Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 006, folder 02: 29th Division personal statements

After Action Reports 29th Division personal state ments. BOX 6, #2

After Action Reports

29th Division

Personal Statements

Gibson, Lt. Rex F. Headquarters Co. 116th Infantry Hawks, Capt. Berthie B. C Company 116th Infantry Athanasakos, 2nd Lt. George D Company, 116th Infantry MacNab, Jr. First Ltd. Ed. R. H Company, 116th Infantry Czuba, 2nd Lt. John T. Company I, 116th Infantry Dallas, Maj. Thomas S. Battalion Executive - The Command Group, Company I, 116th Combat Infantry

Nowlin, S/Sgt. Herbert L. ) Bower, Reese L. T/Sgt. ) Belinski, S/Sgt. James ) 116th Infantry Wallace, Pfc J.D. )

Gearing, 1st Lt. Edward M. Company A - 1st Bat., 116th Combat Infantry Bryan, 1st Lt. George E. Headquarters Company - 2nd Bat. 116th Infantry Newbury, 2nd Lt. Donald S. M Company, 115th Infantry Alsop, 2nd Lt. John S. A Company, 175th Infantry Wash, 1st Lt. George M. Battery B of the 224th Field Artillery Batt. Cvitanovitch, Pvt. A. C Company, 112th Eng. att. to 116th Combat Team Malloy, Lt. P.W.J. B Company, 122nd Combat Engineers Batt.

Hospital Interviews from Volume III of ML 2235

Walker, Capt. Robert E. 116th Regt , liaison officer

Belt 7 - Page 5.

LIEUTENANT REX F. GIBSON HEADQUARTERS COMPANY 116TH INFANTRY 29TH DIVISION

"I was scheduled to land on Omaha Dog Green Beach in the second wave. We got on an LCVP from our LSI and started in. When we got several hundred yards from the beach the coxswain turned back to sea. We circled around evading fire from the cliffs. When we did go in we landed on Dog Red Sector, the beach not yet clear and there was heavy small arms fire and artillery fire but up to now I hadn't lost a man. I led my men off the beach and up into the hills as quickly as possible. One man stepped on a mine on the beach and was destroyed. We went through a field marked minnen in order to gain the cover of the first hedgerow as soon as possible. Apparently there were no mines as none exploded. My mission was to cross the inundated area near Isigny Estuary and reconnoiter the causeway but were unable to advance past this first hedgerow. I had two men with me now and saw the Commander of O Company and part of his wire section on the beach. He was trying to find a place to tie his wire so I brought the wire up to the hedgerow where I had left our men. I had to crawl about 300 yards across the field to my position. I stayed there until about 1700 hours of D-Day (I think that Commander of O Company could very well also mean Commanding Officer). Captain Sink, the Commanding Officer now came up and took charge of our positions. We now had about 50 persons there but no communications. There were lots of dead 1st Division men about. The Commanding Officer sent me to try and locate our battalion. I proceeded to St. Laurent -sur-Mer where I found the 3rd Battalion. We moved to the 3rd Battalion Headquarters and dug in for the night. There were lots of Germans between us and St. Laurent and Colleville."

End statement.

Here are interviews from Volume III of ML 2235, Hospital Interviews.

Handicapped by a misty sky and a rough sea, the 29th Division with attachments began its assault landings on Omaha Beach on at H-Hour, 0630 hours on D-Day, 6th of June, 1944. Its 116th Combat Team with attached elements landed on Omaha Beach simultaneously with the assault element of the 1st Division. The order of the 116th Landings were as follows: time, H-Hour, D-Day; Companies A, E, F, G, 116th Infantry; Company B, 121st Engineers ; 741st Tank Battalion. H plus 3 minutes, Task Force 146 Engineers under the command of Colonel O'Neill. H plus 30 minutes, Headquarters 2nd Battalion, Company B, Company H, the 116 th Infantry. H plus 40 minutes, Headquarters of the 1st Battalion, D Company. H plus 50 minutes, Companies I, K, L and C of the 116 th Infantry; the 2nd Ranger Battalion; the Assisting Commanding General of the 29 th Division. H plus 57 minutes, Headquarters of the 3rd Battalion and M Company of the 116 th Infantry ; Companies B and D of the 81st Chemical Battalion (4.2 chemical mortars). H plus 90 minutes, 58th Field Artillery Battalion Armored. H plus 110 minutes, the 111th Field Artillery Battalion (one gun only; the remainder was lost). H plus 120 minutes, Cannon Company and AT Company of the 116 th Infantry. H plus 195 minutes, Companies A, B, C, D and Battalion Headquarters of the 1st Battalion, Regimental Headquarters, 115th Infantry; one platoon of Company A of the 121st Engineers. H plus 240 minutes, Companies E, F, G, H, Battalion Headquarters, 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry ; one platoon, Company A, 121st Engineers. H plus 280 minutes, Companies I and M, 115th Infantry. H plus 290 minutes, Companies L and Battalion Headquarters, 3rd Battalion, 115 th Infantry. H plus 300 minutes, Company K, 115 th Infantry. About 500 yards off shore the first assault wave came under the concentrated fire of enemy batteries, automatic weapons and small arms. This wave was composed of E, F and G Companies of the 2nd Battalion and A Company of the 1st Battalion.

The other waves followed as scheduled above. Most of A Company, nearly half of B. Company and fully one-fourth of D Company were lost in front of Vierville-surMer. The second wave successfully penetrated the coastal defense in the vicinity of St. Laurent-sur-Mer to the left and lost about one-fifth of its strength. Company C, 1st Battalion, being unable to land at Vierville, followed the 2nd Battalion in at St. Laurent. The 29th thus tended to impinge upon the sector of the 1st Division to the east or left. The variety of problems which confronted the different assault waves was due to the fact that the first wave came at the end of the low tide and the succeeding waves were coming in on a swiftly rising tide. As the first wave came in when the beach obstacles were exposed to view, and being widely spaced, could be avoided. The following waves, landing on a rising tide, ran into many beach obstacles of the tetrahedron, element C and hedgehog types. These obstacles were by that time under water and therefore dangerous to landing craft. These mechanisms destroyed a number of the landing craft and compelled others to unload their personnel and equipment in deep water resulting in heavy losses of both. A special task force from the 146th Engineers had landed at H plus 3 minutes to breach these obstacles. Due to heavy casualties they had great difficulty in clearing lanes for the landing craft. Nevertheless they opened enough lanes to make the landing possible. In many cases the obstacles were so spaced that LCVP’s could have gone between them if they had been marked. However, they were not marked and the rapidly rising tide soon recovered them. Under such conditions they were at maximum efficiency.