5th Ranger Bn

Why the Rangers Scaling Cliffs at Pointe du Hoc 75 Years Later is Important

The message that members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion of today carried forth to the few…and dwindling survivors of the original assault on Pointe du Hoc from 75 years ago was respect. They re-enacted the climb up the cliffs made by their forebearers on that fateful day in 1944 and it wasn’t an easy slog up a hill.

On June 6, 1944, Rangers from the 2nd Battalion were weighed down by assault vests, gas masks, ammunition, helmet, grenades, sub-machine guns, pistols, a box of rope and a hand projector rocket that would launch the ropes attached to grappling hooks up the cliffs. And the Germans on top pouring fire and grenades down on them to boot.

The Rangers of today already had a healthy respect for the men of 75 years ago, but after seeing the cliffs up close and personal and climbing up it, albeit not under fire this time, the respect given was quadrupled. And as they finished the climb, the surviving members of the original Pointe du Hoc assault were there to greet them. It was a powerful moment and one that will live in their memories forever.

In every pivotal battle, there are always several smaller actions that take place that define the scope and bravery that takes place. In Normandy, you could point to 100 different actions. But some of the more notable:

Major John Howard’s glider-borne assault with the Ox and Bucks infantry that landed within 50 feet of the Orne River “Pegasus Bridge” just minutes after midnight. Howard’s men, using surprise, speed, and violence of action overwhelmed the German defenders in less than 15 minutes. Howard’s men were later reinforced by men from the British 7th Parachute Battalion and held the vital bridge until relieved by Commandos under the command of Lord Lovat. One of the paratroopers at the bridge from the 7th Battalion was a young trooper named Richard Todd. He would later portray Howard in the war film epic, “The Longest Day”.

Lt. Dick Winters and the men of Easy Co. 506th Parachute Infantry (101st Airborne) and the assault on Brecourt Manor was an exercise in tactical leadership and tactics. Winters, and Lt.s Buck Compton and Ronald Spiers led a group of determined paratroopers who were vastly outnumbered and successfully assaulted prepared German defenses and destroyed four 105mm howitzers that threatened nearby Utah Beach. This was immortalized in the book and later the miniseries, “Band of Brothers”.

Which brings us to the Rangers’ assault on the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc. The Germans had built gun emplacements on the cliffs where the six 155mm coastal guns could easily engage American assault troops on Omaha Beach or the Americans at Utah Beach.

The Rangers were initially going ashore at the wrong place, at Pointe du la Percee due to heavy seas and navigational error. LTC James Rudder, commander of the Ranger Group saw this and had the landing craft turn toward the correct landing beach.

The Germans recognized it and took the assault craft under fire. Due to this, the Rangers arrived late to their landing beach and were taken under heavy fire and grenades from the defenders on top of the cliffs.

The commanders of the destroyers U.S.S. Satterlee and H.M.S. Talybont risked running their ships aground and closed their ships in very shallow water offshore and raked the German positions with every weapon at their disposal, including 5-inch guns, 40mm and 20mm anti-aircraft guns to keep the defenders at bay.

The Rangers made the perilous climb and once reaching the top immediately went about the deadly task of clearing the gun emplacements. Unbeknownst to them. The Germans had removed the 155mm guns and replaced them with telephone poles.

However, coming ashore wounded was 1SG Bud Lomell, who along with SSG Jack Kuhn who saw ruts in a dirt lane that they believed were the gun carriages. Following the tracks, they found five of the 155mm guns 200 meters off the cliffs, concealed under camouflage nets. The guns were pointed toward Utah Beach and had ammunition stacked beside them, ready to go.

Lomell and Kuhn smashed the gun sights with rifle butts and then burned the barrels and traversing mechanisms with thermite grenades. Nearby, another Ranger patrol found the 6th 155mm gun in a hedgerow. They destroyed it with thermite and blew up the ammunition. Mission accomplished. Of the 225 men that came ashore with the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, only 80 would still be in action two days later.

On the 40th anniversary of the assault, President Ronald Reagan delivered his famous “Boys of Pointe du Hoc” speech. Last week, 35 years later, few of the “boys” remain. It is imperative we never forget the service and sacrifice of the brave men who swept the cliffs of the German defenders and thereby saved countless lives of men on the beaches of Omaha and Utah beaches.

Photo: US Army

Remembering BG Norman “Dutch” Cota, One of the D-Day Heroes

Brigadier General Norman Cota, known to his friends as Dutch was one of the most senior officers who went ashore with the assault troops on Omaha Beach. There finding a disorganized, shell-shocked, pinned down American assault, that was in danger of foundering, he reorganized and reinvigorated the assault and personally took charge on the beach.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his personal bravery and was credited with uttering the now motto of the United States Ranger Regiment. He was later portrayed on film as one of the heroes of D-Day.

The 51-year old Assistant Division Commander for the 29th Infantry Division was leading his men, less than half his age up to the murderous Vierville Draw. That was leading by example and from the front.

Cota was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1893 and was accepted to the US Military Academy at West Point in 1913. His class of 1917 graduated seven weeks early because the United States had just entered into World War I. In his class, nine of his classmates (including himself) would become General Officers. They included Matthew Ridgway, J. Lawton Collins, Mark W. Clark, and Ernest N. Harmon.

Because of the war, he rose quickly thru the ranks going from 2LT to Major in less than two years. By the end of WWI, he was an instructor at West Point. Between the wars, he served in Virginia, Hawaii and was an instructor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School.

When World War II broke out Cota was the G-2 (intelligence), G-3 (plans and operations) and later the Chief of Staff for the 1st Infantry Division. After the invasion of North Africa, he rewrote the task organizations for assault divisions and his plans were used in the invasion of Sicily.

After being promoted to Brigadier General, he was assigned to England for the preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of France. He was given the Assistant Division Commander position of the 29th Infantry Division from Maryland, the famous “Blue and the Grey”. Cota was an outspoken critic of a daylight landing in France, arguing for a nighttime assault.

But his, and other officers concerns were shot down by the senior Allied command. The massive naval and air bombardment, it was argued, would annihilate the German defenses. And as we’ve seen in several other amphibious operations of the war, those theories were shown to be totally wrong.

Cota told his staff, to expect the worst and even his warnings were pale to what actually transpired on Omaha Beach.

“This is different from any of the other exercises that you’ve had so far. The little discrepancies that we tried to correct on Slapton Sands are going to be magnified and are going to give way to incidents that you might at first view as chaotic . . . You’re going to find confusion. The landing craft aren’t going in on schedule and people are going to be landed in the wrong place. Some won’t be landed at all . . . We must improvise, carry on, not lose our heads.”

Cota went ashore with the second wave, one hour after the initial assault on the Dog White sector of Omaha Beach with part of the 116th Regiment of the 29th Division. Omaha Beach and the Vierville Draw was concave and its natural outline allowed the Germans to pour fire down in a cone on the assault troops.

The first wave was ineffective and pinned down. Cota’s landing craft came under heavy machine gun fire and the first three men to disembark were killed as they exited. Mortar and artillery fire was also raining down on the troops.

Due to failed communication with other Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, elements of the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions didn’t receive a signal that the cliffs were secured so they went ashore on Omaha and reinforced the 29th.

Cota tried to rally his shell-shocked men. He strode upright and willed them to fight. He uttered the words, “Gentlemen, we are being killed on the beaches. Let us go inland and be killed.” Another quote, attributed to Cota but was actually uttered by another 29th Division officer was, “There are two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are dead and those who are going to die. Now let’s get the hell out of here.“

Robert Mitchum, portraying Cota in the film, “The Longest Day”

But with the situation on Omaha hanging in the balance, Cota strode upright to a group of men huddled in the sand. “What outfit is this?” Cota asked still standing upright. “5th Rangers,” he was told. “Well Hell Rangers, Lead the Way!” That became the Ranger Regiment’s motto and history was born.

Cota supervised men placing a bangalore torpedo under a barbed wire obstacle, blowing it up and creating a path for the men to get off the beach. The first soldier to attempt it was killed by a German sniper. The rest of the men froze. Cota, however, jumped into action.

Joseph Balkoski, a soldier from the 29th, authored the book “Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy” recalled, “Cota leaped up, dashing across the road, and through the gap.” Eventually, a steady stream of soldiers followed him up the beach, and he led that column into the village of Vierville-sur-Mer, shouting at the last men, “Where the hell have you been, boys?”

The next day, the troops were driving inland and he came across a unit pinned down by German fire from a farmhouse. Stephen Ambrose in his excellent book, “Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany” tells what happened next.

Cota asked the captain in command why his men weren’t trying to take the house.
“Sir, the Germans are in there, shooting at us,” the captain said.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, captain,” said Cota, unbuckling two grenades from his jacket. “You and your men start shooting at them. I’ll take a squad of men and you and your men watch carefully. I’ll show you how to take a house with Germans in it.”
“Cota led his squad around a hedge to get as close as possible to the house. Suddenly, he gave a whoop and raced forward, the squad following, yelling like wild men. As they tossed grenades into the windows, Cota and another man kicked in the front door, tossed a couple of grenades inside, waited for the explosions, then dashed into the house. The surviving Germans inside were streaming out the back door, running for their lives.
Cota returned to the captain. “You’ve seen how to take a house,” said the general, still out of breath. “Do you understand? Do you know how to do it now?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, I won’t be around to do it for you again,” Cota said. “I can’t do it for everybody.”

In the epic film “The Longest Day” Cota was portrayed by Robert Mitchum and his exploits will forever be remembered, as well as by the Rangers.

Cota died in 1971 and was buried with his wife Connie at the cemetery in West Point.

Photos: Wikipedia

Rangers Storm the Cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day 75 Years Ago

On this day during World War II in June 1944, Army Rangers would complete a mission, scaling the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day that would immediately become the stuff of legend. Later, the survivors would comment that they couldn’t believe that they survived. The Commander of the Rangers, LTC James Rudder would comment, “How did we do this? It was crazy then, and it’s crazy now.”

The Allies had formulated their plan in the fall of 1943 to storm the coast of France the following spring. While the Germans assumed, with much Allied disinformation, that the landings will take place in the Pas de Calais area, Normandy was the actual target.

The two beaches in the American sector code-named Omaha and Utah were separated by a large promontory point called Pointe du Hoc. The Germans recognized the importance of the high ground which rises to over 100 feet over the beaches, where both are clearly visible and spotters or guns from the point can dominate both beaches.

The Germans initially placed a battery of six captured French 155mm artillery pieces in open gun pits in 1943, in a good position to support their defenses on both beaches. The 352^nd Infantry Division (a good hardened unit) was in positions to defend and support the guns. The open pits were vulnerable to air attack and because of Allied bombing, the Germans withdrew the guns 1000 yards to the rear in an apple orchard early in April 1944. An American Army Air Corps A-20 raid dropped 33 tons of bombs and forced the Germans to build casemates, an observation bunker and gun pits for 20mm flak anti-aircraft guns. By the time of the invasion, two casemates would remain unfinished.

The Plan: LTG Omar Bradley, the American ground force commander, tasked LTC James Rudder with taking the high ground, destroying the guns, and denying the Germans the use of the high ground for observation.

The 2^nd and 5^th Ranger Battalions were tasked with the assignment. The 2^nd with an assault force of Companies D, E, and F (Force A) was to land on the beach, scale the cliffs, using a combination of ropes, ladders, and grapples, secure the high ground while the remainder of the 2^nd Bn. and 5^th Bn. were to be signaled by a flare at the top of the cliffs to signify the cliffs had been taken. There they would push through and bolster the three companies at the top of the cliffs, block the Germans from using the road and then attack the Maisy Battery which was located back behind the cliffs. Maisy battery consisted of four 155mm captured French guns, four 105mm artillery pieces and four additional 150mm pieces that were destroyed by Allied naval bombardment.

The Rangers had been rehearsing for this mission at the Isle of Wight under the watchful eyes of the British Commandos.

Bradley later remarked that assigning Rudder that task was the most difficult decision he had to make in the war. Rudder had recruited, trained, and led the Rangers and believed them to be ready for the job. “My men can do it,” Rudder told Bradley.

The Navy with Allied destroyers USS Satterlee and HMS Talybont would provide direct fire support on the German positions to keep the enemy fire from coming down the cliffs. One Navy commander thought the attack was suicidal remarking, “It can’t be done. Three old women with brooms could keep the Rangers from climbing those cliffs.”

Ranger Commander of the Pointe du Hoc assault James Rudder.

Just prior to the invasion Rudder and Major Cleveland Lytle, the commander of Force A, got into an argument over the assigned task. According to some reports, Lytle thought the focus of the attack should be on Battery Maisy rather than Pointe du Hoc and that the Rangers were attacking in the wrong place.

Other reports had Lytle in an alcoholic stupor loudly proclaiming that the mission was suicide. And that the Free French forces reporting that the guns had already been moved from Pointe du Hoc. Either way, Rudder felt that Lytle was unfit for command, relieved him on the spot and took personal charge of the assault on Pointe du Hoc.

Lytle didn’t go quietly, having to be manhandled out of the door by several Rangers, and knocked out the Regimental Surgeon. He later commanded a Regiment in the 90^th Infantry Division and was awarded the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross.

The Attack: The attack on Pointe du Hoc in Normandy began at 0405 hrs. on June 6^th when 108 Royal Air Force (RAF) heavy bombers saturated the area with 635 tons of bombs. Just after 0500 the German defenders could see hundreds of ship’s silhouettes appear on the horizon. The naval bombardment began at 0555 hrs.

The assault force was squeezed into ten landing craft. An additional two were used for supplies as well as 10 of the Army’s DUKW amphibious trucks carrying the 100-foot ladders that were to be used to scale the cliffs. Immediately things began to go awry.

One landing craft sank, drowning all but one soldier. A DUKW was hit by artillery fire and sank. A third was swamped. Both landing craft with supplies were swamped, one sank and the other had to jettison all of its equipment to stay afloat.

Worse, the new radar that was to guide the landing craft into shore was inoperable and some of the landing craft were miles off from their intended landing spots at Pointe du Hoc. When they finally realized their error, they had to turn and go an additional two miles to the right beach. Force A’s troops were over 40 minutes late hitting the beach. This error would change the course of history.

Omaha Beach: The follow-on force of the remainder of 2^nd Bn. and the 5^th Bn. of Rangers did not head to Pointe du Hoc instead to Omaha Beach because it had not received the radio signal from Force A that the cliffs were secured.

Their secondary landing point put the Companies at the “Dog Green” sector of Omaha Beach on the shoulder of the Vierville Draw where a murderous fire ripped the Rangers to shreds along with the Infantry. This was made famous by the opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan”. But the rest of the force was diverted to “Dog White” and landed among the 29^th Division. There they met Asst. Division Commander Norman “Dutch” Cota, who gave the famous order, “Rangers, Lead the Way.” Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Rangers, at the wrong beach would save the Omaha beachhead and the 5^th Bn. broke thru and flanked the German defenses.

Pointe du Hoc: The plan was for the naval bombardment to cease at 0630 and the Rangers landing craft to hit the beach shortly after. But the mixup had caused them to hit the beach at 0710 where the Germans had plenty of time to recover and they poured murderous fire on the Rangers still on the landing craft and on the beaches below.

The landing craft were getting swamped with water and the men were all seasick, so they bailed brackish water and vomit over the sides as they approached the beach. The men finally reached the beaches only to find that the 100 foot ladders were too short to reach the top of the cliffs.

But the grappling hooks fired by the landing craft had reached the top and the Rangers began making the deadly climb by ones and twos to the top. Amazingly, it took only 3-4 minutes for the first Rangers to reach the cliff’s edge at the top.

By 0730 the Rangers had reached the top and were clearing the Germans out of the battery positions. There they found the casemates empty. After clearing the remaining Germans out of the immediate area, 35 Rangers set up their secondary mission, building the road block by 0815. They were amazed at the amount of destruction on top of the cliff by the aerial and naval bombardment. Nothing resembled the aerial photographs they studied pre-invasion. Everything was rubble.

A patrol was sent out to find the guns and they disabled them using thermite grenades at 0900. The Germans begin counterattacks that were beaten back. Later that night a patrol of Rangers from Omaha Beach, link up with the survivors on Pointe du Hoc.

By nightfall on June 6, one-third of the 225 men that came ashore were either dead or wounded, but many of the wounded continued to fight on. Food, water, and ammunition were dangerously low. Many of the Rangers took to using captured German weapons as ammunition for those was plentiful.

Rudder’s men held two areas, the HQ near the top of the cliffs and the roadblock. The Germans launched a counterattack against the roadblock at 2330. They then launched a second, stronger attack at 0100 on June 7^th. And again, they were repulsed. The Germans launched a third, even stronger counterattack at 0300. Losses were heavy, and 20 Rangers were captured.

About half of the force at the roadblock about 45 Rangers pulled back to the HQ, erroneously reporting to Rudder that the roadblock was destroyed. Rudder has only 90 men still under arms the morning of the 7^th.

Later that afternoon, an LST arrived with a Ranger platoon and would take wounded Rangers off the beach. The next morning, three battalions of infantry from the 116^th Infantry broke thru from Omaha Beach and relieved the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc.

Of Rudder’s original landing force, only 75 could bear arms on June 8^th. Casualties were high, bordering on 70 percent with 77 killed, 152 wounded and 38 missing. The 5^th Bn. suffered 23 killed, 89 wounded and two missing. One ugly situation that arose during the battle was that a number of French civilians were executed, having been accused by the Rangers of having fought with the Germans during the battle.

Rudder was wounded twice in the battle and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Thirteen other Rangers were awarded the DSC for their roles at Pointe du Hoc. The 2^nd Ranger Bn. was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

At the 40^th anniversary of the battle, several of the surviving Rangers joined President Reagan at his speech in Normandy, one of his most memorable, “The Boys of Pointe du Hoc” at the top of the cliffs. One of the surviving Rangers joined some Green Berets in reclimbing the cliffs, although this time, not under fire. And was the first one to the top.

The 75^th Ranger Regiment’s proud legacy lists many battles all the way back to Robert Rogers during Colonial times, but arguably none were as difficult a task as the one faced by Rudder and the men on a beach in Normandy. Sua Sponte

Photos courtesy US Army