Pointe du Hoc (English version)

by Jonathan Kelley - Olivier Perronny

The Pointe-du-Hoc was a coastal defense battery with a fire direction center and six captured French 155mm guns. From its location, it could have threatened both UTAH and OMAHA beaches. The observation post was located on the extreme northward projection of the Pointe-du-Hoc. The guns were positioned and camouflage-netted in circular emplacements, accompanied by several bunkered machinegun nests. A bombing raid in April of that year destroyed one of the guns ; the deception efforts had made the destruction of the entire battery impossible by air attack. The garrison was the 1/Artillerie-Regiment 1260 with Flak Abteilung 32 for AA defence.

In January 1944, General Bradley asked the Rangers to neutralize the battery during the upcoming invasion. The 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions would be engaged in three waves. The first or assault wave, under command of LTC J.E. Rudder, would include D, E and F Companies of the 2nd Bn ; C Co. of the 2nd was to land on the Dog Green Beach in Omaha Sector to advance and destroy the defences of the Pointe-de-la-Percee. The third wave under LTC Schneider of the 5th Ranger Bn. was to support the assault on Pointe-du-Hoc with A and B Cos. Of the 2nd and 5th Ranger Bns.

The initial assault on Pointe-du-Hoc (often misspelled to this day on Anglo-American maps by even John Keegan as ’Pointe du Hoe’) was comprised of 12 LCAs, each containing about 20 Rangers. Four DUKWs supported this wave, two of which had ladders courtesy of the London Fire Department and mounted HMGs. The combination of awful weather and overloading sank LCA 860, swamping the HQ of D Co. CPT Slater, 1LT McBride and their Rangers had to tread cold water for several hours awaiting rescue. When they were again on their way to the beach, Slater ordered them to be re-equipped and re-clothed and head for the Pointe to help their comrades, but in the event they had to wait until June 9 to join them.

The preliminary shelling began at 0550 hours 6 June 1944 from the USS Texas and Satterlee and the HMS Talybont. A wave of 19 B-26s from the 9th Air Force also hammered the German positions.

The heavy smoke covering the coast reduced visibility to very poor, accounting for the fact that the LCAs were driven in front of the Pointe-de-la-Percee, east of the Pointe-du-Hoc. A Flak emplacement raked the flotilla with fire, sinking one DUKW. Finally, covering fire from the Royal Navy gunners of HMS Talybont enabled the assault wave to move toward the objective.

The Rangers of Cos. E and F waded ashore 40 minutes late at 0710, followed by D Co. The LCAs had shipped a great deal of water in the surf, completely soaking the ropes and causing some of the grapple launchers to malfunction.

Five minutes later, with matchless valor, the first men were reaching the clifftops under a deadly German fire of rifles, hand grenades and hand-dropped 155mm artillery shells. A vicious melée ensued among the trenches and craters. By 0740, 150 Rangers were fighting on the clifftops. The bunkers were manned by determined German infantrymen, but the emplacements contained only ’Quaker guns’—fake wooden guns—which, as some small consolation, had been destroyed by the bombardment.

By 0800, the coastal road south of the Pointe-du-Hoc was under American control. LTC Rudder established his CP near the cliffs’ edge next to the medic station under CPT Block. The tardiness of the initial landing had inspired higher command to divert the second wave to Omaha Beach, so no reinforcements would be arriving any time soon.

Around 0900, a recon patrol found the five guns that had been meant to defend the Pointe, unguarded and fully equipped with fuse-mounted shells and charges, and spiked them with hand grenades, thus accomplishing the Ranger mission. By this time the position was nearly consolidated as the Ranger perimeter, except for the flak bunker on the extreme west of the battery which remained a German strongpoint.

The Rangers were isolated, about five miles west of Omaha Beach, where the situation was particularly bad. Many of them were casualties, including LTC Rudder who had been wounded first on the beach by a sniper bullet that penetrated his helmet and then in the fighting atop the cliffs.

They established two primary positions : the first, most of F Co. and the CP, near the cliff’s edge and the second, D and E Cos. with part of F. Co, near the coastal road. In the afternoon, Leonard Goodgal and 2 paratroopers of the Item Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, dropped over Carentan, made their way to the Ranger positions, fortunate to avoid friendly fire casualties. The USS Satterlee ran out of ammunition and returned to England, replaced by the USS Harding which was shifted to the area after having supported the first wave that hit Omaha Beach.

The Ranger positions were under constant sniper fire from the flanks. Two major German counterattacks were launched in the afternoon : the first by 9/Infanterie-Regiment 726 and the second by elements of 2/Infanterie-Regiment 914, supported by elements of 1/Artillerie- Regiment 126O. The position was pounded by 105mm howitzer fire from the 1/Artillerie-Regiment 352, located near Omaha Beach.

In the evening, a platoon of A Co./5th Ranger Bn. under 2LT Parker, which had lost contact with its parent unit, advanced deep into German lines and finally reached the 2nd Rangers’ position. They were positioned reinforcing the coastal road position on the left flank.

That night, the Germans launched several attacks. The first waves were halted by the thin, desperate line of remaining Rangers. Finally, around 0300, the position of D Co. defending the right corner was overrun, forcing the surrounding units to withdraw to escape. SGT Petty and a few Rangers courageously remained in the position to allow this withdrawal to happen. About twenty Rangers were captured and taken behind German lines in this action, but fifty others successfully withdrew to the CP.

The morning of 7 June 1944 saw LTC Rudder facing a desperate situation : no news from Omaha Beach, no reinforcements, down to 90 able-bodied men, no food, no ammo. The 2nd Battalion was all but lost. Some rangers, isolated near the outposts, managed to reach the US perimeter despite sniper fire. Except for said fire, there were no more major counterattacks, but German forces had the surrounding area firmly under control.

In the afternoon, a relief force composed of C and D Cos. of the 5th Ranger Bn., the remaining Cos of the 2nd Ranger Bn. and the 1st Bn, 116th Infantry Regiment and tanks from the 743rd Tank Bn. reached St. Pierre du Mont which was controlled by german units. Although the Germans withdrew from St Pierre, the relief units were unable to rescue the isolated rangers.

At 1000 8 June 1944, With the reinforcement of the other Cos of the 5th Ranger Bn., the 2nd and 3rd Bns. of the 116th Infantry Regiment and 2 Cos of the 743rd Tank Bn. the strengthened relief force attacked from St. Pierre du Mont. About 80 Rangers from E and F Cos. were holding out around the CP, along with scattered remnants of D Co.

At nightfall 8 June 1944, LTC Rudder and his wrecked battalion, now barely a company in effective strength, had taken reserve positions between Pointe-du-Hoc and Grandcamp-les-Bains. The butcher’s bill was 77 Rangers killed, 152 wounded and 70 MIA, including those from the sunk LCA 860.

In January 1979, a grateful France gave the Pointe-du-Hoc to its liberating ally, an almost unprecedented gesture for a nation whose soil has an almost magical importance to its people. Today the Stars and Stripes flies over Pointe-du-Hoc, USA. It will remain a monument to Ranger valour and Franco-American amity as long as either nation remains.