Why did the troopers on the landing crafts throw up
The Allied Forces were locked up for several days without any passes out of their barracks and bases before days of the D-Day Invasion. D-Day’s original date was 4th of June but it was postponed due to the bad weather and high tides.
While the Allied Forces were locked up on their bases, they were well fed with an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Even steak, pork chops and pie were served for the troopers and the troopers knew that a big operation was imminent. On 6th of June, D-Day, the initiation of the Normandy Landings, the troopers were served bacon, eggs and even hot coffee.
While the trooper had a heavy breakfast, the tides rocking the naval vessels, the pressure and nervousness made the troopers throw up a lot during the Normandy Landings.
Why were fish scattered all over the beach
450 heavy bombers bombarded the German defenses for the Normandy Landings. Even more aerial fighters were involved to support the landings. A total of about 50~70 destroyers, cruisers and battleships were involved on the naval bombardment of Normandy. The German artillery pounding on the landing forces also thundered the land and skies of Normandy.
The explosion itself and the pressure by the aerial, artillery and naval gun bombardments would splash the coasts while stunning the fish or even killing the fish residing in the coasts of the Normandy beaches. The pressure and fissure caused by bombardments were so strong some destroyers reported that the restroom toilets would crack.
Why did some soldier’s helmets have nets
The designated sniper private Daniel Jackson had a net on his helmet which is a feature that not many other soldiers had. Soldiers would have nets on their helmets to both reduce the reflection of the helmet polish from shining and add some vegetation from the surrounding for better camouflage.
As the designated sniper, private Daniel Jackson would have had a net on his helmet to blend in the environment when given certain missions.
The M1 Garand
A Canadian born men named John Cantius Garand working for Springfield Armory in Massachusetts has invented the M1 Garand rifle which was an innovative semi-automatic rifle for the infantry.
The M1 Garand rifle became the standard U.S. infantry rifle in 1936; however, it wasn’t mass manufactured until the 1940’s. After Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, it took time to produce enough M1 Garands for all infantry units
The US Marine Corps wasn’t equipped with the M1 Garands initially during essential campaigns such as the Guadalcanal campaigns. The M1 Garand used a 30-caliber bullet also known as the 30-06 Springfield cartridge which is 7.62 x 63mm by the metric system.
The United States of America military forces were the only military to equip semi-automatic rifles that provided more firepower by the higher rate of fire comparted with bolt-action rifles. George Patton praised the M1 Garand as the best implement at battle.
M1A1 Thompson
An American engineer named John T. Thompson has first invented the backbone of the Thompson submachine gun series. The Thompson series especially the M1928 Thomspon series became infamous as the Chicago typewriter as it was frequently used by the mafia during the Great Depression and the Prohibition (of alcohol).
However, the M1928 Thompson’s drum magazine was inefficient for maintenance and weak against contamination. Also, the structure of the M1928 Thompson was inefficient for mass production and it was very expensive to be supplied to the military.
Through multiple adaptions of the Thompson was modified to the M1A1 Thompson. The M1A1 Thompson used the 45 ACP rounds which were 11.43 x23 mm rounds that were usually used for pistol ammunition. ACP stands for Automatic Colt Pistol as it became a standard for pistol ammunition.
Thus, the M1A1 Thompson was light and could fire multiple rounds without much blowback but it did lack the power of an ordinary rifle.
M1 Carbine
A carbine meant a gun that was modified with a shortened barrel compared with its original model. It would usually have a smaller ammunition compared with its original version as well.
The M1 carbine was not a ‘carbine’ version of the M1 Garrand though, it was more of the first carbine that was ever produced by the US Department of Defense. The M1 carbine used a different 30 caliber ammunition called the 30 Carbine series.
The 30-carbine ammunition was 7.62 x 33mm so almost half the length of the 30 calibers ammunition the M1 Garrand used. The M1 Carbine was only 5.2lbs which is about 2.4kg that was less than half of the M1A1 Thompson and the M1 Garrand.
For the Airborne units, a foldable stock version of the M1 Carbine was available for better mobility.
M1A1 Bangalore Torpedo
The pipe like explosives that the Normandy landing forces used was called the M1A1 Bangalore Torpedo. The M1A1 Bangalore Torpedo was a 5 foot (1.5 meters) long demolition pipe like explosive that was full of TNT.
The purpose of the M1A1 Bangalore Torpedo was to safely let the personnel to laydown the explosive while avoiding contact from a land mine, barbed wires or defensive structures. The M1A1 Bangalore Torpedo would blast a certain sector of defensives such as barbed wires and landmine fields when detonated by the explosive pressure or the explosion itself.
Why did some troopers drown during the landings
An ordinary trooper with full equipment would weight up to 70~100 pounds that is about 31kgs~ 45kgs. The gear would be tightly packed up onto the back of the trooper and the M1 Garand itself was about 1lbs which is nearly 5kgs.
Thus once a trooper started to drown in the water, it would have been very difficult to take of the tightly attached equipment and cause the drowning.
For paratroopers, they would also have an additional 20~30 pound that is about 10kg~15kgs more at least due to the parachutes and additional equipment.
The Germans even produced artificial swamps which were about 60 ~ 80 cm deep about 2 feet ~ 2.3 feet but many paratroopers would drown due to the weight of their equipment.
M2 Flamethrower
The M2 flamethrower became the standard flamethrower in 1943. The weight of the M2 flamethrower was over 30kg which is about 66 pounds.
The range of the M2 flamethrower was 20 meters so a M2 flamethrower operator had to be secured as the operator would have to approach the enemies to a proximity.
Although a flamethrower was depicted in clearing out a German bunker in Saving Private Ryan, flamethrowers weren’t significantly used during the western front of Europe and especially there would be a very low possibility of flamethrowers being used in the landings due to the tactical disadvantage in mobility nor efficiency.
Naval Combat Demolition Unit – NCDU
The Naval Combat Demolition Unit were teams of specially trained naval demolition units that were trained in amphibious raids and demolition along with combat engineers assigned.
The objective of the NCDU was to clear out obstacles for the beach landings and further passage for vehicles.
175 men were assigned at Omaha Beach to clear the passages, however 31 were killed and 60 were wounded on the Omaha Beach, however they were able to accomplish 1/3 of their missions on the very first day of the landing despite all the chaos.
The Naval Combat Demolition Units, NCDU would be integrated to the UDT team, the Underwater Demolitions Teams. The UDT teams, the Under Water Demolitions Tema were also called frogmen and these would become the basis of the famous Navy SEAL’s.
