D-Day & Battle of Normandy

[Leoparis]

This is a place for assembling all issues taking place during D-Day or the Battle of Normandy (June 6-August 21, 1944). At this early stage I just copy/paste issues supposedly taking place during this time frame in no particular order and without inferring that they do relate to D-Day or the Battle of Normandy. Timely comics will certainly not.


Captain America
M/CP2 6/3
CA 109 (1 - 6:2)-FB D-Day
CATOW:ATB (16 - 17)-FB D-Day, on transport
SECWARR 17 (19:3 - 19:5)-FB-FB
CA:REBORN 1 (1 - 3)
SECWARR 17 (20)-FB-FB
CATOW:ATB (18 - 19)-FB D-Day, on the beach
ORDER2 7-FB
CATOW:ATB (20 - 32)-FB D-Day storming defenses
CA:REBORN 1 (26 - 27)
Ravencroft 4 (10:3)-FB
SIEGE:CA 1-FB
Empyre: Captain America 2 bridge of Benouville
ALLWS:BH 4-FB
CA 616/3 (1 - 3)-FB
TOS 69/2 (1 - 9)
TOS 70/2 (1 - 2:3)
TOS 69/2 (10)
TOS 70/2 (2:4 - 10)
TOS 71/2
TOS 77/2 shortly before troops arrive in Paris (Aug 24)
CA5 25 (10:2 - 11:2)-FB
CA&CRB (4:4)-FB
IH2 284 France 1944, "Nazi push against Allied lines"
CA 616/8 June 44 Captain America and Union Jack hold a town in preparation for the allied advance from the Omaha beachhead
ALLWS:BH 5 (6 - 8)-FB
CAC 42
CAC 42/3
CAC 42/4
[ALLWC 13/2]
[USAC 14]
SECA 11-FB John Steele, Prussia "waning days of World War II" (According to Marvel Project 8, Steele disappeared shortly after the invasion of Normandy)
SECA 12-FB
CA:REBORN 2 (1 - 6)
CA 271 ?

Human Torch
SECA 35
ANINV 8 (5:2)-FB Utah Beach, shoots flame at German soldiers, saving Agent Coulson's unnamed grandfather
AWC 65/2-FB (battling German soldiers on D-Day)
[MYSC2 1/2]
[MYSC2 2/2]
[M/MC 59]
CAC 42/2
[ALLWC 13]
[HTC 16]

Sub-Mariner
N:FM 5 (6 - 8)-FB
ORDER2 7 (10&11:1)-FB storming Normandy from a seaborne attack with the Invaders
ALLWS:BH 4-FB

Fury
SGTF 72
SGTF@ 2 (1 - 15) Omaha Beach
SECWARR 17-FB-FB
SGTF@ 2 (16 - 24)
CA 616/2-FB
SGTF 73-FB
SGTF 73
SGTF 74
SGTF 75
NFAOS3 3-FB
NFAOS3 4-FB
NFAOS3 5-FB
SGTF 76
SGTF 77
SGTF 78
SGTF 79 Bavarian Alps

Captain Savage 18

Wolverine vol. 2 #34-FB June 6, parachutes into Normandy with the 6th British airborne division.
Wolverine vol. 2 #78

Marvel Knights Four #4 John Richards On June 6th, 1944, the young men of the 101st leaped into the fog-clotted skies over Normandy

[StrayLamb]

Not really related to the war, but there's a panel in Contest of Champions III 1/2 (4&5:4) dated July 1944, where Odette Sauvage becomes the fifth Guillotine. I also have a note for a flashback dated August 2 1944 in Captain America 2001 Annual, but i don't have the details at hand.

[wolframbane]

If it helps placing events of WWII, when they wrote the Bibliography fonline for the OHOTMU Hardcover, they placed nearly complete dates (month and year, occassionally specific date) for Captain America and Namor. The dates seem to be based upon there being a three month separation between the Publication Date and the Historical Date.

CAPTAIN AMERICA
http://web.archive.org/web/200809261433 ... in_America

NAMOR
http://web.archive.org/web/200809261550 ... ub-Mariner

The same was done for Rawhide Kid, the historical years in which events happened were based upon the publication date of the story (unless superceded by actual histoircal date). This can probably be used for other Western era characters.

RAWHIDE KID
http://web.archive.org/web/200809260640 ... awhide_Kid

[zuckyd1]

Combat Casey 15 and 25.
Combat Kelly #20 takes place on June 8-13.

[michel]

The SECWARR 17-FB-FB, published August 2010, are a contracted version of the DR:NN-FB, published February 2009.

[Leoparis]

Just looking at the first days of the landing, Captain America (and Sgt Fury to a lesser degree) might be involved in too many actions.

Fury leads a commando action on June 5, destroying installations all night then returns to the beach to help the landing troops.
Yet in DR:NN (shortened in SECWARR 17) they're on a landing craft headed to Omaha with Captain America.

Captain America also lands with regular troops of the first wave to Omaha in CATOW:ATB (16 - 17).

He's also landing in CA:REBORN 1 (1 - 3).

In addition to these at least two or three landings, Cap is involved in an earlier commando action with Bucky where they disable automated guns in order to "set the stage for D-Day." (CA 109)

He's also involved with holding the Benouville "Pegasus" Bridge (far away from Omaha, the troops only connected on June 12). (CA:Empyre 2)

In M/CP2 6/3 (1) he's also parachuting (no mention of June 44 or Normandy though).

So it seems both he and Fury must have returned to the beaches after their respective commando operations, gotten on the returning boats and hit the beach again.

In M/CP2 6/3 (8) and CATOW:ATB (20 - 32)-FB he's storming defenses. In SIEGE:CA 1-FB Bucky is alongside him.

In CA:REBORN 1 (26 - 27) and Ravencroft 4 (10:3)-FB he contemplates the devastation.

Later the Invaders and All Winners Squad have a toast in Ste Mère l'Eglise in ALLWS:BH 4-FB.

IH2 284 France 1944, the "Nazi push against Allied lines" refers to the Battle of the Bulge (Dec 16, 1944 - Jan 25, 1945) rather than to Normandy.

CA 616/8 June 44, where Captain America and Union Jack hold a town in preparation for the allied advance from the Omaha beachhead, should be closer to D-Day. (It took 3 days for landing troops to reach their objective.) It starts a couple of days after D-Day and lasts for a few days. The action of holding a bridge is similar to Captain America: Empyre 2-FB.

I think TOS 69-71 does not belong there. It starts in England before "the big push" or "big drive" (meaning D-Day, cf. "awaiting the big push" in CATOW:ATB (14:3 - 15:6)-FB). Bucky stays in England and gets captured while Rogers lands in army uniform. It shows ships "striking out for a nazi-held port," a "coastal town" and later "beleaguered Rangers" trying to return to the beach. This seems to be loosely based on either the Dieppe raid or the St Nazaire raid, both from 1942. Those raids established that attacking ports was too risky for a landing. This can be a fictional raid but the need of the Rangers to reach the beach before nazi troops capture them places this before D-Day.

Once you remove the misplaced stories I mentioned, it should be possible to fit everything. I've located a single reference with hour-by-hour details for June 6-8 and day-by-day afterwards rather than the piecemeal articles I had for various operations.

There was a deadly rehearsal on April 28, 1944 that could be used as a substitute.

Spoiler:

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna30977039
Lured across the English Channel by an unexpected frenzy of radio chatter, the Nazi predators sliced through the waves toward an unknown enemy.

It was shortly after midnight on April 28, 1944. Within a matter of 2-1/2 hours, an ambush by a German E-boat flotilla had brought misery to hundreds of American families.

A secret dress rehearsal for D-Day had been interrupted with deadly consequences.

Nicknamed "Long Slow Targets" by their crews, the U.S. landing craft proved to be no match for the 50-mph German torpedo boats. The hit-and-run attack left two American vessels ablaze and sinking. A third had been struck in the stern and was badly damaged.

As hundreds of American servicemen floundered amid the burning oil and cold water off England's southern coast, futile cries of "help" and "mom" echoed across the darkness. At least 749 U.S. sailors and soldiers would be dead by dawn.

Code-named Exercise Tiger, the ill-fated D-Day dry run was at the time America's costliest incident of the war (only Pearl Harbor was worse). The attack claimed more than three times as many lives as the amphibious landing at Utah Beach in France, the assault they had been practicing for at Slapton Sands in picturesque Devon county.

But now, 65 years after the disaster was hushed-up by military chiefs, historians believe lessons learned from the little-known tragedy helped to ensure the success of the D-Day landings less than six weeks later.

"These people were training for a military operation in the midst of a war," said Dr. Harry Bennett, a World War II expert based at Britain's University of Plymouth. "Without Exercise Tiger, the liberation of Normandy, France and Europe might have been a more protracted and bloody process."

Haunted by carnage
For the servicemen who made it back to shore, such sentiments don't make the horrors they witnessed any easier to bear.

Many survivors say it isn't memories of Utah or Omaha beaches that haunt them decades later. It's the carnage of the pre-invasion practice gone wrong that live on in their nightmares.

Steve Sadlon, who was a radio operator aboard the first landing craft struck by the German E-boats that night, recalls being awakened by the "scraping" sound of a torpedo that failed to detonate. Moments later, an explosion ripped through LST 507, which was fully loaded with trucks, military equipment and soldiers. (LST is an acronym for Landing Ship, Tank.)

"It was an inferno," said Sadlon, speaking from his home in Ilion in upstate New York. "The fire was circling the ship. It was terrible.

"Guys were burning to death and screaming. Even to this day I remember it. Every time I go to bed, it pops into my head. I can't forget it."

Sadlon, who was aged 20 at the time, retrieved his pistol and a floatation belt before leaping into the frigid English Channel.

"Guys were grabbing hold of us and we had to fight them off," he recalled. "Guys were screaming, 'Help, help, help' and then you wouldn't hear their voices anymore."

Tracers light the sky
Paul Gerolstein, then a gunner's mate 2nd class, recalls a fireball rising "60 or 70 feet in the air" after Sadlon's LST was struck by the second torpedo.

"Our radar gave us the German positions and we started to return fire," said Gerolstein, an 88-year-old retired police lieutenant who now lives in Port Charlotte, Fla. "I vividly remember the German tracers were light green while our tracers were red.

"The convoy was given orders to scatter and the battle was over before we knew it.

"But my captain, John Doyle, decided to stay. 'We came here to fight the Germans and we will stay here and fight,' he ordered. We went back and threw cargo nets over the side and picked up 70 or 80 survivors."

Gerolstein recalls working with a "strong as a bull" colleague named Gerhard Jensen to pull seven or eight wounded servicemen to safety.
Guesthouse owner Ken Small battled for more than 10 years to get recognition for the 749 U.S. soldiers and sailors who died during a D-Day dress rehearsal codenamed Exercise Tiger. This Sherman tank was recovered from about a mile off Slapton Sands, England.Paul Segner

Sadlon ended up spending about four hours in the frigid English Channel before he was finally hauled aboard an American landing craft. Unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, he was initially mistaken for dead.

But, like many Exercise Tiger survivors, he would participate in the D-Day landings just 40 days later.

"In comparison to the E-boat attack, Utah Beach was a walk in the park," Sadlon said.

D-Day nearly scrapped
The deadly ambush left Allied commanders rattled. Ten U.S. officers with detailed knowledge of the looming Normandy invasion were missing and the possibility that any of them been taken prisoner on the German E-boats was a major concern. Scrapping "Operation Overlord," the name given to the D-Day landings, was discussed at the highest levels.

But the emergency ended when all ten bodies were eventually recovered. The German crews had no idea they had stumbled upon a secret test run for the Normandy invasion.

The reverberations of the disaster, though, were to last for decades. Determined to ensure the sneak attack would not jeopardize the planned D-Day assaults and concerned about the impact on morale, historians say the U.S. military moved to keep the disaster cloaked in secrecy.

Doctors treating injured soldiers and sailors at English hospitals were told to act as if they were veterinarians treating animals. Injuries and ailments only. No questions were to be asked about what had occurred. Medical staff were also told not to keep any records.

Officials informed victims' families simply that they were "missing in action" after maneuvers at sea. The servicemen were threatened with court-martial if they ever discussed what had occurred. Many took the "ever" very literally.

Nathan Resnick, who was aboard one of the other landing craft in the attacked convoy, said: "We were told not to say anything. I was married for 40-something years and never told my wife a word."

Frank Derby, a gunner's mate 3rd class who now lives in Fallston, Md., added: "Our officers made it very clear that we'd be court-martialed if we breathed a word of it. That scared the hell out of all of us."

After the war ended, the vast majority of the men who returned to the U.S. kept their mouths shut.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government also kept mum. In 1954, the U.S. Army unveiled a granite obelisk at Slapton Sands recognizing the sacrifices made by 3,000 local residents who a decade earlier had "generously left their homes and their lands" for several months so the area could be transformed into an almost-real battlefield.

Because the 3-1/4 mile stretch of coast closely resembled Utah Beach, the U.S. military had taken over 30,000 acres of English soil for a series of mock landings including Exercise Tiger. The live-fire rehearsals were intended to toughen up raw servicemen before they stormed the beaches of occupied France.

But the Army's marker made no mention of the huge loss of American life that occurred on April 28, 1944.

It would be 30 more years before Ken Small, a local guesthouse owner who became troubled by the story of Exercise Tiger after finding bullets, shrapnel and buttons on the beach, would right what he perceived as a wrong.

Small, who died in 2004, fought for more than a decade to recover a submerged Sherman tank that had been found about a mile offshore. It now serves as a memorial to the American servicemen who were killed.

"Exercise Tiger was a bit of an embarrassment but that is no excuse to not recognize the hundreds of men who died," said Small's son Dean, who is director of the non-profit group behind the Slapton Sands Memorial Tank. "It's important that people understand all aspects of war. It's not all glory and planting flags at the top of hills."

Lessons learned
Dr. Bennett cited the need for more co-ordination between the U.S. and British navies was the key lesson learned during Exercise Tiger. A typo in order papers meant ships from each country were using different radio frequencies on the night of the deadly attack. Communication would become a top priority before D-Day.

Dr. Bennett said the Exercise Tiger disaster also "underscored" the importance of adequate escorts for naval convoys and of quelling the threat from German E-boats.

"After D-Day, the Allied forces specifically went after them to neutralize that threat by taking them out of the equation," he added.

The three-mile long American convoy was also only assigned one escort vessel. A second British ship that was due to accompany them — a World War I-era destroyer — had suffered minor damage to its hull hours earlier and was kept in port.

"It was a disastrous attack. The Germans were in the right place at the right time and the Americans in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Dr. Bennett, the author of "Destination Normandy: Three American Regiments on D-Day."

"It was a horrendous situation, but whenever you're training for war there's always going to be casualties and accidents."
Dean Small, director of the Slapton Sands Memorial Tank, says there wasPaul Segner

Steve Mutton, 38, a Chicago-born local historian who moved to England as a teenager, said that Exercise Tiger was "all about doing everything exactly the same way as it would be done on D-Day to see what mistakes would come out of it."

He said the attack on the convoy revealed the lack of training U.S. troops had received. For instance, many of those who died in the English Channel failed to use their floatation devices properly.

"Because they were called life belts, many men put them around their waists instead of their chests and with the heavy kit they were carrying they toppled over head-first in the water and drowned," Mutton added.

Command errors?
Lessons may have been learned, but survivor Resnick, 85, who now lives in Van Nuys, Calif., remains convinced the victims were badly let down by American and British commanders. The disaster, he insists, could have been avoided if the convoy had been assigned adequate support from escort vessels.

"It was a tragic night," he said. "High Command really goofed. We were basically all alone out there. There's no excuse. We should've had quite a few escorts on a big operation like that. There were plenty of escort vessels around because they were getting ready for D-Day.

"High Command had reports of E-boat activity. That should've been a red flag. They just didn't pay attention to it.

"So many young men — 18, 19, 20 — perished. They deserved better.

"Their families should've been told the whole truth. It's really not right."

Eisenhower criticized
While historians dismiss claims of a cover-up by pointing out that some details of the Exercise Tiger deaths were released in August 1944 and highlighting that many documents relating to it were declassified long ago, some survivors have more questions than answers about what happened that night.

Sadlon, who was a 3rd class petty officer at the time, only learned of the death toll when fellow veterans started to defy the gag order 40 years on, allowing the puzzle to be pieced together.

"Nothing was said about all of those guys who lost their lives," said Sadlon, 86.

"With E-boats and submarines out there, why would you send 9 LSTs into the English Channel with just one escort? If (Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D.) Eisenhower was alive, I'd really lay into him."

Laurie Bolton, whose 19-year-old uncle Sgt. Louis Archer Bolton was killed during Exercise Tiger, believes the military's decision to hush up the attack resulted in victims and their families being treated with a lack of respect.

Her family was initially only told that he was "missing in action." Her uncle's body was never recovered.

Holding out vain hope
Amid prayers that her uncle may still be alive, Bolton's family, including his teenage widow, Wilma, never held a proper memorial service.

"We never really knew what happened to my uncle," said Laurie Bolton. "Because there was no body, his mother held out hope that he'd been captured by the Germans and suffered amnesia.

"It was many years after the war was over before she accepted it."

Bolton, 56, from Kingsburg, Calif., now organizes regular visits for survivors and victims' families to the Sherman tank memorial in England. The U.S. government also provided a plaque at the site in 1987.

"We have no grave to visit but the memorial is close to where my uncle took his last breath," Bolton said. "When I'm there, I sometimes just sit on the beach and imagine him pulling on his gear and getting settled and the ship going out — and suddenly this huge explosion.

"I don't believe they received adequate recognition. It was a military blunder and the military doesn't want to talk about its blunders.

"It brings comfort to some of the veterans that important lessons were learned during Exercise Tiger that saved lives on D-Day."

Omaha timeline:

Spoiler:

5:20 – Report transmitted by the 352nd Artillery Regiment to the staff of the 352nd German Infantry Division: “Advanced observers of artillery groups 2 and 4 report perception of noises, probably naval units moving towards the Vire estuary and the Guay-Pointe du Hoc, 29 ships, of which 4 are quite large (destroyers or cruisers), are observed at a distance of 6 to 10 km. At Formigny, one (Polish) pilot made prisoner. The number of landing craft in front of Port-en-Bessin is about 50“.
05:35 – 29 American amphibious tanks from the 741st Tank Battalion are launched 6 km off Omaha Beach
05:50 – Battleship USS Texas fires for the first time (on the American sector of Omaha).
06:27 – Omaha Beach: end of the barrage bombardment on the coast (except for the Satterlee and Talybont warships).
06:29 – Omaha Beach, Dog Green and Dog White sectors: landing of 32 amphibious tanks (C and B companies of the 743th Cavalry Battalion).
06:30 – Omaha Beach: air attack by 18 Marauder bombers on Pointe du Hoc, then the USS Texas fires on the German battery.
06:31 – Utah Beach, Uncle Red area: 1st landing
06:35 – Omaha Beach: landing of the first assault wave of the 116th Regiment, 29th Infantry Division.
06:36 – Omaha Beach: landing of the second assault wave of the 116th Regimen, 29th Infantry Division.
06:45 – Omaha Beach: landing of the second wave of assault.
07:00 – Omaha Beach: landing of the second wave of assault is still going on.
07:10 – Omaha Beach: the 88 mm barrel of the Wn 61 strongpoint is put out of action, its mouth brake having been destroyed by a direct hit, either from Naval artillery or Sergeant Turner Sheppard’s Sherman tank.
07:11 – Omaha Beach: Colonel Rudder’s 225 Rangers, delayed by erroneous navigations and a strong sea current, land 41 minutes late at Pointe du Hoc.
07:15 – Pointe du Hoc: Rangers from Task Force C are on their way to Dog Green (Omaha Beach) because they have not received the signal to request reinforcements from Pointe du Hoc.
– Omaha Beach: the 726th German Grenadier Regiment reports that the Wn 60 strongpoint is severely bombed and that 20 landing craft, spotted by Wn 37, are approaching.
07:20 – Omaha Beach: The 916th German Grenadier Regiment reports that amphibious tanks have been identified in the area of Vierville-sur-Mer.
– End of the naval bombardment on Gold, Juno and Sword. Start of landing
07:30 – Omaha Beach: Surviving Rangers from C Company reach the plateau east of exit D-1 (Vierville-sur-Mer).
07:37 – Omaha Beach. German message sent by the 726th Grenadier Regiment: “the first landing craft reached the coast in front of the Wn 65 and 69 strongpoints with amphibious tanks“.
07:40 – Omaha Beach: LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) number 91 is hit by a mine and by German artillery, causing the death of 73 soldiers.
07:45 – Pointe du Hoc: the Rangers set up a temporary headquarters in a crater in front of the L409A antiaircraft bunker (37 mm gun), east of the German battery.
– Omaha Beach: German soldiers at the Wn 70 strongpoint announce the breakthrough of six US tanks, three of them at the WN 66 strongpoint.
– Omaha Beach: C (Task Force C) consisting of A and B companies of the 2nd Rangers Battalion are about to land on the edge of the Dog Green and Dog White areas. All 5th Rangers Battalion is heading for Dog Green.
08:00 – Omaha Beach: US soldiers reach the top of the dune at the Wn 60 strongpoint.
– Omaha Beach: landing of the men of the 5th Battalion of Rangers, who were originally to land at Pointe du Hoc.
08:06 – Omaha Beach: The 726th German Grenadier Regiment reports that the Wn 60 strongpoint is under fire and that 40 soldiers accompanied by an amphibious tank have landed in front of this fortified point.
08:09 – Omaha Beach: all the amphibious tanks destined to land on Fox Green have sunk between their starting point and the beach.
08:10 – Omaha Beach, Dog White Area: LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) number 91 sinks.
08:19 – Pointe du Hoc: The 916th German Grenadier Regiment reports to the headquarters of the 352nd German infantry division: “Near the Pointe du Hoc, the enemy climbed the cliff (with ladders and ropes thrown by projectiles)“.
08:20 – Omaha Beach: The 726th German Grenadier Regiment reports that the 88 mm gun of the Wn 61 strongpoint is out of use and that landing craft are spotted in front of Wn 37 and 37a strongpoints (the latter being bombarded by naval artillery).
08:24 – Omaha Beach: the landed troops report that they are under the fire of Maisy’s batteries.
08:25 – Omaha Beach: the Wn 62 strongpoint is infiltrated by American soldiers while the Wn 61 strongpoint is attacked from front and back. German radio communication to Port-en-Bessin is interrupted.

08:30 – Omaha Beach: the landing is temporary stopped due to lack of space on the beach. The Germans believe in victory for a few minutes.
– Omaha Beach: counter-attack of the 915th regiment of grenadiers to regain control of Wn 60 strongpoint.
– Omaha Beach: General Cota establishes his command post on the beach.
08:33 – Omaha Beach: troop transport LCT 538 reports that it could not land its transport because of the shooting of a 88 mm gun having injured 5 Americans soldiers.
08:35 – Omaha Beach: the Americans make their first four prisoners, from 8th company of the 916th Regiment (352nd German infantry division).
– Omaha Beach: the 352nd Infantry Division reports to the 84th Corps that between 100 and 200 soldiers have penetrated the defense at Colleville and that a battalion (“Meyer” battalion) reinforces the German defensive positions.
08:45 – Omaha Beach: the 916th Grenadier Regiment reports that the Wn 70 strongpoint fell into the hands of the enemy. 3 tanks passed through the Wn 66 strongpoint and the upper casemate of the Wn 62 is destroyed.
08:49 – Omaha Beach: the 1st Battalion of the 116th American Infantry Regiment reports that it is blocked by heavy machine gun fire and calls for support from the naval artillery.
08:55 – Omaha Beach: the 352nd Artillery Regiment struggles to maintain radio contact with the Wn 60 strongpoint.
– Pointe du Hoc: the Rangers repulse a counter-attack led by the first company of the 916th German Infantry Regiment.
– Omaha Beach: the Wn 60 strongpoint (Fox Red area) protecting the F1 exit is silenced by the men of the 1st US Infantry Division.
09:10 – Omaha Beach: the Rangers landed on the beach report that the tide is rising rapidly and that beach obstacles have still not been demolished. They are requesting support from demolition teams.
09:15 – The 352nd German Infantry Division reports the loss of strongpoints Wn 65, Wn 68 and Wn 70.
09:17 – Publication of Statement No. 1: “Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.”
09:20 – The ships off Omaha Beach are organizing a new naval artillery barrage on the German defenses, ordered by General Huebner, at the risk of killing American soldiers. It lasts twenty-eight minutes.
– The German battery of Longues-sur-Mer ceases momentarily to shoot towards the sea.
09:30 – Omaha Beach: General Omar Bradley receives a loss estimate stating that 3,000 soldiers are out of fight, while soldiers of the 16th Regiment of the 1st American Infantry Division are on the way to Port-en-Bessin.
09:45 – End of the second artillery barrage on Omaha Beach.
09:55 – The 352nd German Infantry Division reports that all radio contacts with the 916th Grenadier Regiment (at Pointe du Hoc) are broke down.
10:00 – Omaha Beach: two US destroyers are approaching within 1 km of the shoreline to support isolated groups trying to get out of the beach.
– Omaha Beach: about 200 soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 116th Regiment (29th US Infantry Division) climbed the cliff and reach Vierville-sur-Mer.
– Omaha Beach: the Wn 64 strongpoint is silenced by the American troops.
10:12 – Omaha Beach: the command post of the 726th German Grenadier Regiment (716. Infantry Division) receives the following message from the Wn 62 strongpoint: “Wn 60 still holds, Wn 62 is still in action with a machine gun, but the situation is critical – elements of the 1st and 4th companies counterattack“.
10:15 – Omaha Beach: at the Wn 62 strongpoint near Colleville-sur-Mer, the two 76.5 mm guns are destroyed at the same time by naval artillery.
– Omaha Beach: the 916th German Grenadier Regiment reports that between 60 and 70 landing craft are disembarking soldiers in front of the Wn 65 strongpoint in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. The German troops of Pointe du Hoc no longer answer radio calls.
10:25 – Omaha Beach: three tanks are reported by the 916th Grenadier Regiment west of Wn 38 strongpoint.
10:30 – Omaha Beach: the two 75 mm guns of Pointe de la Percée, the cause of many destructions, are put out of action by destroyer USS McCook.
– Omaha Beach: the Wn 65 strongpoint at the junction between the Easy Green and Easy Red beach sectors and protecting the E1 exit is stormed by American soldiers.
– General Feuchtinger is ordered to move his 21st Panzer Division to the west of the Orne Canal and to engage it north of the Bayeux-Caen line.
11:00 – The German radar station at Pointe de la Percée is attacked by destroyer USS Thompson off Omaha, which fires 127 mm shells.
– Pointe du Hoc: rhe 3rd company of the 726th German Grenadier Regiment reports to the headquarters of the 352nd Infantry Division: “The enemy, with 2 companies, invested the battery of the Pointe Du Hoc. Special shells with ladders were fired on top of the cliff, thus this natural obstacle can be climbed“.
11:12 – Omaha Beach: the 914th German Infantry Regiment reports that the Wn 60 strongpoint still holds while the Wn 61 has fallen and that the Wn 62 is in a critical situation even if it still has a machine gun. Survivors of the 1st and 4th battalions prepare a counter-offensive to reconquer the Wn 61.
11:20 – Omaha Beach: elements of the 5th Battalion of Rangers reach the town of Surrain (south of Colleville-sur-Mer).
11:27 – Omaha Beach: the 916th German Grenadier Regiment reports that the attackers hold the heights of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer beach. The commander of the 352nd Infantry Division gives once again the order to “counter-attack to push back the enemy at sea“.
11:45 – Omaha Beach: the 1st battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment (1st US Infantry Division) has landed.
11:58 – The 726th German Grenadier Regiment reported that three landing craft were destroyed in the port of Port-en-Bessin.
12:00 – Pointe du Hoc: the last 6 defenders of the observation post surrender to the American Rangers.
– Pointe du Hoc: Colonel Rudder sends Morse the message “Arrived at Pointe du Hoc. Mission completed, urgent need of ammunition and reinforcements. Many losses.”
– Omaha Beach: due to the lack of ammunition, the Houtteville battery (4,500 meters from the beach, near Colleville-sur-Mer) refuses to execute a gun salvo fire order against the landing craft on approach. The battery only fires with one 105 mm gun after the other
12:14 – Omaha Beach: the Americans reach the Church of Colleville-sur-Mer.
12:23 – Omaha Beach: the 18th Regiment of the 1st US Infantry Division climbs the cliff and heads towards Colleville-sur-Mer.
12:40 – Omaha Beach: the 726th German Grenadier Regiment reports that the south exit of Colleville-sur-Mer was reached by the Americans and that many tanks were stopped by anti-tank ditches.
13:00 – Pointe du Hoc. Colonel Rudder receives the reply to his 12:00 message: “no reinforcements possible, all Rangers have landed in Omaha“.
– Omaha Beach: General Bradley learns of the breakthrough of some groups of soldiers at the top of the cliffs.
– Omaha Beach: the Wn 72 strongpoint (Vierville-sur-Mer, Dog Green area) is under US control.
13:30 – Omaha Beach: General Omar Bradley, on the flagship USS Augusta, receives the following report: “Troops previously stopped on beaches Easy Red, Easy Green, Fox Red, progress on heights behind beaches“.
13:41 – Omaha Beach: the 726th German Grenadier Regiment reports that the Germans seized Colleville-sur-Mer again.
– Omaha Beach: German resistance in front of the Dog Green, Easy Green, Easy Red and White Red sectors has stopped.
14:00 – Pointe du Hoc: German defenders belonging to the Werfer-Regiment 84 abandoned the battery on its western flank.

The consolidation. The last German defenders leave their positions one after the other on Omaha, last lock to hold. Now, it is a question of installing a solid bridgehead in Normandy.

14:13 – Omaha Beach: destruction by destroyer U.S.S. Harding of the bell tower of the church of Vierville-sur-Mer supposed to house German artillery observers.
14:30 – A lifeboat is launched by U.S.S. Barton to rescue the injured Rangers from Pointe du Hoc (but the German artillery barrage prevented it from reaching the shore).
14:58 – Omaha Beach: the 352nd German Artillery Regiment reports that the village of Colleville-sur-Mer has fallen once again into the hands of the enemy.
15:00 – Omaha Beach: two American destroyers approach the shore to support the landed troops.
– Omaha Beach: the 916th German Grenadier Regiment counterattacks the American advanced units located between the Wn 62a, Wn 62b and Wn 64 strongpoints.
15:26 – Omaha Beach: failure of the German counter-attack led by the 916th German Grenadier Regiment in Colleville-sur-Mer.
15:30 – Omaha Beach: Hein Severloh, the last defender of the Wn 62 strongpoint, abandons his post after firing 12,500 rounds with his K98 rifle and his MG 42 machine gun.
16:00 – Omaha Beach: the first American Sherman tank reaches the road linking the beach to Colleville. It is then destroyed by an anti-tank gun.
17:00 – Omaha Beach: General Clarence Huebner lands on the Easy Red beach area.
– Omaha Beach: the bell tower of the Church of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, which houses German snipers, is destroyed by American naval artillery.
– Omaha Beach: Omaha’s westernmost strongpoint, Wn 73, is stormed by men from the 5th Rangers Battalion and the 116th Regiment (29th Infantry Division).
18:10 – Omaha Beach: the 915th German Grenadier Regiment reports that it has bypassed the Americans from the rear at the Colleville-sur-Mer Castle and that its wounded can no longer be evacuated.
18:25 – Pointe du Hoc: General Dietrich Kraiss, commander of the 352nd Infantry Division, reports to the officer in charge of the 916th Grenadier Regiment that “the 1st company of the 914th Grenadier Regiment must counterattack at the Pointe du Hoc to resolve the situation. Detachments from Le Guay’s strongpoint must also attack from the east“.
18:30 – Omaha Beach: the 26th Infantry Regiment (1st US Infantry Division) begins landing.
19:00 – Omaha Beach: in the locality of Colleville-sur-Mer, violent fighting takes place between the American troops and the German defenders.
19:25 – Pointe du Hoc: the Germans launch a counter-offensive in the east towards the Rangers positions with elements of Le Guay’s strongpoint.
19:40 – Pointe du Hoc: General Kraiss is informed of the German advance, and “the 9th company of the 726th Grenadiers regiment is surrounded by the enemy by the east and the south“.
– Omaha Beach: German artillery barrage on the beach in the Colleville-sur-Mer area, where landing operations are continuing. Some losses within the American troops.
19:45 – Pointe du Hoc: the 916th German Grenadier Regiment reports “paratroopers dropping near Le Guay“.
21:00 – Pointe du Hoc: 24 Rangers of A company,5th battalion, having landed on Omaha Beach reach the Pointe du Hoc battery.
21:45 – Omaha Beach: artillery barrage from the southeast and from the Maisy area is reported.
23:00 – Pointe du Hoc: a counter-attack by 40 German soldiers belonging to the 1st company of the 914th regiment, 352nd Infantry Division, is launched against the Rangers at the Pointe du Hoc battery.
– Omaha Beach: Major Tegtmeyer radioed to Colonel Ficchy that nothing is in place to evacuate the wounded and something has to be done.
23:30 – Pointe du Hoc: General Kraiss reports to General Marcks that “the counterattack of the 1st company of the 914th Grenadier Regiment is still in progress.“

[StrayLamb]

The flashback in Empyre: Captain America 2 (8:4 - 9:2) presents a bit of a conundrum. In this flashback, Cap is at the capture of Benouville Bridge, which occured just after midnight on D-Day, June 6 1944, the gliders having taken off at around 23:00 on June 5. Problem is, TOS 69/2 clearly establishes that Cap was with the ground force troops on the Channel crossing during June 5-6.

How to solve this conundrum? I don't see putting it down to a faulty memory. I'm sure Cap would remember whether he crossed the Channel by sea or air on D-Day. A made-up tale to help the morale of his troops? Unlikely, as Cap would have been in dozens of actual similar situations, which he could have drawn upon.

We do see Cap onboard ship in TOS 69/2, but we don't see him at the actual landing. I suppose Cap could have been airlifted from the ship and returned to England to join the 6th Airborne, but i don't see how this could have been achieved without seriously compromising his secret identity. Is there a possibility of time travel? That would allow for Cap to literally be in two places at once.

Cap is seen at an identical bridge in CA 616/8, which is placed after the D-Day landings in Cap's chronology. If all else fails, we could probably place the flashback immediately prior to this, for convenience. We could possibly assume the Benouville Bridge had to be re-taken in the Marvel Universe. I've noted elsewhere that the War seems to unfold slightly differently in the MU, compared to our world.

Suggestions?

[Leoparis]

This is something I've been working on for months, assembling timelines and data.

You can see the problems here: viewtopic.php?p=64250#p64250

Before organizing the D-Day sequences my priority is to remove from June 1944 those that do not belong there. Those include IH2 284 and TOS 69-71.

I've ordered several books on D-Day and a Michelin map to see what I can do but I won't be able to provide a solution anytime soon. Everybody is welcome to contribute, a sounding board can help speed my thinking process.

[StrayLamb]

Thanks Leoparis, i thought i'd read something about this before, but couldn't find it in the main forum. It was over in Issue Analysis, and since it's relevant to the discussion, i've taken the liberty of copying it here for convenience. Also, that link to the D-Day timeline is very convenient. I use that timeline myself.

Captain America
US Soldiers Russo, Sears, Miller, Bennett (corpse possessed by cotati)
soldiers of the Kree-Skrull alliance
General Woodley (corpse possessed by cotati)
two of his aides (corpses possessed by cotati)
NATO officials in Brussels, esp. for Turkey, Portugal, Canada
Shi Qaanth (Cotati priest in Mexico) (crossover with Savage Avengers)
Cotati soldiers in Mexico

flashback to WWII on bridge of Benouville (a.k.a Pegasus Bridge, circa June 6, 1944)
Captain America
Airborne demolitions team
Nazi soldiers

Timeline:
00:07 – German sentries spot low-flying aircraft north of Carentan in the Cotentin Peninsula.
00:16 – The first of the 3 British gliders lands less than 50 meters from the bridge of Bénouville, the Pegasus Bridge.
00:17 – The second of the 3 British gliders lands near the bridge of the Pegasus Bridge.
00:18 – The last of the 3 Horsa gliders lands near the Pegasus bridge.
00:21 – Major Howard and his men storm the Pegasus bridge.
00:35 – 2 Horsa gliders land near the Ranville bridge (Horsa Bridge). The 3rd glider planned for the operation is missing.
00:50 – The 5th Brigade of the 6th British Airborne Division commanded by General Nigel Poett is dropped near Ranville.
02:05 – The 1. Panzerjaeger Kompanie of the 716th Infantry Regiment leaves Biéville to patrol along the Orne canal in the direction of the Bénouville and Ranville bridges.
02:30 – Serious fighting is taking place in the locality of Ranville between the British airborne troops of the 6th Airborne and the German soldiers of the 716th Infantry and the 21st Panzer Division.
– An armored vehicle from the 1. Panzerjaeger-Kompanie of the 716th German infantry division is destroyed on the Caen-Ouistreham crossroads in Bénouville by a PIAT of the 7th battalion (6th Airborne Division).
03:00 – Lieutenant Braatz of the 21st Panzer Division is heading for Bénouville and the Pegasus Bridge to counter-attack.
03:10 – The 8./(Schwere) Pz.Gren.- Kompanie 192 is sent to reinforce in the area of ​​Bénouville.
03:20 – General Gale, commander of the 6th Airborne Division, is parachuted with his staff above the “N” jump zone near Ranville, as part of Operation Tonga.
03:35 – 55 Horsa gliders containing forces destined for the 6th British Airborne Division land as part of Operation Tonga in the Ranville area.
05:25 – Three German gunboats fleeing from Ouistreham on the Canal de Caen are intercepted by the men of Major Howard at the Pegasus Bridge: one is destroyed, another is stranded nearby, and the third takes refuge further north in the area of Le Maresquier.
05:58 – Sunrise.
06:30 – General Feuchtinger, leader of the 21st German Panzer Division, gives the order to attack the bridgehead of the 6th Airborne British Division beyond the Orne river.
10:00 – General Edgar Feuchtinger is ordered to counter-attack with his tanks along the river Orne against the British paratroopers of the 6th Airborne Division.
12:02 – The British commandos of the 1st Special Service Brigade led by Lord Lovat (Simon Fraser) reach the Bénouville Bridge (Pegasus Bridge), held since night by the glidermen of the 6th Airborne Division. Lord Lovat apologizes to Major Howard for being two minutes and thirty seconds late.
20:51 – The last elements of the 6th airborne division land with 256 gliders on the landing zones of Ranville – LZ N – and northwest of Bénouville – LZ W – (operation Mallard).

Fighters of the 6th Airborne Division were waiting for new counter-attacks and upgrading their defensive positions overnight. The next day, June 7, the Germans attacked, using tanks and artillery. Ranville was assaulted by Major Hans-Ulrich von Luck at the head of the Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 125: the Allied armada made several barrage fires that stopped these counter-offensives. The front on the east bank of the Orne river remained static until the launch of the operation Paddle on August 17, 1944.

[Leoparis]

Options:
1. Decoys. There's real world precedent for using doubles to fool the Nazis around D-Day.

2. (Previously unmentioned) Clones. They're not just a modern day problem.

3. Teleportation. When you just need to get there immediately.

4. Time travel. Dumbledore lent Fury and Cap a pair of time turners (and don't say Dumbledore's not in 616 - Harry Potter is:

1. Nearly all those sequences are personal first-person memories from the modern Captain America. So the decoy gambit does not help.

2. Same problem as 1. Clones would have to be like Madrox duplicates, able to get absorbed so as to transmit their memories.

3. If Captain America had teleportation tech in 1944, we'd know it. And even if he had it would not make sense to have landed in France prior to D-Day and then teleport twice on the landing barges on the morning.

4. I guess that's my best line of investigation. We don't have time turners but we have time travel stories including one where there were two Captain Americas in France in 1944 (December, Ardennes). He's also crossing his own timeline and meeting Bucky in CA:BB (Hitler's retreat, year unknown). The mind of the contemporary Cap in his WWII body also meets Bucky in CA:REBORN 1 on D-Day.

In IH2 284 (1983) the present-day Captain America finds himself in the Battle of the Bulge but forgets he's not from that time period. If I can make it work I rather like the idea that Cap from IH2 284 was actually sent back to D-Day in June and stayed all this time in France until December 1944 when he was picked up by the Avengers. But how do I explain he never crosses his temporal double? A possibility is that the original Captain America with Bucky is fighting with the Invaders and going all over the world (as shown in Timely Comics) and the amnesiac one staying with a regular army unit in France.

In Bicentennial Battles (1976) Cap finds himself at key points of US history. D-Day should be one of these key points. But this Cap never forgot he was from the future so I have to be careful with what scenes I can fit within CA:BB.

With these two time travels, I can get three Captain Americas during D-Day so far. I need at least three.

Other time travels to consider:

ASM:EDAY /9-FB sends Cap to Gettysburg in 1863 via the Cosmic Cube. Can we infer he found himself on the D-Day battlefield as well? Too hard to use. This is the 1966 Captain America time traveling.

CA:MOOT 4-5 is Kang sending the 1964 Cap to resume his 1945 life. I don't think I can use that one as the story makes it clear Cap arrives on V-J Day.

In A 56 (Sep 1968) Cap travels to April 1945 and first appears as a ghost (start of this trend). I don't see how I can use that one either.

Cap also finds his present consciousness in his past body during D-Day in CA:REBORN with the ability to change his actions if he wishes to do so. The question is, would that mean both his actions (the original one and the revised one) coexist in the same timeline? He could embark with regular soldiers in CATOW:ATB and then with the Howling Commandos in DR:NN. But Reborn hardly bears out such a hypothesis.

CATOW:GOMC also shows soldiers from history represented as Captain America but they're not actually Captain America. It wouldn't work for first-person memories but could prove useful for some scenes.

Any other time travel stories I should be thinking of?

Three Caps may be enough:
One who sabotages German installations just before D-Day (CA 109)
One who lands with regular soldiers CATOW:ATB
One who lands with the Howling Commandos DR:NN

One, the original from 1944, needs to be the one with Bucky (CA 109)
One, from IH2 284, needs to be alone and amnesiac CATOW:ATB (16 - 17).
One, FROM CA:BB, needs to be conscious he's from the future CA:REBORN 1 (1 - 3) and DR:NN.

[StrayLamb]

In IH2 284 (1983) the present-day Captain America finds himself in the Battle of the Bulge but forgets he's not from that time period. If I can make it work I rather like the idea that Cap from IH2 284 was actually sent back to D-Day in June and stayed all this time in France until December 1944 when he was picked up by the Avengers. But how do I explain he never crosses his temporal double? A possibility is that the original Captain America with Bucky is fighting with the Invaders and going all over the world (as shown in Timely Comics) and the amnesiac one staying with a regular army unit in France.

I think this one is particularly useful. We see Cap and the other Avengers scattered throughout time in IH2 283, then he's already fighting at what is most likely supposed to be the Battle of the Bulge when Hulk & She-Hulk appear. There's nothing to say how long this Cap had already been in this time-line, and he could easily have found himself in France on D-Day, and been fighting with the regular army between IH2 283 & 284.