Voilà encore quelques années, quand cette photo a été prise, on pouvait encore faire la randonnée de Vierville-sur-mer à la Pointe du Hoc, et puis aller jusqu'à Grandcamp.
Suite à une série d'éboulements, l'accès au sentier du littoral a été interdit, et on ne peut aller voir voir la mer et les falaises qu'en enpruntant les quelques chemins qui serpentent entre la route du littoral, à Englesqueville-la-Percée ou St-Pierre-du-Mont, et la côte.
6 juin 1944, 06h00 du matin: Une compagnie de U.S. Rangers prend la direction de la Pointe de la Percée pour réduire au silence une station radar ennemie , et 225 Rangers des compagnies D, E et F du second bataillon, à bord de 10 LCA flanqués de quatre DUKW , lourdement chargés, ballottés par une mer agitée, submergés par des trombes d’eau glaciale, transis de froid et pris de mal de mer, se lancent à l’assaut de la Pointe du Hoc. Leur mission : prendre le contrôle de la route reliant Grandcamp à Vierville et réduire au silence les six obusiers de 155mm , installés sur le promontoire de la pointe du Hoc, qui menacent les plages d’Omaha et de Utah.
L’obscurité, le mauvais temps, la fumée des bombardements et l’écran de protection de la flotte du débarquement masquent la côte. Le convoi, sous l’effet des courants conjugué au manque de visibilité, se dirige droit vers la Pointe de la Percée. Par chance, le Lieutenant-Colonel Rudder s’en aperçoit et donne immédiatement l’ordre de mettre le cap à l’ouest. C’est sous le feu d’armes légères et avec une demi-heure de retard sur l’horaire prévu que la première vague de débarquement arrive en vue de son objectif...
A few years ago, when this picture was taken, it was still possible to hike from Vierville-sur-mer to the Pointe du Hoc, and to continue on to Grandcamp.
After sections of the cliffs collapsed during violent storms, the path along the shore was closed. The only access to the cliffs and the sea is from a few dirt roads that run between the main road and the coast, at Englesqueville-la-Percée or St-Pierre-du-Mont.--------------------
1st Sgt. Leonard Lomell and Staff Sgt. Jack Kuhn, interviewed by HistoryNet.com, about the landing at Pointe du Hoc on D-Day:
We disembarked about 4 o’clock in the morning from Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a Channel steamer, a regular steamer. We had private rooms. The flotilla of about 5,000 ships was 11 or 12 miles off the beach. We went to sleep and, God, before we knew it, we had to be up and on deck at 4 o’clock. The weather was bad. We were on an English ship and got into LCAs [landing craft, assault] manned by Royal Navy men. To go 12 miles in those heavy seas and stormy weather took quite a while.
We were watching the assault like a bunch of country boys at a fair or something. It was exciting, believe me. Waves were breaking over our LCA, and the guys had to take their helmets and bail because the pumps on the boat couldn’t take the water out of it. Jack and I were up in the bow of our boat, number 668. We saw that we were heading for something that looked strange to us. We suddenly became aware that we weren’t heading for Pointe-du-Hoc. It must have been Pointe-de-la-Percée. I didn’t know where the hell it was, but it sure didn’t look like Pointe-du-Hoc. Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder saw it at the same time and brought about a correction with the coxswains. We took an abrupt right and proceeded about three miles along the coast, about 300 yards offshore, parallel to the cliffs. As we made our way the Germans were popping up along the top of the cliffs shooting at us with anything they could–machine guns, rifles and mortars...
1 commentaire:
Impressive view.
Amazing history.
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