Point du Hoc

 This point is in the middle of all the beaches that the allies were invading (Omaha, Utah to the north and Sword, Juno, and Gold to the south.  The concern was the six 155mm cannons that could shoot 15 miles and reach all the beaches.  225 airborne rangers landed at the cliffs and climbed them in less than 30 minutes to secure the area.  They were under heavy fire but when they took the point all they found were telephone poles acting as the guns.  Later they found them under camouflage in a field and destroyed them.   They were also instrumental in cutting the supply route of the German army just past the point.   In total, over 3 days only 90 men survived.  

Ronald Regan dedicated this memorial at he 40th anniversary of D day.  Hard to believe next year will be 80.  

This was an escape route for the Germans.  It was dug deeper than the access and at the access below the ground the Germans slid a plate to block the exit.  They then filled the hole with sand so no one would think it was an exit.  If they ever deeded to escape they could pull the plate out and all the sand would fall into the hole and they could leave….German engineering.

Craters from the shelling by the Allies

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