Patrick K. O'Donnell recounts how between 7:20 and 8:00 a.m., the Rangers began their assault using rocket-propelled grappling hooks to fire wet ropes up the 90-foot cliffs. The climb was conducted under intense fire from German MG42 machine guns and "pot

Patrick K. O'Donnell recounts how between 7:20 and 8:00 a.m., the Rangers began their assault using rocket-propelled grappling hooks to fire wet ropes up the 90-foot cliffs. The climb was conducted under intense fire from German MG42machine guns and "potato masher" hand grenades lobbed from above. Sergeant Len Lomell was shot through the side during the ascent but continued to the summit, which he described as looking like the cratered surface of the moon due to the preceding bombardments. The Rangers utilized the craters and ruins for cover, fighting through a maze of tunnels and bunkers against defenders who remained entrenched in an underground labyrinth. Upon reaching the designated casemates, the Rangers discovered the Germans had moved the massive guns to an apple orchard 700 yards inland, leaving telephone poles in their place as decoys. Acting on his own initiative, Lomell followed tire tracks leading away from the casemates and discovered the guns hidden under nets in the orchard. Remarkably, the German gun crews were assembled nearby, listening to an officer's orders and leaving the weapons briefly unguarded. Lomell and Sergeant Jack Kuhn used thermite grenades to melt the gears of the guns, rendering them inoperable. Through the efforts of these two men, the primary objective of the entire D-Day mission was accomplished, succeeding where hundreds of bombers and heavy naval guns had failed. (3)
1944