After spending a great deal of time on the beaches and seeing the big German guns on the cliffs above the landing area, we spent some time over by the areas where the Rangers came up the cliff at Point du Hoc. What they managed to do was absolutely unbelievable. I went to the edge of the cliffs and looked down, just as the German defenders might have. The fields of fire the Germans had presented such a dangerous mission for those Rangers. I don't know how all of this went down, but at some point the big guns of the Navy played an important role, shelling the German guns on the cliffs, paving the way for the invading Americans and Allies.
The two pictures above give you an idea of just how formidable that shelling must have been. I'm viewing this some 60 years after the war, so the craters have filled in some with the elements and time, but as you can see, this terrain was just destroyed and to a great extent hasn't grown back. I walked down into the center of a couple of them and they were still more than 15-20 feet deep and around 10-12 yards wide. Also, these craters were literally right next to each other. The paths that are in the bottom picture led from one crater to another. I know this picture doesn't do justice to the actual size of this area and the damage that was done. Perhaps you can go some other place on line and get some better pictures.
"It was a different world then. It was a world that required young men
like myself to be prepared to die for a civilization that was worth
living in." (Harry Read, British D-Day veteran)
Hooah
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