The objectives of the 1st Division were ambitious. First, it was to capture the villages of Vierville, Saint-Laurent, and Colleville; then it was to push through and cut the Bayeux-Isigny road, and then it was to attack south toward Tr6vieres and west toward the Pointe Hoc. Elements of the 16th Regiment were to link up at Port-en-Bessin with British units from Gold Beach to the east.

A member of the 16th Infantry Regiment kicks through the water in the first assault wave, Easy Red sector

From the beginning everything went wrong at Omaha. Special "DD" tanks (amphibious Sherman tanks fitted with flotation screens) that were supposed to support the 116th Regiment sank in the choppy waters of the Channel. Only 2 of the 29 launched made it to the beach. With the exception of Company A, no unit of the 116th landed where it was planned. Strong winds and tidal currents carried the landing craft from right to left. The 16th Regiment on the east half of the beach fared little better, landing in a state of confusion with units badly intermingled.

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Men of the 16th Infantry Regiment seek shelter from German machine-gun fire in shallow water behind "Czech hedgehog" beach obstacles, Easy Red sector

Throughout the landing, German gunners poured deadly fire into the ranks of the invading