Point-de-Hoc

Point-de-Hoc lies just west from Omaha Beach. It is an outward jutting point on the shore, and has 150-foot tall vertical cliffs. The Germans had many guns here, so this was important to take out early.

The plan was to have a group of 229 Army rangers land at midnight, 6 hours before the 6:00 am landing at Omaha Beach. The rangers were to approach the western side of the point, since the guns faced eastward. They had grappling hooks with explosive charges to throw them over the edge of the cliff. The hook had a rope ladder. The rangers would climb the ladder. The element of surprise was key, since the task was nearly impossible.

The allies pounded the site with 3 bombing raids in advance of the assault. They dropped a total of one million pounds of explosives. This is supposed to be the most heavily bombed location ever using conventional explosives.

Things went terribly wrong for the assault. First, they made a mistake and went to the point eastward from Point-de-Hoc. When they figured out their mistake, they moved westward, but the current was so strong toward the east that they only could go 3 mph. Two of the landing craft capsized and killed 30 of their party. By now the Germans saw what was happening and started to fire. The element of surprise was lost. So they climbed the eastern side of the cliff instead.

Second problem was that the rope ladders got wet. Because they were wet, they weighed more. Given this, the explosive charges were not enough. About half of the rope ladders did not reach the top. So the soldiers had to climb fewer ladders, which made it easier for the Germans to shoot them or to cut the ropes when they were partway up. Remember this was 150 feet up, so a cut rope meant a fall to the death.

The assault team had some sharp shooters, so they positioned them to shoot at any German who looked over the edge to shoot down on the Americans. Enough Americans made it up to eventually take the site. This site was also important because it allowed this attack force to stop German reinforcements from coming from the west to Omaha.

Two of the soldiers put thermal grenades down the barrel of each gun. They also found the ammo dump and threw a grenade into it. Local French from several miles away said the ground shook from that explosion.

Only 49 of the 229 men survived. Their commander was James Rudder. He was from Texas. The French gave this land to the US, or more precisely to Texas, or even more precisely to Texas A&M University. Texas A&M maintains the property and surveys it each year to be sure everything remains as is. They are raising money to fund construction of a replica of the site the way it was prior to the assault.

Photos:
1) Craters from the bombing.
2) This is the type of cliff the rangers had to climb…with Germans shooting down at them.
3) This is a chunk from the bunker that held the ammo. When it was exploded, this chunk was thrown about 100 feet.