Facts and Figures About the Landings on Omaha Beach During the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944 (2025)

This infographic shows facts and figures about the landings on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, during World War II. The following text , which is taken from a lightly edited narrative description of this infographic, provides more details and background.

(Read Sir John Keegan’s Britannica entry on the Normandy Invasion.)

Overview

On the morning of June 6, 1944, two U.S. infantry divisions, the 1st and the 29th, landed at Omaha Beach, the second to the west of the five landing beaches of D-Day. It was the bloodiest fighting of the morning. The troops went ahead and, in many cases, had to fight through waist-deep water, being fired upon by German strong points throughout. In many cases, the landing craft were hung up on beach obstacles that could not be cleared because of the way the tide had rolled in that day. There were mines. There were large steel obstacles that ended up actually providing cover, the only cover that was available on the beaches for the landing American troops that day.

And by the end of the day, the initial assault had not carried through to the final positions that were called out in the initial D-Day plan. But they did have a minor toehold on the beach. Things were so close that Allied commanders had actually considered pulling the troops back because fighting on Omaha had gone so badly throughout the day. It was only carried when initial waves were able to make it to final positions later in the afternoon.

Some of the heaviest fighting occurred when an American Ranger group took the high points at Pointe du Hoc, which looked down on the beach and provided a strong firing position for the Germans as well as for the German spotters calling artillery onto the beach from a distance behind the landing beaches.

Facts and figures

Allied forces involved in the landings on Omaha Beach were the U.S. 1st and 29th infantry divisions.

German forces involved in the defense of Omaha Beach consisted of the 352nd Infantry Division.

The landings on Omaha Beach started at 0630 hours.

The width of Omaha Beach is less than 10 km (6 miles).

Allied troops landed numbered 34,000; they suffered 2,400 casualties.

Map of the planned assault

The map in the top left of the infographic illustrates the plan and the believed disposition of German forces for the landings in Omaha Beach. This was not carried out on the morning of June 6.

This map shows the planned landing force movements along with the planned landing force objectives. Spots of German resistance are shown along the coast.

Sections of Omaha Beach are labeled (from west to east) Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green, Fox Red.

Map of the initial assault

The initial landing was a mess. Landing craft were mixed up. Individual units were blended together, if they survived the initial landing at all. And what you saw were mixtures of troops from different units combining to achieve objectives that were shifting as the battle carried on throughout the day. You saw troops from the 1st and 29th infantry divisions doing whatever they could to get out of the killing zone that was Omaha Beach. And by the end of the day, those troops did come together under whatever officers could be found to achieve some of the initial goals for that day.

You have just concentrations of troops landing wherever they came ashore and getting into groups of a dozen, 20, a half dozen, and trying to make it through the worst parts of the beach and up onto the high ground above. The difficulty there was that, in some cases, troops were landing in areas that they hadn’t been briefed on. They had gone over some of the basics of the initial assault. But you had troops that were supposed to be going through one specific exit point from the beach, and they were hundreds of yards from that point. The intelligence that they had on the German defenders was useless from the standpoint of where they actually were.

The green areas that you see on this map (in the lower left of the infographic) and the lines that you see going into the towns that are just beyond the initial beachhead illustrate where those units went as they were breaking through in the hours after the initial landings. The final positions of U.S. troops behind Omaha Beach show that they had not made it to many of their final objective points. There were key strong points of German resistance that were stopping advances further inland. The troops that landed at Omaha had been so bloodied that they simply lacked the strength to push further.

The German artillery that were firing onto the beach had hampered the landings and the additional landings throughout the day. While you saw a stronger beachhead established at other beaches, such as the British beaches and the Canadian beach and Utah Beach, Omaha was a hard-fought battle even until midnight on D-Day.

In this map, the initial U.S. assault (until noon) is shown just off the beach as arrows point inland with bluffs indicated. The German resistance is also shown. This map also includes the sections of Omaha Beach: Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green, Fox Red (from west to east).

Map of the final positions: midnight on D-Day

This map, in the lower right of the infographic, shows troops’ final positions on D-Day. The red arrows represent paths taken by organized breakouts from the beach.

In many cases, these arrows recapitulate the routes that you see on the initial assault map. But in some cases, these are just the largest organized breakouts that took place from concentrations of troops. The pink areas represent where large bodies of U.S. troops were gathered, often in opposition to remaining German strong points. And those positions were cleared out in the ensuing days as more troops were landed, Especially with armor support, which was sorely lacking at Omaha Beach on June 6.

Casualties on Omaha Beach were the worst of any of the invasion beaches on D-Day, with 2,400 casualties suffered by U.S. forces. And that includes wounded and killed as well as missing. There is no concrete number for the German forces that were killed at Omaha Beach. Those records simply did not exist, and entire German units were wiped out virtually to a man. Any best estimate at the German losses on D-Day is a guess.

In this map, arrows of later U.S. movements point further inland and lead to areas of the final U.S. positions (as of midnight). The German resistance is also shown further inland than on the initial assault map. The sections of Omaha Beach—(from west to east) Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green, Fox Red—are also shown.

Facts and Figures About the Landings on Omaha Beach During the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944 (2025)

FAQs

Facts and Figures About the Landings on Omaha Beach During the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944? ›

Omaha Beach.

What was significant about the D-Day landing at Normandy on June 6? ›

D-Day put the Allies on a decisive path toward victory. Beginning with the Normandy beaches, they pushed back against Axis forces until Germany was forced to surrender less than a year later.

How many people died on D-Day June 6 1944? ›

The World's Most Complete Account of. D-Day Fallen. On June 6, 1944, 4,426 men died so that freedom wouldn't. With your support, the Necrology Project research continues, with additional names added to the roster when evidence is sufficient to do so.

What happened in Normandy France on June 6 1944? ›

On June 6, 1944, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day's end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe.

What does D in D-Day stand for? ›

D-Day was the start of Operation 'Overlord' On D-Day, 6 June 1944, Allied forces launched a combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France. The 'D' in D-Day stands simply for 'day' and the term was used to describe the first day of any large military operation.

How many men died on Omaha Beach? ›

Casualties at Omaha Beach on D-Day: Total casualty figures for D-Day were not recorded at the time and are difficult to confirm in full. The US Army has lost 3,686 casualties including around 777 killed. Other Allied losses include 539 naval and 10 air forces casualties. The German have lost over 1,000 casualties.

How many D-Day survivors are still alive? ›

As of 2023, across the world, there are estimated to be a few thousand D-Day veterans still alive today. There are estimated to be only a small number of British D-Day veterans alive in 2024, potentially less than 100, according to the latest numbers of British D-Day veterans heading to Normandy this year.

What were the odds of surviving D-Day? ›

There is no definitive answer, but some historians have calculated, based on unit casualties against men landed, that Allied soldiers had a 97.6% chance of surviving D-Day. That isn't to say they would not get hit or wounded. Most infantrymen expected at one time to be hit.

Why did so many died at D-Day? ›

Allied deaths on D-Day totalled over 4,000 during Operation Overlord. So many died on D-Day or became casualties in Normandy because of the nature of the campaign. Operation Overlord was the largest, most complex operation devised by the Western Allies of the war that date. An enormous invasion force was assembled.

How bloody was D-Day? ›

try to get to the bottom of the cliffs on which the Germans had mounted their defenses.” By midday, the Americans had surmounted the cliffs and taken Omaha Beach at a heavy cost: over 2,400 killed, wounded, or missing out of the total of approximately 34,000 who came ashore that day, a loss rate of more than 7 percent.

What does "d-day" mean in slang? ›

Informal. any day of special significance, as one marking an important event or goal.

What if D-Day had failed? ›

If D-Day had failed or had never been attempted it's arguable that World War II in Europe would have ended with a German defeat anyway because by spring 1944 the Axis forces on the Eastern Front were clearly in retreat in the face of the growing power of Josef Stalin's Red Army.

What happened on D-Day June 6th? ›

On June 6, 1944, the Allies launched the long-anticipated invasion of Normandy, France. Soldiers from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and other Allied nations faced Hitler's formidable Atlantic Wall as they landed on the beaches of Normandy.

What happened on June 6th? ›

On June 6, 1944, during World War II, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, on “D-Day” as they began the liberation of German-occupied Western Europe.

How many soldiers died on June 6, 1944? ›

A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself, including 2,501 Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded. In the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded. The battle — and especially Allied bombings of French villages and cities — killed around 20,000 French civilians.

What was the significance of D-Day June 6 1944 quizlet? ›

Why was it important? It was the beginning of the allied powers invasion. Operation Overlord saw the largest naval assault in history in an effort to gain a hold in Nazi-occupied France. D-Day was the beginning of the end for not only the Germans but Hitler most of all.

What happened on D-Day 6? ›

Troops from the UK, the US, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of northern France, on 6 June 1944. D-Day was the largest military seaborne operation ever attempted, and marked the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-west Europe.

What happened on June 6th in history? ›

D-Day: Operation Overlord. In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, Americans received word that three years of concerted war efforts had finally culminated in D-day—military jargon for the undisclosed time of a planned British, American, and Canadian action.

What was the significance of the Battle of the Bulge? ›

The Battle of the Bulge was the US Army's greatest struggle to deny Adolf Hitler's last chance for victory. As 1944 was drawing to a close, the Allied forces could look back on a year of great strides towards victory over the Axis powers.

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