Pointe du Hoc
On cliffs between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach was a German strongpoint
that Allied intelligence believed contained artillery capable of
causing high casualties and disruption on the invasion. A naval
bombardment, primarily from the battleship USS Texas softened up the
position. The job of capturing the position was given to 225 Rangers
in three companies under
the command of Lt. Col. James Rudder. Rudder lead the assault in
place of his subordinate, Maj. Cleaveland Lytle, who had questioned the
usefulness of the attack after reports from French sources that the
guns had been moved. In fact, the guns had been moved inland, on
June 4th, but bad weather had prevented verification.
Landing forty minutes late due to navigational errors like so many
others in the early light, the men crossed the beach and propelled
their ladders up the cliff, climbing them and capturing the German
defenses. Seeing that the guns weren't here, they advanced
inland, found the guns and disabled them. Casualties mounted from
a German counterattack. Only around 90 men were left when the
Rangers were relieved. In the original plan, eight more companies
of Rangers were to land here after the original three, but because of
the late arrival of the original three companies, the follow-on force
was diverted to Omaha Beach, where they were very useful spearheading an assault up
the bluffs.
Gun Position
Copyright 2010 by John Hamill