D-Day — Pointe du Hoc

100-foot/30-meter cliffs of Pointe du Hoc

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the U.S. Army Ranger Assault Group landed at Pointe du Hoc. Their unenviable mission was to scale the 100-foot/30-meter cliffs and take out German 155mm gun emplacements that endangered the ships would soon stream toward Omaha Beach to the left and Utah Beach on the right. It turned out to be a bloody exercise in futility, as those 155mm guns were not even there.

German bunker overlooking Pointe du Hoc

The Rangers were sitting ducks, and in the end only 90 survived out of the 225 men who landed there.

Memorial to the U.S. Army Ranger Assault Group

More photos of Pointe du Hoc:

Pointe du Hoc

Provisional Engineer Special Brigade Group

German bunker entrance

German bunker

Memorial to the 2nd Infantry Division