rces so that they would not be pushed back into
Utah beach was a stretch of beachfront approximately five miles long and located
in the dunes of Varreville. Like most beach attacks that day, the planned
attack time was 06:30 or H hour. As early as 02:00 (H-4:30) the preparations
for attack were being made as minesweepers started working at creating a safe
path for allied battleships, frigates, corvettes, etc. At about 02:30 the
flagship for Utah beach was in place and the order was given for the landing
crafts to be loaded and placed into the water. The four waves of troops were
ready to go and the German radar had not spotted any buildup of ships. The
first gunfire occurred at daybreak when some ships were spotted and fired upon
by coastal guns. 276 planes, all B-26 Marauder's flew in to drop their payload
of 4400 bombs on the targets. Almost all missed and nearly a third fell onto
the beaches and into the sea, far away
...