Rudder's Line

As night approached, there was still no word from Omaha Beach. Colonel Rudder faced a difficult command decision with regard to the disposition of his limited forces. Of his original 200 men, over a third were casualties, though many of …

1944-06-07

P05

As night approached, there was still no word from Omaha Beach. Colonel Rudder faced a difficult command decision with regard to the disposition of his limited forces. Of his original 200 men, over a third were casualties, though many of the lightly wounded (including Colonel Rudder) were staying in action. Supplies of grenades and mortar shells were low. And communication between the Point and the highway force, the latter making up over half the men, was precarious. Despite their exposure. Colonel Rudder decided to leave the highway force in place. Rudder still expected the imminent arrival of the 5th Rangers and ! 16th Infantry, his expectation strengthened when one platoon of the 5th arrived and an erroneous report reached the Colonel that the rest of the 5th was not far behind. Despite a moon nearly full and only partly obscured by clouds, visibility was poor in the Rangers’ position. At 2330 the Rangers posted in front of the Company D-E ‘comer’ were startled by a general outburst of whistles and shouts. A considerable volume of enemy fire soon opened up, with a machine-gun firing tracer from only 25 yards from friendly lines. The Rangers returned fire at once with their BAR’S. Only a few minutes after the firing began, an immense sheet of flame shot up over to the west, near the position of the abandoned German guns. The orchards nearby were lit up and Germans could be seen outlined against the glare. The flare-up was short-lived as was tlie enemy attack. German fire soon ended. The enemy, however, persisted with stronger efforts launched at 1100 and 0300. In general the attacks all began the same, with whistles and shouting followed by intense fire. The third and final attack included mortar fire that fell long. As the volume of enemy fire increased, word was passed down the line for a withdrawal back to the highway. As the parties arrived at the blacktop there was no sign of a pursuit. The Rangers would survive the night of D-Day. On D+1 Rudder’s force at Point du Hoc consisted of about 90 men able to bear arms.

Pointe Du Hoc, France

La Pointe du Hoc is a promontory with a 100-foot (30 m) cliff overlooking the English Channel on the northwestern coast of Normandy in the Calvados department, France. Pointe du Hoc was the location of a series of German bunkers and machine gun posts. Prior to the invasion of Normandy, the German army fortified the area with concrete casemates and gun pits. On D-Day, the United States Army Provisional Ranger Group attacked and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs. United States generals including Dwight D. Eisenhower had found that the place housed artillery that could slow down nearby beach attacks.

Wikipedia: Pointe du Hoc

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