Peter Jacob
Mihelich was a 23 year old Staff Sergeant on the morning of June 7, 1944 as his
landing craft approached Omaha Beach. He
was tossed against his 68 pound pack in the choppy, ink black Atlantic waters. The 457th Anti-Aircraft Artillery/
Automatic Weapons Battalion was slated to arrive the day before—D-Day. However, due to the stiff Nazi resistance and
catastrophic destruction of the heavy equipment their unit was supporting,
Peter and many others were delayed until the beach was secured (Personal
communication, P. Mihelich, July 8, 2014). As fate would have it, he arrived one
day after a scene of horror erupted on Omaha Beach. It was the moment all of Europe held its
collective breath for and dreaded all at once.
It is a moment I have imagined frequently, because that man was the
father-in-law I never met. He went on to
raise a family, including my husband. D-Day was a feat of unprecedented planning and
cooperation and the perilous Omaha beach invasion nearly failed. How preparation and bravery came together on
this historic day leaves us all to wonder, "What if it had failed?"
Five years
of war had left Great Britain in utter shambles, denied even basic comforts. The sewers and streets were rampant with rats
and routine provisions were scarce. British men could buy a new shirt every 20
months and food rationing put limits such as two ounces of cheese monthly on
citizens (Atkinson, 2013) People
improvised--a bit of twisted wire became a hair tie. Their palate changed to avoid rations--eels
were harvested from London streams. Every resource possible was poured into the
war effort. Their very existence was at
stake.
Tens of thousands
of Londoners sheltered nightly in the putrid subway, “The Tube”. Mandatory blackouts from 10:30 pm to 5:22 am
(Atkinson, 2013) sent citizens hiding in the fearsome dark during the air
raids. Children had been evacuated to the country—Great Britain’s future
ushered far from the impending danger to a hopeful future. In these desperate
conditions, Great Britain looked to their strongest ally for help conquering a
common foe.
There had been
talk amongst the Allies of a European invasion for some time but it was not until
decisive victories fractured the Axis that the Allies would loosen Hitler’s
strangle hold on Europe. In November of
1942 the Allies began the invasion of North Africa, fighting through Tunisia
and west to Egypt. After fierce combat
through Sicily and the Italian mainland Mussolini’s regime met a humiliating
and abrupt end in September of 1943 (Atkinson, 2013). At long last the Allies could focus on Europe.
D-Day planning began in earnest.
The sight and
timing of the invasion were crucial, so skilled meteorologists were enlisted.
The weather, beach conditions, moon and tidal phases, air field sites, distance
from harbors and location of the German forces were all considered. Additional barriers were the stronghold of
the Atlantic Wall which Hitler had utilized 260,000 laborers and ten years to
build. It consisted of 15,000 concrete
fortifications from Belgium to Northern France (Berman, 1994). After thorough
study, Hitler’s Achilles was found in Normandy, a
relative weak spot in the wall.
The timeline of
the invasion was a source of great debate from experts who had calculated there
were only 6 ideal days considering tides and moon glow—add the element of
weather to that and there was only a tiny window of opportunity. June 5th
was the first choice for an invasion day, but severe weather forced a delay. Top meteorologists eventually concurred there
would be a window of 36 hours of fair weather for war operations. With that prospect, it was decided the
liberation of Europe would commence on June 6, 1944 (Berman, 1994).
The man charged
with this task was Dwight D. Eisenhower, a 53 year old well-seasoned war
veteran who smoked up to 80 cigarettes daily, contributing to a myriad of
health problems (Atkinson, 2013). No
doubt, he had mulled over a European victory in his mind to exhaustion. He was a War Department Planner, a Senior
American Soldier in London in 1942, and Commanding General of the invasion of
North Africa, Sicily and mainland Italy.
In the spring of 1943 he was promoted to Commander of the Supreme
Headquarter Allied Expeditionary Force (Atkinson, 2013).
The details of
the Normandy land battle were delegated to General Bernard Montgomery. Montgomery’s battle plan was succinct,
“Armored columns must penetrate deep inland, and quickly, on D-Day. This will upset the enemy plan and tend to
hold him off while we build up strength.
We must gain space rapidly, and peg out claims well inland“(Atkinson,
2013 p. 5). The plan for quickly conquering
the beaches and amassing land would be costly and require unprecedented
cooperation and innovation—and the resulting epic battle would be hallowed for
generations as a prime example of bravery in the face of a menacing enemy.
To prepare for
the invasion the Allies conducted secret mock drills called Operation Tiger in
April of 1944 in the northern channel village of Slapton Sands. The 3000 residents were evacuated while
drills with new equipment were carried out (Culpepper 2008). Tragically, on their return trip German
U-boats attacked, killing 749 soldiers and their valuable equipment sunk to the
bottom of the channel. The knowledge they gained proved to be very valuable
though. For example, the Allies learned
the timing and techniques of clearing underwater debris, barriers, and mines
prior to landing craft arriving (Berman, 1994).
While equipment
and plans were readied, so were the men.
Eight million men were drafted from 1942-1944. The average soldier was 26 years old, but on
D-Day more than 50% of the combatants were teenagers. A soldier earned $50.00 a month for his brave
efforts. To increase the pool of eligible
soldiers the Army lowered its standard entry requirements. Draftees were only required to have one good
eye, one good ear and could be missing a thumb or three fingers on one
hand—trigger finger included. They
didn’t even need teeth (Atkinson, 2013). In wartime America it was ‘all hands on
deck’.
Recruits arrived
15,000 at a time via the Queen Elizabeth or Queen Mary through several British
and Scottish ports. The trip from New York took merely 5 days. They were
welcomed to “Spamland”, a city of 400,000 prefabricated huts and 279,000 tents
erected to house the men and equipment of the Allied forces (Atkinson, 2013),
staged to win back the European continent.
The nauseating smell of feces burned in the coal fired incinerators, no
fuel was wasted. The Brits tolerated the
rambunctious “Yanks” and in a time of tight rationing, Britain rolled out the
red carpet, providing massive provisions—including beer.
On May 23, 1944
troops dispersed to their final staging areas.
British citizens watched them pass, but weren’t allowed to speak to them
(Atkinson, 2013). Extraordinary security included banning more than 600,000 visitors
monthly from the coast that spring. Two
thousand counter intelligence officers fluent in 22 languages combed the
countryside looking for any suspicious activity. Censors examined soldier’s
letters seeking leaks and any building or vehicle involved in the invasion
effort standing more than 10 minutes was camouflaged (Atkinson, 2013). They even proactively passed on false
information to known German agents, throwing them off the trail (Czech, 1995). This may have contributed to the Nazi belief
that an Allied invasion would go through Calais, France at the narrowest part
of the English Channel, thus concentrating much of the Nazi’s deadly forces
there and leaving them spread very thin elsewhere.
Early on June 6, 1944 soldiers were issued
seasickness pills and bags, 68.4 pounds of gear, and skunk suits impregnated to
defend against poisonous gas. Then
200,000 seamen with 59 convoys of 130,000 soldiers, 2000 tanks and 12, 000
vehicles set out for the Normandy coast (Atkinson, 2013). The landing craft tanks (LCTs) were slow,
weakly structured and they “rolled and pitched in the great undulating waves…of
the English Channel” (Culpepper, 2008 p. 44).
On board were the
anxious, quivering, crying scores of soldiers preparing to fight their greatest
battle. Some soldiers hung their heads softly in silent prayers. Others, attempting to lighten the mood joked
glibly. Victor Fast, a surviving soldier
of D-Day noted of some of his comrades, “they were sweating blood, literally”
(Culpepper, 2008 p. 46). As they
approached the beaches officers read inspirational messages from Eisenhower and
Montgomery. Chaplains prayed over soldiers, barely out of boyhood. They
dispersed—Utah met light resistance. The British, Canadians and free French
fighters quickly took Juno, Gold, and Sword beaches. However, by all accounts—Omaha Beach was a
blood bath.
As the beaches were sighted, the Allied Navy sent bombardments sailing
over their heads with a dizzying whirl and war planes soared overhead. German defenses fired cannons from their
trenches and bunkers. Initially, the
landing craft doors were opened too soon, swamping disoriented, seasick
soldiers with heavy gear in water over their waist. Equipment that took great
manpower to ferry across quickly became useless as all but five of the Sherman
tanks never made it safely to shore. Belgian Gates, underwater barriers of
reinforced iron frames atop rollers snarled many landing craft to the demise of
the men (Austra, 1999).
The first
soldiers to land on Omaha were from the 29th and 1st
Infantry Divisions, also known as “The Big Red One” because of their
distinguished combat resume (Austra, 1999).
Soldiers who did make the beach encountered barbed wire and heavy sniper
fire above. The dead littered the beach
and washed ashore in a gruesome display of war.
It was a relentless massacre.
German Major
Werner Pluskat of the 352nd Artillery was violently awakened at 1:00
am to Allied aircraft flying overhead and called his superior officers to
inform them. He was quickly dismissed
and assured the Allied invasion would be coming via Calais. He called them back some time later with
reports of paratroopers landing, prompting General Marcks to put the 21st
Panzer Division on alert at 2:00 am.
However, by 5:00 am the Allied fleet was in view of Pluskat’s Omaha
Beach bunker, which survived naval and air bombardments with his phone line intact (Austra, 1999). The slow
response prevented Nazi reinforcements from bearing down on the bruised
American landing force, allowing a glimmer of hope.
Down on the beach,
the Americans continued their slow, bloody progress. Grave registration staff sifted amidst a
fiery hail, performing their macabre work among soldiers coming ashore (Czeck,
1995). Such mass chaos and lack of
communication prevailed that a tortured General Bradley considered evacuation
and diversion of troops to Utah or the British beaches. For example, troops reported that German fire
was coming from a church steeple high over Omaha bluff. However, with orders not to fire on churches
or hospitals, it took 24 hours for command to allow elimination of the German
stronghold (Culpepper, 2008).
Hope appeared by
7:00 a.m. when the Americans opened six gaps in the German defenses on the
beach. By 8:30 am Company C and the 5th
Ranger Battalion landed and captured the rifle pits on the cliffs. Spurned on to persist, Bradley allowed two
additional divisions to land, further reinforcing the effort. The 116th
3rd Battalion and 16th Infantry Division, along with the
1st and 29th Infantry Divisions made progress inland and
eventually forced the surrender of German bunkers (Austra, 1999).
By 10:30 am the
37th 146 Combat Engineers arrived with their bulldozers, clearing
minefields and breaking through gaps in the sea wall. The Navy continued to
pound strongholds on the cliffs. At noon, more Sherman tanks arrived. This time they made it onto the beach
(Austra, 1999). Simultaneously, the 1st Infantry Division cleansed the
beaches and the bluffs of threats, adapting quickly to the treacherous
conditions they confronted on first arrival.
By nightfall the Germans were pushed one mile back from the beach
(Czech, 1995). However, this triumph
was not free. Within the first two days
of conflict the 2nd Ranger Battalion had 60% of their men become
casualties of war. The 1st
Division losses are best estimated to be 1, 036 brave soldiers while the 29th
Division and Corps troops experienced 743 and 441 losses respectively (Austra,
1999). All told, the Allies experienced
10,377 casualties on D-Day (Weider History Group, 2014). For the Allies it was a staggering albeit expected
loss. Battered and demoralized, they began the long battle for Normandy’s
hedgerows and the eventual liberation of Paris on August 25th, 1944.
The men fighting valiantly
on the beach were not alone though. In
the air, 430,000 sorties by the American and English air forces (Hughes, 2003)
bombed strategic Nazi strongholds above Normandy, dropped paratroopers to hold
prime targets, and deliver supplies. A
grand coordination of air, land and sea efforts was under Eisenhower’s command
through the Allied Expeditionary Force and Air Vice Marshal Trafford
Leigh-Mallory (Hughes, 2003). The
tenuous chain of command required brokering and compromise on the part of
Eisenhower. Snafus and lack of
communication and cooperation between the US Air Force and British bombers left
many historians to view the Normandy air campaign as largely unsuccessful. Bombs that were intended to destroy Nazi
beach positions overshot their targets leaving cliff bunkers largely untouched
(Symonds, 2014). However, the lessons learned regarding coordination of joint command
operations are relevant today.
Air operations
included 820 C-47 troop carriers that dropped more than 13,000 paratroopers in
an effort to seize territory near Sainte-Mere-Eglise and other key geography
under cover of darkness (Haulman, 2014).
The brave paratroopers were plagued
by insurmountable hardships resulting in them not achieving their objectives or
being greatly delayed. Landmarks were
shrouded by darkness and clouds, without the benefit of night vision technology. Also navigation equipment was in short supply,
only aboard lead planes. The thick clouds forced pilots to break their tight
formation mid-air to avoid collision.
The paratroopers and planes encountered a hail of anti-aircraft
fire. Most of the troop movers were not
trained fighter pilots so it was a terrifying ordeal (Haulman, 2014). With radio silence ordered, they were flying
blind and deaf into enemy hands.
The destroyers
that had bombarded the beach prior to the landing craft descending on Omaha had
taken positions off shore to allow room for the invasion force. By 8:30 am, when the forces were being
tattered and distress calls went out, dozens of destroyers set a course full
speed to annihilate the targets on the beach cliffs. Some of the destroyers took up positions only
800-1,000 yards from the beach, precariously close to underwater mine hazards
with mere feet of depth to clear their keel. A fortunate benefit to their
presence was a stark decrease in gunfire raining down on the beach from Germans
not wanting to reveal their positions (Symonds, 2014).
Immediately after the combat forces started
the journey across the English Channel, support troops prepared for the fight
inland and the mission of supplying the troops.
Mulberry Harbors, great floating ports that had taken 150 American and
British private sector civil engineers to plan and construct, were towed
piecemeal across the Channel and erected to supply combat troops (Brown,
2013). This massive effort of
collaborative ingenuity was another example of the unprecedented planning that
went into this historic day, leaving a legacy of technology.
So, what if? What if the Omaha beach landing had
failed? Grimsley (2013) states, “Only
their valor in inching toward and destroying obstacles barring access to the
beach exits prevented catastrophe” (p.84).
Historians have proposed theories exploring if Bradley’s initial
instinct to retreat from Omaha had come to fruition. What if a few more bad reports had landed on
his ears? Grimsley (2013) relates that
it only took a few hundred soldiers reaching the protected area of the cliffs
to turn the tide toward victory. All the
alternative scenarios whereby the Allies did not hold Omaha leave a
catastrophic breach in the Allied invasion—an opportunity that the Nazis would
have surely capitalized on, possibly leading to utter failure of the Allied
effort to liberate the European continent.
Most historians agree if the first invasion had ultimately failed, the
Allies had little chance of piercing the Nazi armor.
For his service throughout the war, Peter
Jacob Mihelich earned a bronze star, two good conduct medals, a victory ribbon for Europe, a bronze
arrowhead for D-Day, and 4 campaign stars (Personal communication, P. Mihelich,
July 8, 2014). He didn’t speak of his
service, but stoically carried on with life.
In fact, this is what most veterans did—resuming training, careers, and
family-- perhaps going to an occasional reunion where they shared their
memories freely (Crockett, 2013). While
unspoken, they carried with them a burden of memory of Omaha-- buddies plowed
down by enemy fire-- sights, sounds and smells of war that one never forgets,
rears up in dreams, and forever changes your view of the world.
Seventy years
later, D-Day is remembered in solemn ceremonies as the finest example of people
with common values coming together with their collective resources to conquer a
mortal threat. A world ruled by an evil
dictator actively engaged in genocide was not an option. Although the price was high--the bravery,
ingenuity, and fortitude of the soldiers was greater. The lessons we learned have rippled through
generations. We can all be eternally grateful
that in the hour of greatest need, unprecedented cooperation and valor allowed
freedom to prevail.
This is a picture of
Peter Jacob Mihelich that his son Peter Gerard obtained from a US Army Archival
website. Although the photo is not
labeled, from his research, Peter G. believes this picture of his father was
taken in April, 1945 somewhere in central Germany just about 1 month before the
war was completed. The gun pictured is
an anti-aircraft gun, which he would have operated and repaired. Later, Peter Jacob went on to become a design
engineer at Grumman Aircraft, and was instrumental in designing the electrical
systems for the lunar model, the F-14 fighters, X-29 experimental jet, and the
wiring system of the shuttle wings.
Obtained from
www.usarmy.germany.com
References
"Air Defense Units." 457th AAA..
<http://www.usarmy.germany.com>.
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Brown,
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Crockett,
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