Comes with a hand-signed C.O.A.

Similar to the BIGOT collection, only a small handful of this series of these D-Day combat assault maps exist. Of this series, this particular map is the rarest and sought after as it contains the infamous POINTE DU HOC. This is the exact map that was carried ashore by the U.S. Rangers, 1st Infantry Division, and 29th Infantry Division soldiers landing on all sectors of Omaha Beach on June 6th, 1944.

This extremely rare and museum-grade Operation Overlord D-Day combat assault map was used on June 6th, 1944 as U.S. Rangers and Infantry Divisions landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. Dated April 1944, this updated SECOND EDITION U.S. D-Day assault map shows the Omaha Beach sectors of POINTE DU HOC (SPECIAL RANGER MISSION), CHARLIE SECTOR, AND DOG GREEN SECTOR. This Overlord assault map was revised with the TOP SECRET BIGOT series and was printed two months prior to the Allied invasion of Normandy.

Pointe du Hoc:

An ominous piece of land jutting into the English Channel, Pointe du Hoc provided an elevated vantage point from which huge German guns with a range of 25 km (15 miles) could deliver fire upon both Omaha Beach (7 km, or 4 miles, to the east) and Utah Beach (11 km, or 7 miles, to the west). Allied intelligence and photoreconnaissance had identified five 155-mm guns emplaced in reinforced-concrete casemates on the Pointe, and Allied commanders had determined that the neutralization of these guns was the key to the fate of the Omaha and Utah landings. The area of the Pointe was defended by elements of the German 352nd Infantry Division.

The task of neutralizing the guns, and of cutting the road running behind the Pointe from Saint-Pierre-du-Mont to Grandcamp, fell to the 2nd and 5th ranger battalions, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder. The scheme was to land Companies D, E, and F of the 2nd Battalion in a cliff-scaling attack on the Pointe while Company C landed to the east to destroy gun positions on the western end of Omaha Beach. While these assaults were taking place, Companies A and B, along with all of the 5th Battalion, were to mark time off the beach and wait for a signal that the cliff scaling had succeeded. If the signal came, they were to follow in and also scale the heights. If the signal did not come, they were to land at Omaha Beach and attack the Pointe from the rear.

Companies D, E, and F landed at the Pointe at 0710 hours, 40 minutes later than their planned landing time. They were the victims of heavy seas and winds, one of their landing craft having sunk on the way in. Once landed, however, the rangers engaged the Germans on top of the cliffs in a heavy firefight, and within minutes the first man was up. In small groups the rangers fought their way to the casemates, only to find them empty of the big guns. They moved forward and cut the road behind the Pointe, and then a two-man patrol went down a narrow road leading south and discovered the guns some 500 metres (550 yards) from the casemates. The guns were zeroed in on Utah Beach, and a German force, totaling some 100 men, was assembled a short distance away. Using thermite grenades, the two rangers melted and destroyed the guns’ elevating and traversing mechanisms, rendering the pieces immovable. They then returned to their positions.

The other rangers offshore, not seeing the signal from the Pointe, landed at Omaha Beach but were not able to accomplish their mission of attacking Pointe du Hoc since they became involved in the desperate fighting on Omaha itself. They were, however, a key to the eventual success at Omaha.

Although early reports characterized the attack on the Pointe as a wasted effort because the German guns were not there, the attack was in fact highly successful. By 0900 hours the rangers on the Pointe had cut the road behind the Pointe and had put the guns out of action. They were thus the first American unit to accomplish its mission on D-Day—at a cost of half of their fighting force. By the end of the day they were holding onto a small pocket on the heights of the Pointe, and the Germans were counterattacking. The rangers held out for two days until help arrived.

Omaha Beach – Dog 1 Exit, Dog Green sector, Vierville-sur-Mer, Normandy.

WN or Widerstandsnest 72 is part of the Atlantic Wall. Together with WN 71 and WN 73 it guarded the Dog-1 exit towards Vierville-sur-mer. They were built in 1943-44 . These three German Widerstandsneste are situated  in the Dog Green sector which saw some of the heaviest fighting in the morning of june 6, 1944. WN72 was the most formidable of the three;  a H-667 type casemates (nowadays with the National Guard monument  on top of it) housed a formidable 88 mm. PAK43 gun. (It’s still there) and dominated the beach . To it’s  right is a second casemate which housed a 50mm. gun and a small Renault FT tank turret . Both casemates were guarded from fire from the sea and have gun positions enfilading the beach, their muzzle flashes not visible from the sea. In june 1944 these bunkers were protected by barbed wire, minefields and trenches. The hill behind also had several strongpoints of WN 71. An observation post was situated just below the bungalow  halfway up the hill and nine MG positions , two mortar positions and a light fieldgun were on top of the bluffs over a stretch of some 200 metres. To top it off an anti-tank wall 2 metres high was erected between the (left) bunker and the road to block any vehicle. To the east WN73 dominated the bluffs overlooking both Charlie and Dog Green sectors, also with 50mm guns and MG and mortar positions.

The reason why this particular spot on Omaha Beach was so heavily defended is the famous Vierville Draw: a road through the bluffs leading directly to the town of Vierville-sur-Mer and then connecting to the Route Nationale. In other words: an ideal spot for a breakout after the landings. Of course the Germans realised this too, making the Dog-1 exit a deathtrap for anyone trying to take it.

D-Day & Omaha Beach:

When A-Company, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry of the 29th “Blue & Grey” division landed here (an old Virginia National Guard Unit with a long tradition harking back to Stonewall Jackson’s Brigade) it was “H-Hour” on D-Day: june 6, 1944: 06.30 hour. They were coming in exactly on the right spot opposite the draw (a lot of units in other sectors drifted away from their designated areas due to the strong current) in six Royal Navy LCA assault boats. The soldiers could clearly see the German bunkers in the distance and to their horror the beach seemed untouched by the preliminary bombardments which had boosted their morale in the previous hour . They had to cross a large stretch of beach -some 250 metres – towards the Vierville draw.

The Germans, untouched indeed by a rocket barrage and other preliminary bombings, waited until the landing craft were all empty and then opened up with their MG 38’s and 42’s, their mortars, and guns. It was carnage. A-Company was virtually wiped out within the first minutes of the landing; no one knows exactly what happened with the 30 men in LCA 1015 but all of them were killed, and most of their bodies were found on the beach, commanding officer captain Taylor Fellers among them. In fact all but one officers were killed within the first minutes, as were more then half of the soldiers and NCO’s.

Those who did survive the initial onslaught could do little more then stay in the water or press them self against the sand hanging on to their lifes. The shingle bank offered a little bit of protection to the happy few who made it that far, but most survivors had to stay in the water, creeping forward with the rising tide. Incredible acts of heroism were performed by men trying to help their wounded comrades out of the water only to see them cut down by enemy fire or get shot themselfes. A-Company was reduced from an assault company to what was essentially not more then a small rescue party within 15 minutes. Dazed and shellshocked some men who did survive the initial onslaught  managed to find relative safety at the shingles bank.