3rd Company, 1st Battalion, Regiment 726 of 716th Division
German Army
German 716th Division
Colleville-Sur-Mer, Strong Point WN62
Near Omaha Beach
"10 June 1944
Dear parents and brothers,
The attack on June 6th was something that nobody, even those soldiers who had fought in the East, had ever experienced . . . . Around 4 in the morning we saw the first big ship units. No sooner had we noticed them, when flashes of light shot up from the ships in rapid sequence. Soon after the first shells came roaring along . . . . There was not a square meter of soil that had not been hit by bombs or shells.
. . . the murder began. The water was still 250 meters away . . . . For the Americans, it meant that they had to advance through the sand. This was to become their fate. It was almost a miracle that none of us got wounded or killed. Now we let the Americans have it.
. . . Soon after, the entire beach was covered with Americans who had died in our fire. Only a very few of them reached the saving gravel rampart. Many unwounded remain lying as well. But when the water came in, they too had to move. That's when we attacked them again . . ."
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Used with permission of the author and Discovery Communications, Inc.
