Pointe du Hoc: The Sixth D-Day Landing
The Mission
On June 6th 1944 an international coalition attacked Nazi occupied France along the Normandy coast. Supported by paratroops, soldiers landed on five beaches - codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword - to begin the liberation of Western Europe. This was D-Day for Operation Overlord and its success - all five beachheads were established - was a pivotal moment in the Second World War. However, there was a sixth naval landing that, although far smaller than the main beaches, was considered more dangerous. It took place at Pointe du Hoc.
On the west of the Normandy coast, between Grandcamp les Bains and Vierville sur Mer, a rocky promontory called Pointe du Hoc sticks out of the cliffs. When Germany prepared an 'Atlantic Wall' of defences against Allied invasion in 1943/44 they picked Pointe du Hoc, with its vertical slopes, tiny shingle beach and views of the surrounding coast, to build a defensive compound mounting – according to Allied intelligence reports - six 155mm guns, artillery which could hit positions several miles away.
With thick concrete casements and underground bunkers, protected cable runs, an equally protected spotting post on the cliff and a network of trenches, the position was amongst the strongest ever built by the Nazis in the west.
The beaches guarded by Pointe du Hoc had been chosen as the two American landing points - Utah and Omaha – on D-Day and, with the capability to inflict such massive casualties, the guns had to be neutralized as early as possible during the invasion. Unfortunately, the massive concrete infrastructure prevented Allied bombers from achieving a guaranteed success. Although the RAF and USAF dropped explosives equivalent to the Hiroshima bomb upon the Pointe, Allied soldiers would still have to attack in person on D-Day. In addition, the Germans had placed the majority of their defences to guard against an attack from inland, believing the cliffs to be nearly impregnable, and had around 200 men in place.
The mission was given to the 2nd and 5th battalions of the US Rangers. Under the command of Lt. Colonel James Rudder, D, E and F companies of 2nd Battalion would move first, sailing to the cliff base and attacking up the sheer rockface with grappling hooks and ladders at 6.30am. D company would move in from the west, E and F from the east. When a route was open the remaining force – A and B company as well as the whole of 5th Battalion – would follow. If the initial attack failed and no signal had been given by 07:00 am, the remaining force would adopt a different plan, landing at the west of Omaha beach and attacking the Pointe round from inland. Meanwhile, Company C of 2nd Battalion would make a similar assault on Pointe de la Percée, a position located between Pointe du Hoc and Omaha beach. From here C Company would head overland to du Hoc.
The initial target was the guns, but the Rangers were also briefed to neutralise the position and seize a main road which ran past the Pointe and along the coast, severing the German connection between Grandcamp Les Bains and Vierville sur Mer, and thus between Utah and Omaha beaches. This position was to be held until troops from Omaha were able to link up with the Rangers, hopefully at around midday.
As 6.30 am (H-Hour) approached, D, E and F companies approached the Normandy coast in a flotilla of twelve craft: nine LCAs (Landing Craft Assault) carrying the Rangers and three DUKWs (duplex-drive trucks which could 'swim') carrying supplies and ladders. The tenth LCA, with D Company’s Captain Slater and twenty men, had sunk shortly after embarking, and the rough seas similarly overwhelmed the fourth DUKW soon after; Slater and his men were rescued later that morning.
At H-Hour the guns of USS Texas ceased firing upon the Pointe and the Rangers closed in. Unfortunately, a combination of strong tides and navigational confusion – the same mix which proved so lucky on Utah – had pushed the Rangers off course: they were opposite Pointe de la Percée instead.
