Comes with C.O.A.

This incredibly rare and museum-grade piece of D-Day history was uncovered during a professional excavation of the D-Day Normandy beachhead of Omaha Beach. Excavated just inland of Omaha Beach, this is an amazing German MG34/MG42 ammunition box. Because of its found location, this German machine gun ammunition crate was used on the morning of June 6, 1944 to stop the two U.S. infantry divisions, the 1st and the 29th, that landed at Omaha Beach, the second to the west of the five landing beaches of D-Day. The German soldiers that once used this box to rain bullets on the U.S. soldier’s below were either KIA in their machine gun position, or left the empty box retreating back to other positions.

This ammunition box is believed to have been used by the opposing German 352nd Infantry Division. Of its 12,020 men, 6,800 were experienced combat troops, detailed to defend a 53-kilometer (33 mi) front. The German strategy was based on defeating any seaborne assault at the water line, and the defenses were mainly deployed in strongpoints along the coast.

This is a one in a lifetime chance to own a piece of this history. German ammunition boxes from D-Day almost never come to market…or are reserved solely for private museums.

Casualties on Omaha Beach were the worst of any of the invasion beaches on D-Day, with 2,400 casualties suffered by U.S. forces. And that includes wounded and killed as well as missing. There is no concrete number for the German forces that were killed at Omaha Beach. Those records simply did not exist, and entire German units were wiped out virtually to a man. Any best estimate at the German losses on D-Day is a guess.

D-Day and Omaha Beach:

Omaha Beach linked the U.S. and British beaches. It was a critical link between the Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, and the flat plain in front of Caen. Omaha was also the most restricted and heavily defended beach. For that reason, at least one veteran U.S. Division (lst Infantry Division) was tasked to land there. The terrain was difficult. Omaha beach was unlike any of the other assault beaches in Normandy. Its crescent curve and unusual assortment of bluffs, cliffs and draws were immediately recognizable from the sea. It was the most defensible beach chosen for D-Day; in fact, many planners did not believe it a likely place for a major landing. The high ground commanded all approaches to the beach from the sea and tidal flats. Moreover, any advance made by U.S. troops from the beach would be limited to narrow passages between the bluffs. Advances directly up the steep bluffs were difficult in the extreme.

German strongpoints were arranged to command all the approaches and pillboxes were cited in the draws to fire east and west, thereby enfilading troops while remaining concealed from bombarding warships. These pillboxes had to be taken out by direct assault. Compounding this problem was the allied intelligence failure to identify a nearly full-strength infantry division, the 352nd, directly behind the beach. It was believed to be no further forward than St. Lo and Caumont, 20 miles inland. The V Corps was assigned to this sector. The objective was to obtain a lodgment area between Port-en-Bessin and the Vire River and ultimately push forward to St. Lo and Caumont in order to cut German communications (St. Lo was a major road junction). Allocated to the task were 1st and 29th Divisions, supported by the 5th Ranger Battalion and 5th Engineer Special Brigade.