Patrick K. O'Donnell explains how at 4:05 a.m. on June 6, 1944, the Rangers received the order to man their boats amidst a massive Allied naval bombardment. The plan involved Force A, which included Dog, Easy, and Fox companies, assaulting the cliffs at P

Patrick K. O'Donnell explains how at 4:05 a.m. on June 6, 1944, the Rangers received the order to man their boats amidst a massive Allied naval bombardment. The plan involved Force A, which included Dog, Easy, and Foxcompanies, assaulting the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, while Force B and C were to provide reinforcements and secure secondary objectives. However, the operation immediately faced complications as heavy seas and navigational errors threatened to derail the mission. A critical mechanical failure in the radar of Lieutenant Beaver's lead boat caused the landing craft to drift off course toward the wrong objective, blowing the Rangers' timetable by 30 to 40 minutes. Paradoxically, this delay likely saved Force A from destruction. A scheduled flight of A-20 bombers dropped their ordnance on the point just as the Rangers were supposed to land; had they been on time, they would have been caught in the friendly bombardment. Upon finally reaching the correct beach, the Rangers faced immediate danger; Sergeant Len Lomell, a central figure of Dog Company, stepped off his landing craft into a 10-foot-deep shell hole and had to walk across the bottom to reach the shore. Meanwhile, the 5th Ranger Battalion, intended as reinforcements, never received a critical radio message and proceeded to their secondary objective at Omaha Beach. This mistake proved historic, as their arrival at Omaha helped break the stalemate on a beach where the invasion was otherwise stalled. (2)
1944