springtime in the year after the inspection of Rommel (January 29th, 1944) by the organization Todt. On June 6th, 1944 the completion work on WN 62 was not concluded.

Peter, Great photos! I was also at WN62. Look at the small number of Germans
that defended those sectors. With alot of ammo and protection they inflicted
a great number of casualties on the Americans who landed in most places without
tank support. I can't believe the fire those men faced.

doug wilber

Doug,

'Omaha Beach' runs from Port-en-Bessin in the east to Grandcamp-Maisy in the west of this area in the Calavados.
But the sectors designated to the attacking troops on June 6th, 1944 lay between Colleville and Vierville-sur-Mer (with a single sector some miles to the west, at Point du Hoc).
This sector was to be defended by the German 716th Infantry Division.
During the month of May, units of the 352nd Infantry Division were sent to this area as extra support (which came as a big surprise to the Allied staff).
In the landing sector were 15 'Wiederstandnesten' (running from WN 60 to WN 74).
These were various complexes which had their guns pointed at the beach of Omaha.
Some were simple built constructions, with some bunkers and trenches, others had massive casemats with heavy guns, like WN 61 en WN 62 near Colleville.
Another heavy complex was at Vierville, WN 72.

Peter.

Doug,

Also I was at wiederstandsnest 65 to see this famous bunker “Bunker Ruquet”.
This bunker is situated not far from the village “les Moulins”.
This bunker part of WN 65 was the first headquarters of the Americans on Omaha Beach.
WN65 was build on higher ground at Beach-exit E 1 in sector Easy Red.
It was armed with a 50 mm anti tankcanon, one of the obsticals met by the American on their way to the “Ruquet valley”.
Eventually WN 65 was surrounded by small infantry units of the116th from 16th reg.
It was sergeant Haas of 467th Anti-Aircraft-Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion that with a halftrack armed with a 37 mm canon destroyed the 50 mm canon.
20 Germans were made pow in that action and around 10:30u the beach-exit was cleared by engeneers.
Beach-Exit E 1 would become the main exit from Omaha-Beach passing Bunker “Ruquet”.
On the bunker is a plaque for 467th Anti-Aircraft-Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion.
The 50 mm canon is still there today and if on top of the hill behind the bunker you have a great view of Omaha beach and the Ruquet valley and if you overlook the road that leads you trough the valley you can see WN64.
By the way the valley is really nice, hard to find eventually but it was worth it.

Peter.      

Peter, I had read that Rommel claimed if he had two more weeks or so
he would have been able to stop the Allied Invasion. What is your opinion
on this?

doug wilber

Doug,

The allied operation “Fortitude” to mislead the Germans on the actual landing place for the allied invasion had a great affect under most of the commanders in France including Rommel.
This is why the focus on building beach obstacles shifted to the river Somme area, instead of Normandy.
Also the majority of panzer divisions were kept near the Calais area.
By d-day almost all German officers including the ones in Hitler’s HQ expected an invasion at Pas de Calais, when it happened in Normandy many thought it was to be a diversion.
On d-day there were some tank units close to the beaches but du to the absence of Rommel who was on leave and the hesitation under the officers in charge the units stayed in reserve or were deployed to late.
Also the allied beachheads were established and in firm hands by the 6 of June.
Also around Caen was a lot of hesitation by the commanding officers but when they counterattacked it was to late to stop the British breakout from the beaches.
Because of the absence of German fighters in the air the allies were able to attack any German panzer who would come out of hiding to advance to the beachheads.
Also the Germans neaded a lot of time to bring in other panzer divisions from Calais by night and by train with the railway heavily attacked or destroyed.
At Caen the Germans managed to halt all attacks for 4 weeks with great los of men and material.
Due to the fact that the east flank of Normandy was firmly secured no German troops could enter Normandy from that side.
I think if Rommel was in command in Normandy on d-day and was able to attack the beachheads with panzer divisions I now would speak German instead of Dutch .
Because of the great amount of supply’s and amour brought in on the beaches it was only a matter of time until the German defense would collapse.
I think the mistake was to let the Germans escape out of the Falaise pocket and let them reestablish a front on the France Belgium border.

Peter.

Peter, You made  several good points. The Allied deception of the
Normandy Invasion was brillant. The Germans believed that there
was 25-30 more divisions in England than there actually was. Having
Patton command a dummy army was genius. Of course the Germans
were quite good, they have always been the professional soldier for
centuries, their main probelm was fighting a war in which they were
heavily overnumbered. That's why they lost World War I and World War II.
Having Rommel at Normandy on June 6th would have made a difference,
but I believe that was no stopping the Allies. As my would Dad say, "There  
was no way in Hell the Germans were going to stop us." The Allies were too
strong, too many planes, equipment, men, fuel, things the Germans didn't
have. As one German said, "We have Russians, fighting for Germany to    
defend France."

doug wilber

Doug,

Your right, the Germans had to fight on two fronts witch was to much.

Peter.