Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc is a promontory with a 100 ft cliff overlooking the English Channel on the coast of Normandy. During World War II it was the highest point between Utah Beach to the west and Omaha Beach to the east. By mid-1944, German forces manned formidable defenses along the French coast. Of concern to the Allies were German 155mm artillery positions on Pointe du Hoc. They could wreak havoc on Utah and Omaha Beaches. The German army fortified the area with concrete casemates and gun pits. On D-Day, June 4, 1944 Col. Earl Rudder and the Second Ranger Division scaled he 100-foot cliffs and seized the German artillery pieces that could have fired on the American landing troops at Omaha and Utah beaches. At a high cost of life, they successfully defended against determined German counterattacks.

Timeline

June 6, 1944

5:50 a.m.: Naval bombardment of Pointe du Hoc began, including guns of the battleship USS Texas. Three companies (70 men per) of Rudder’s 2nd Ranger Battalion were to land at Pointe du Hoc at 6:30 a.m., but were delayed. Per plan, Schneider’s command (plus three companies of the 2nd) joined the Omaha Beach assault

7:10 a.m.: Two landing craft were lost, but the Rangers debarked and started up the cliffs. They pressed upward, supported by the destroyer USS Satterlee. One of the Rangers’ DUKWs was disabled by enemy fire en route to Pointe du Hoc. The engine failed. Three Rangers were casualties, including one killed.

The Rangers continue to defend an even smaller area on Pointe du Hoc against German counter-attacks.

Afternoon – A platoon of Rangers arrives on an LST, with wounded removed.

7:40 a.m.: Most of the remaining Rangers reached the top.

9:30 a.m.: The Germans had previously moved the guns southward from their initial prepared positions. Despite fierce resistance, Rangers found and destroyed the guns pushing onward to cut the highway south of Pointe du Hoc.

June 6-8: After fighting two days, only about 90 Rangers stood when relieved by Schneider’s Rangers and the 29th Division from Omaha Beach.

In the parking lot a large panel tell the story of Ranger Casualties and their sacrifice (picture on the right):

US Army ranger units sustained Heavy losses during the Normandy Landings. Of 225 Rangers that left the ships in the first wave to attack Pointe du Hoc only 90 men were still able to bear arms when the relief force arrived on the morning of June 8th. IN the larger battle, the 2nd and 5th battalion taken together suffered 96 killed, 183 wounded, and 32 missing during the battles for Pointe du Hoc and Omaha beach.

We are now walking toward the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument (straight ahead in the back ground). With time grass grew back in this battle-scarred area.

Today, the Cliffside of Pointe du Hoc is the location of The World War II Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument, which was built and erected by the French directly on top of the German bunker that was seized by the Americans to honor the American Second Ranger Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. James E. Rudder.

The monument consists of a simple granite pylon positioned atop a German concrete bunker with tablets at its base inscribed in French and English. The monument was formally transferred to ABMC for perpetual care and maintenance on January 11, 1979.

View from inside the bunker-This is what the German soldiers see when they were inside the bunker trying to protect the area.