In this fascinating compilation of interviews, both German and American veterans from World War II describe their experiences of warfare on Omaha Beach during D-Day. Franz Gockel and Bruno Plota were German soldiers responsible for shooting U.S. soldiers as they dispatched from their boats onto the beach. Plota says, “The first ones to land were poor guys. The first ones almost didn’t…hardly any of them got through. None of them, you could say.” Veteran Bob Slaughter from the U.S. 29th Infantry Division talks about how American soldiers had to run about four yards of sand to attain cover from enemy fire. The highest amount of American casualties during the Normandy Landings occurred on Omaha Beach; Josef Schroder, a German machine gunner, describes the battle scene as “hell.”
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