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In the case of
an amphibious assault such as Operation Neptune (the codename for the
landings on the Normandy beaches), the navy obviously had a vital role
to play.
The Allied armada which crossed the Channel in the night of
June 5th-6th
comprised no fewer than 4,300 ships of all shapes and sizes (not
counting the 2,600 barges carried by the large transport ships and
lowered onto the waves close to the shore). It was made up mostly of
British and American ships, though there were also Norwegian, Dutch,
Polish, Danish, Greek and Free French vessels.
This vast fleet was placed under the command of the British Admiral Sir
Bertram Ramsay. It was subdivided into the Western Task Force under
Rear-Admiral Kirk, who was in charge of landings in the American sector
(Naval Forces “U” for Utah Beach and “O” for Omaha), and the Eastern
Task Force under Rear-Admiral Vian, who was in charge of operations in
the Anglo-Canadian sector (Naval Forces “G” for Gold Beach, “J” for Juno
and “S” for Sword). Each force, composed of several hundred transport
ships, auxiliary vessels and escort ships, was accompanied by a naval
bombardment squadron of between fifteen and twenty warships
(battleships, cruisers and destroyers).
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Landing barges are lowered
onto the sea. |
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These ships were to open fire
on the German defences forty-five minutes before H-Hour, taking over
from the aerial bombardments that had been carried out overnight and at
dawn. During the battle, they were to provide continuous covering fire,
silencing most of the
coastal batteries of the Atlantic Wall and giving
valuable tactical support to the infantry, sometimes getting them out of
tricky situations, as at Omaha. |
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The USS Arkansas opens fire
on the coast of Normandy. (IWM) |
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For their
part, the troop ships carried 130,000 men and more than 20,000 vehicles
of all kinds, including tanks and lorries, across the Channel to the
Normandy coast in the course of June 6th.
A few dozen
decrepit merchant and warships, such as the French battleship Courbet,
were scuttled in a long line in front of the Landing Beaches to form
breakwaters.
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The
navy successfully landed thousands of men and machines. |
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In all, some 150,000 seamen belonging to the war fleets and the merchant
navy took part in the landing operations – a force equal to the number
of troops sent into battle on land on June 6th 1944. |
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