Pointe du Hoc--Rangers Lead the Way
By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
The crossing was rough—the weather was stormy and the seas were not kind to the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions. Most could not get any sleep, as the dread of an upcoming mission along with the rough seas made them restless. It is always that way before critical missions—no amount of training and preparation could ease their minds—they were going Pointe du Hoc to destroy an artillery battery on the top of a 100 foot cliff.
The capture of Pointe du Hoc was considered critical to the overall invasion plan. It was clearly one of the most dangerous areas of Normandy—high ground with good fields of fire and hard to capture during a raid. The 155 mm cannons could fire upon the landing zones of Utah and Omaha with devastating effect on the invading force. It had to be neutralized.
Pointe du Hoc was defended by elements of the 716th and 352d Infantry Divisions, along with artillerymen--it became a heavily fortified bastion for the Wehrmacht as part of the Atlantic Wall. Approximately 200+ German troops (125 infantry and 85 artillery men) were garrisoned in or around the Point du Hoc position.
Site Map Pointe du Hoc
The rangers had to take this defensive area or the whole D Day mission might fail.
This is the story of the Ranger mission during the D Day battle.
An Obstacle too Difficult to Take from the Sea
The Pointe du Hoc cliffs were considered too difficult to scale under combat conditions. This point of view was firmly held by the Germans. And, not surprisingly, most American military commanders also thought it was a suicide mission.
A good view of Pointe du Hoc. From our 2019 Tour.
The east side of Pointe du Hoc where the rangers landed on 6 June 1944
Yet, it was vital to the success of the overall invasion scheme. The 100 foot cliffs were almost 90 degrees from the base to the top.
The sheer cliffs of Pointe du Hoc. Notice the narrow landing area. It is easy to understand why the Germans believed it was not feasible to attack from the sea. This is from our 2014 tour.
The Germans planned the defense on the land bridge of Pointe du Hoc facing away from the sea by concentrating their forces for an inland assault. They developed a defensive position consisting of heavily fortified concrete casements interlaced with tunnels, trenches, and machine-gun positions around the perimeter.
The Germans lightly defended the approach from the sea—they though it would be easy to stop invaders trying to climb the cliffs with just a few defenders.
Pointe du Hoc from our 2014 Tour
Rudder’s Rangers
Site Sign at Point du Hoc
On the fateful day, Lt. Col James Rudder led 225 men in an assault on the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc.
But to understand this superb combat unit, we must return to the days of 1943, where Rudder formed the Rangers. The 2nd Ranger Battalion was activated on April 1, 1943 at Camp Forrest, Tullahoma, Tennessee. They were volunteer units. Each soldier had to possess superb physical qualities and sharp mental skills. They also trained in Florida. Each ranger became skilled in all types of weapons, hand-to-hand combat and handling difficult terrain. The unit was deployed to Scotland next. Here they trained on scaling cliffs and trained with British Commandos.
The rangers were organized into 6 line companies, A to F per battalion sized units. Each company consisted of 65 men and 3 officers. The companies were organized into 2 platoons.
The Plan
The plan was for part of the 2nd Ranger Battalion to assault the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc at 0630 and take possession of the German position by 0700. This group was named Force A.
Force A had 3 ranger companies in the task organization. Company D was to scale the cliffs from the west; Companies E and F were to scale the cliffs from the east. They would then destroy the cannons once on top of Pointe du Hoc. After destroying the weapons, they were to establish a defensive perimeter on Pointe du Hoc and prevent the Germans from moving reinforcements down the coastal highway that connected Grandcamp and Vierville.
The rangers were to hold the ground until relieved by the 116th Infantry Division. Relief was scheduled for noon on 6 June 1944.
Force B, Charlie Company of the 2nd Rangers, was to assault and capture the area on the far right flank of the Omaha Beach on exit D-1. Their objective was Pointe de la Percée.
Force C, was comprised of the entire 5th Ranger Battalion, along with A and B companies of the 2nd Rangers. Here were their missions:
1). If the initial landing force failed, Force C was designated to assault and capture Pointe du Hoc, by landing at Omaha and moving inland to take Pointe du Hoc.
Or
2) If the mission of Force A was successful, they were scheduled to also land at Pointe du Hoc as reinforcements, assuming the objective was taken by 0700.
A Landing that Started Off Wrong
At 0445 the rangers of Force A were loaded into landing crafts that held 22 men per landing craft. They men and supplies were loaded into 10 landing craft and 4 DUKW's amphibious vehicles. As they approached the beachhead, they were 3 miles off course, and LTC Rudder realized the error—they were headed to Pointe de la Percée, the objective of Force B.
This a DUKW landing craft. LTC Rudder’s had 4 mechanical ladders ready to use in the assault.
The landing craft had to travel exposed back to the correct landing site. By the time they arrived at the objective, 1 landing craft and 2 DUKW’s were sunk.
They were due to start their assault at 0630, but the currents and navigation errors delayed the landing until 0710. Since the plan called for the assault to begin at 0630, the naval bombardment stopped at 0625. This allowed the Germans to regroup and take up some defensive positions.
The Germans, however, were slow to reorganize, and this aided the assault.
The first landing crafts made it to Pointe du Hoc at 0710. Their landing area was only 30 yards wide and the tide was rising. There was no time to assault from both the west and east sides of Pointe du Hoc—they all had to go up the cliffs from the east side.
Some equipment was not useable. The 75-foot mechanized ladders mounted on the amphibious vehicles couldn’t get into positions to be used—it was too slippery for the tracks to get into position (there were only 2 available as they were transported by the DUKW’s and 2 were already sunk). They had lost ammo supplies. Ropes, men, radios and all their other equipment were soaked.
The only thing in their favor—the intense shelling and bombing had caused some of the cliff face to collapse into rubble piles. In a few places, the climb would only be 60 feet.
The rangers were going to scale the cliffs under their own power using ropes and rope ladders.
Over the Top and Success of Force A
Scaling the cliffs was one of the most impressive military feats ever successfully accomplished by a US unit in combat. Companies D, E and F landed and scaled the cliffs by using rocket-fired grappling hooks attached to ropes. They developed the scaling techniques primarily by trial and error during their training sessions. Their training was intense and it paid off—under pressure and enemy fire these soldiers responded, despite incredible odds against their success.
The landing problems resulted in an assault only from the east side of Pointe du Hoc. Some of the soaked ropes didn’t reach the top, but finally some worked correctly. They only had 15 casualties in the initial assault. The German defenders cut ropes, threw potato mashers and fired on the exposed soldiers. The rangers countered with mortar fire and small arms fire at the German positions above. Also 2 US destroyers fired their guns effectively at the cliff side German defenders.
5 minutes after landing, some rangers were already on top of the cliffs. Within 15 minutes of landing, the majority of Rudder’s assault force had made it on top of Pointe du Hoc.
Once up top, small groups of rangers went off to accomplish their missions. They were stunned by the results of the bombardments—one soldier said it looked like the craters of the moon. It looked nothing like the mock-ups and photos of the site.
Crater at Pointe du Hoc
A really good view of the bomb damage craters at Pointe du Hoc
But the biggest surprise was that the 155 mm cannons were missing—the Germans had placed painted telephone poles in the concrete bunkers to fool the aerial reconnaissance. The German ruse had worked.
Each gun position had been assigned a number and the rangers knew their primary mission was to destroy the position assigned to their unit. Now they had to find the missing cannons.
This gun bunker was still under construction and not yet completed.
A bunker at Pointe du Hoc.
This is the Observation Post Bunker at Pointe du Hoc. It is the present day site of the Ranger Bayonet Monument on top of the bunker
One of the hardened gun positions at Pointe du Hoc.
Artillery Position #4 position at Pointe du Hoc
Artillery Position # 5
Gun Position # 6 Pointe du Hoc. This position was not yet hardened. In 1943, all the 6 gun positions were unprotected and open.
Rudder divided his forces into two units. One group established a command post in the bunker area. The second group went off in search of the missing cannons. They were located, unguarded, in an apple orchard about a mile from Pointe du Hoc. With thermite grenades and other explosives, the rangers destroyed the weapons and ammunition supplies.
By 0830, Pointe du Hoc was secured and 5 artillery cannons were destroyed. Here is a picture of the 6th cannon, now on display:
This is the 6th 155 mm cannon now on display at Pointe du Hoc.
Force A, led by LTC Rudder, was the first American unit to accomplish their mission on D Day. They had captured Pointe du Hoc and established blocking positions on the road.
Force B
Pointe de la Percée on the western side. Force B landed on the east side
Meanwhile, Force B (Company C, of the 2nd Ranger Battalion) was assaulting at Omaha and later would capture Pointe de la Percée. Their landing was at Charlie (farthest western sector of Omaha) on Omaha Beach, at 0645 in the second landing wave. They landed after Company A, 116th Regiment was being torn apart on Dog Green (now more famously known as the Bedford Boys, as 19 from the town in VA were killed in the D Day assault on 6 June). They too came under intense fire from 3 Widerstandnesten or Wn (resistance nests) defensive positions, Wn 71, Wn 72 and Wn 73. They fought their way to the seawall.
There were two possible plans for Force B. If the D-1 Draw was clear, move up the draw and attack Pointe de la Percée and eliminate Wn 74 (plan 1). Plan 2 was to climb up the cliffs (the worst option).
Force B lacked most of the specialized climbing gear that was allocated to Force A. With the draw not yet captured, the only option was climb the cliffs. Hugging the cliffs, they found a section to climb. PFC Otto Stephens climbed first, using his bayonet to dig hand holds. He and 2 other rangers established a rope for the remaining rangers, so they would be able to climb up.
The situation was so bad on Omaha, that the Force B commander, Captain Goranson, decided he had no other option than to attack Wn 73 and then proceed to attack Wn 74 on Pointe de la Percée. This turned out to be a great combat decision—Wn 73 was a really effective fighting position and Wn 74 was primarily a radar position, guarded by 2 anti-aircraft guns and several machinegun nests.
Only 29 of his 64 Rangers were able to fight—the rest were killed or wounded. The remaining 29 men began slowing clearing the trenches of Wn 73. They were later joined with 20 soldiers from 116th who also climbed the ropes. All worked together, clearing the trenches, to eliminate their lethal machinegun nests and other defensive positions.
At around 1400, Captain Goranson, after leading the men to clear the German defensive positions and block German reinforcements, led a patrol to Pointe de la Percée. He found it abandoned, with the defensive positions Wn 74 destroyed by naval fire as they approached. He returned to link up with Force C. Around night fall, Force B had only 12 men able to fight.
Force C
Force C was reluctantly waiting off shore, hoping to reinforce Rudder at Pointe du Hoc. His soldiers bobbed up and down in the rough seas. There was no signal received by the Battalion Commander, LTC Max Schneider, from Force A—he had ordered his landing crafts to lay-to offshore. Schneider knew how important it was to reinforce Force A at Pointe du Hoc.
There was no more time left; at 0740 six landing crafts with the rangers landed at Omaha beach at Dog White. They were met with intense fire. LTC Schneider, the only ranger officer with combat experience, moved the rest of the force to landing zone Dog Red. This was a pivotal decision during the early phases of the invasion landings at Omaha. He managed to get most of his force intact over the exposed 200 yards to the seawall—brush fires helped obscure the defenders from accurate fire upon his landing unit.
Getting a well-trained, elite unit almost intact to relative safety was a key factor in the fight for Omaha.
Shortly thereafter, he met up with BG Cota, Executive Officer of the 29th Division. It is here where Cota, urging the men off the beach, yelled out “Rangers lead the way!” They made it up the bluffs and probably were the key reason in the 29th Division sector succeeded in accomplishing their mission in taking their assigned sector of Omaha beach. LTC Schneider led his men through the obstacles, past the barbed wire and up the cliffs. They continued the assault to their initial objective near Vierville and later linked up with the remainder of Force B. They had been in almost 10 hours of constant combat.
However, they were badly shot up and could not effectively reinforce Rudder’s men at Pointe du Hoc on 6 June 1944 but they still wanted to try. Key leaders denied them the chance on 6 June 1944. The 29th Division had lost so many men, it needed the rangers to help defend the small beach head positions inland. Despite LTC Schneider’s pleas to go reinforce the stranded rangers, he was ordered to stay and help defend the beach head.
3 ranger companys were not as important as securing Omaha—a tough but correct command decision.
Hanging On at Pointe du Hoc
Rudder had signaled that he had landed late and taken Pointe du Hoc, but the message was garbled and not understood by the commanders at sea. They committed the reserve rangers (Force C) to land at Omaha beach. By the time he communicated success, and ask for help, the reply was “no reinforcements”.
Rudder’s group was now on their own.
Later that day, the Germans started their counterattacks. By night fall, Rudder’s men were forced back into defensive positions in a small 200 yard perimeter.
At 2100, 1st platoon of A Company, who had been unable to link up with the rest of the 5th Ranger Bn., had fought their way to Ponte du Hoc and linked up with Rudder’s men, with a force of 23 soldiers. They would be his only reinforcements on 6 June.
By 7 June, Rudder had a fighting force of fewer of 100 of the original 225 who had begun the assault. Ammunition and food were running low. He did get some reinforcements from the sea. About 60 men from the 1st Platoon of Fox Company of the 5th Rangers and a dismounted cannon platoon, help reinforced Rudder’s men and evacuate some wounded soldiers.
Rudder held on until 8 June, when the 5th Rangers and men from the 29th Division finally linked up with his force. His men had withstood 5 counterattacks.
The Price for Victory
The 2nd Ranger Battalion (a total force of about 488) had 77 killed and 152 wounded and 38 listed as missing. At the time of the relief, Rudder’s original force of 225 had less than 75 men capable of fighting.
Rudder was wounded twice in the battle and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). Thirteen other Rangers were awarded the DSC for their roles at Pointe du Hoc and the other ranger missions.
The 5th Ranger Battalion (again about 488 men, according to the Table of Organization & Equipment (TO&E)) had 23 men killed, 89 wounded and 2 missing.
Both the 2nd Ranger Bn. and the 5th Bn. were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and the French Croix de Guerre.
Bayonet Monument on Pointe du Hoc. From our 2014 tour.
Inscription on the Bayonet Monument
Bayonet Monument on Pointe du Hoc. From our 2019 tour.
My Final Thoughts
Competence | Courage | Sacrifice | Rangers Lead the Way
To me, the value of visiting a place like Pointe du Hoc, is to see first-hand the difficulties this unit had to endure to insure the success of the D Day invasion. Reading about this in history books or blogs just doesn’t due it justice—when you walk the terrain, the hardships and sacrifice leap out at you. It really is about the best of America military forces—superbly trained soldiers, given a near impossible mission, and they triumphed.
We have led two tours in Normandy in 2014 and 2019 and those experiences have made this operation much more real for me. We owe a debt of gratitude to these folks—their sacrifice and courage will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Coin we handed out to our tour members from our 2019
If you have never been to Normandy and seen the D Day Beaches, I would encourage you to go.
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HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
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