For an assault that had begun with such terrible confusion, the Utah Beach landings ended as a spectacular success beyond the most optimistic expectations. The 2,000-yard error had placed the landing force away from the heavily defended area of Les-Dunes-de-Varaville and into a less defended section of beach. Twenty thousand troops and 1,700 motorized vehicles had landed at Utah with surprisingly few casualties--fewer than 300 men.

Troops leave the shelter of a seawall, which afforded protection from occasional shelling by German guns located inland from Utah Beach AP/Wide World Photos

The Germans had not counterattacked the seaborne assault, owing to the success of the Allied airborne troops in holding the roads that led to the beach approaches and also to confusion among the German commanders as to exactly where the main attack was taking place. The Germans, however, were in a position to counterattack in the Cotentin Peninsula at the end of D-Day.