LCT 544 Photos at Omaha Beach

Discussion in 'American' started by Pat Curran, Jun 8, 2017.

  1. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
    11
    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Hi All,

    This thread is opened in order to attempt to locate the sector of Omaha Beach on which this extremely rare set of five photos were taken. They were shot by James O'Neill's dad as his Landing Craft Tank 544 approached the shoreline on the 6th June.

    I have processed the photos through PS in order to gleam as much detail as possible. James posted the originals on our FB page here.

    Below is the photo I have numbered 2 and the note written by Jame's dad on the reverse:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  2. Jpz4

    Jpz4 Active Member
    Researcher

    Oct 24, 2012
    362
    6
    These are really, really interesting. They remind me of the photos in Marty Morgan's 'The Americans on D-Day', which may have been taken later in the day and have a known location. Unfortunately I do not have access to my copy right now, so I can't check to make sure. (And since I haven't really studied Omaha beach, I might be completely wrong any way ;) )
     
  3. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
    11
    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Just wondering...

    What time was high water on D-Day?

    It looks to be right up at the shingle bank in photo 2.

    Thanks,

    Pat
     
  4. Sean

    Sean Active Member
    Researcher

    Oct 24, 2012
    331
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    Male
    Battlefield guide
    Normandie
    Late morning, Pat.


    You've probably seen this but anyway:

    http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/18/180544.htm

    Cheers

    Sean
     
  5. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
    11
    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Thanks Sean,

    Here are the other four photos which James sent on; I don't have the one in vertical format on the navsource.org page here:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Does anyone know if the smoke coming from a point source on the bluffs in photo #5 was the only such plume on Omaha that day?

    Thanks,

    Pat
     
  6. hans_ni-hi

    hans_ni-hi Guest
    Guest

    Hi Pat,

    US7/1730 frame 8026 is showing smoke from a starting fire west of Les Moulins. This fire must have lasted for a while because in sortie US7/1743 a large black strip of burned ground is visible.

    US7/1743 frame 7017 is showing 2 smoke lines at exit E-1 close to the anti tank ditch.

    It appears to me that more fires must have happened because of the black spots around the beach front.
    [hr]
    For me image #4 and image #5 are showing the same fire with #5 being more close-up view to it.
    I played a little with the image #4 in Google Earth.
    [​IMG]

    Both ridge lines seem to match well (for me!)- to be the one eastern of Les Moulins. LCT-544 position while taking this picture must have been at the eastern side of Fox Green, about 0.5km away from the beach line.

    I tried to evaluate the time the image was taken based on the water level and the visible obstacles and using the reg maps and graphs from the subject file for Omaha Beach at Fold3, page 20 and 21
     
  7. hans_ni-hi

    hans_ni-hi Guest
    Guest

    Sorry can't do full edit anymore. I can't remove the broken link.
    ##
    Here again the comparison made between image #4 and the rigde east of Les Moulins.

    [​IMG]
    ##
    I think the unknown LCT sits somewhere between the lines M and O in the zoom from the map shown on page 20.
    [img=890x627]http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/ah267/hajothehh/Omaha%20Beach%20Head/JamesONeill/Fold3%20Omaha%20Les%20Moulins_zpssjtfpfjj.jpg[/img] ​

    In the map the obstacles are shown in this section to be on the ~ 12 feet water mark line above LL water level. According to the tidal calculation for the 6th June on page 21 low tide is short before 6Am and high tide around 11Am. Follow the dashed line in the graph here.
    [​IMG]
    With the obstacles being ~ 6 feet being above ground, being 1/2 under and 1/2 over the raising water, that flood has to be around 15 to 16 feet high above LL water level. Following the graph for the 6th of June this is the time between 8AM and 9AM.

    Edited by Pat to reduce image 3 to 990 pixels wide
     
  8. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
    11
    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Great analysis Hans,

    The similarity between image #4 and your GE screenshot is remarkable, not just the sky line, but the shingle bank as well!

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  9. hans_ni-hi

    hans_ni-hi Guest
    Guest

    Hi John,

    there is on fold3 a report of loss from 7th June '44 for USS Susan B Anthony seen in pic 1 from post #5. The report says that USS Susan B Anthony was struck by a mine on Wednesday 7h June '44 and finally sunk 4 miles off Omaha. During successful rescue of all men on board, USS Susan B Anthony received help from USS Pinto, ATF90. I think the smaller ship in the picture 1 post 5 shows a '90' and is most likely USS Pinto.

    I think the picture should refer to an rescue action performed on 7th of June and we can't expect to see both ships at the beach during rescue.

    I will continue searching fold3 and other sources but I guess there will be no direct and easy find to help your conclusion.

    What I can say else is that during pass over of Omaha of sortie 07/1730 I can't see lager ships sitting on the beach line and only with U7/1744 they became visible. Maybe a sortie in between has more developments.
     
  10. John Szweda

    John Szweda Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 25, 2012
    570
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    Male
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Hi Hans,

    I never noticed that one of the two ships photographed may have actually been the Susan B. Anthony. That is some excellent work on your part!

    John
     
  11. stephan.oneill

    Guest

    Hi Folks,
    My first post to this site!

    The photos were taken by my Dad on D-Day and D+1. The Anthony struck a mine and sank on D+1, which is what you see in the photo. My Dad said that his LCT-544 was heading back to the UK when they got a semaphore to come alongside. My Dad signaled that they were ordered back to England, but the signalman on the Anthony flagged back that they were sinking and needed assistance. LCT-544 rescued some of the men from the Anthony, who were unhappy to be returned to England.

    LCT-544 was in the fourth wave assigned to Fox Green with a bulldozer and some engineers in jeeps.

    Photo #3 is the first Dad took, which shows an LCT launching DD tanks towards Fox Green. Dad said the LCT(6)s that were assigned this duty had cranes mounted on the forecastle to support the ramp as the tanks motored into the sea. I have never seen a picture of one so equipped, except this one.

    Photo #4 was taken some distance off Fox Green, the gap on the left is the draw leading to Colleville.

    The LCT(5) in the picture, I believe was part of the Gunfire Support Group that was supposed to land its 4 tanks and 1 tankdozer to suppress fire for the several companies of infantry scheduled to land in the early waves. I believe these troops drifted far to the right and landed near the rocky eastern end of Omaha (Fox Red?). In any event, they were not there, the planned DD tanks were not there, and GSG tanks were the only other US forces on Fox Green at that time.

    The tanks landed by the LCT(5) were all knocked out quickly and Photo #5 shows the surviving crews huddled beneath the shale bank. My Dad says that someone on shore signaled to his craft to land somewhere else, it was too hot on Fox Green.

    The skipper backed away and motored towards the Easy beaches where they found an opening on Easy Red and landed there. Photo #6 shows the scene of confusion there and is one of the most remarkable photos I've seen of that early action on Easy Red.

    I've toured the beaches with my Dad a couple of times, and he is quite clear that they landed a few hundred yards west of the Colleville draw, even with the cemetery's location at St. Laurent.

    A sad side note, we visited Omaha for the fiftieth anniversary and met a tanker who claimed to have caused some of the gouges on the German antitank bunker below the 1st ID monument. When Dad showed him the picture of the tanks on Fox Green, the tanker burst out in tears. Tank 9 in the photo was crewed by his best buddy who was lost that day and whose body was never identified. It gave him some closure to know his friend made it ashore. Just one of the thousands of stories from that day of days.

    Steve O'Neill
     
  12. stephan.oneill

    Guest

    I have to apologize for the "left" and "right" mix up. I was viewing from the German point of view. From the sea, the gap is on the right and the infantry missed Fox Green to the left.

    Steve
     
  13. hans_ni-hi

    hans_ni-hi Guest
    Guest

    Hi Steve,

    good to have you here. Your photos are remarkable. True history!

    You are saying picture #4 shows the opening towards Colleville and not what I thought to be more west the one at Les Moulins? The form of the ridge made me believe this is.

    Are picture #4 and #5 showing the same bluff.
     

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