| Original caption: Coast Guard Barges Hit the French Coast – Coast Guard landing barges hit the French Coast with the 1st wave of American troops under heavy fire from Nazi beach nests. This photo, taken from a landing barge by a Coast Guard combat photographer, shows the troops waist deep as they wade ashore. These landing barges shuttled back and forth from their assault transports to the beach carrying troops throughout D-Day. Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel (LCVP)s from the United States Coast Guard USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) land troops from the 16th Infantry Regiment, United States Army 1st Infantry Division on Easy Red sector of Omaha Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944. 3 LCVPs can be seen. While casualties were marginally lighter than the 116th Infantry Regiment’s sectors, they were still heavy. Among combat engineers it was worse, with 30 to 40 percent of those units wounded or killed. Nazi German machine gunners targeted their rubber rafts packed with explosives. In the background, you can see bluffs, which are between Exit E-1, Widerstandsnest (“Resistance Nest”) 64 and Exit E-3, Widerstandsnest 62. After World War II, the Normandy American Cemetery would be placed overlooking those bluffs. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0488.jpg |
| Image Size | 629.08 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3046 x 1744 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Coast Guard |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 6, 1944 |
| Location | Easy Red |
| City | Omaha Beach |
| State or Province | Normandy |
| Country | France |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 26-G-2337 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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