A visual account
From the Channel crossing to the fighting inland: a chronology of Omaha Beach drawn from the maps, photographs and witness accounts assembled by Yves Cordelle.
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Before dawn
During the night of 5–6 June 1944, Allied convoys approach the Normandy coast. Off Omaha, men leave the transports for small landing craft. Rough seas, cold spray and seasickness wear down the soldiers before they have even reached the beach.
Explore the dossierThis present-day account accompanies the archives. Captions distinguish images of 6 June from contextual documents and identify uncertain dates. Each step links to the dossier where the document can be consulted.
Read the text version
Read the twelve steps at your own pace. These texts are a present-day synthesis; the witness accounts and original captions remain available in the linked dossiers.
01Before dawn
During the night of 5–6 June 1944, Allied convoys approach the Normandy coast. Off Omaha, men leave the transports for small landing craft. Rough seas, cold spray and seasickness wear down the soldiers before they have even reached the beach.
Document shown. A convoy of LCTs, reproduced in the crossing dossier. Context photograph; its exact date and time are not recorded in the collection.
02At dawn
Ships and aircraft bombard the coastal defences before the assault. At Omaha, this preparation leaves many German positions able to fire. Some bombs fall behind the beach. The approaching troops do not yet know what condition the defences will be in when they arrive.
Document shown. The destroyer USS Thompson, shown in the naval bombardment dossier. A contextual photograph; the collection does not give its exact date or time.
03Around 06:30
The first American infantry waves reach Omaha around 06:30. Soldiers of the 1st and 29th Divisions land across several sectors. Off Vierville, British landing craft carry, among others, Company A of the 116th Regiment. German positions fire on the men and their craft.
Document shown. LCAs approach Vierville. The collection identifies them as first-wave craft led by Jimmy Green on 6 June 1944; this image precedes their arrival ashore.
04The first hours
The current scatters landing craft. Some units arrive far from their targets, separated from men and equipment. On the beach, survivors seek shelter behind obstacles and the shingle embankment. Wounded men accumulate, while communications and movement become difficult.
Document shown. An LCVP has just emptied; a tank is visible on the beach. A photograph shown in the second-wave dossier; the collection gives no precise time.
05During the morning
Engineers and demolition teams try to clear obstacles, cross wire and open routes. Losses of men and equipment make their work harder. The tide is rising. Vehicles and supplies must also be landed to support the troops already ashore.
Document shown. An LCT unloads off Saint-Laurent. LCI 92 can be seen at the shoreline, on the boundary between Dog White and Dog Red. A contextual photograph; the collection does not give the time it was taken.
06Throughout the day
Amid the fighting, medical personnel and comrades help the wounded. First aid is given in precarious conditions, and evacuation by sea remains difficult. The archives also recall the suffering of local residents: the day cannot be reduced to unit movements or military objectives.
Document shown. A medic beside a wounded man, in the dossier on 6 June at Vierville. Context photograph; exact date and time are not recorded.
07As the morning progresses
In small groups, soldiers climb the slopes between the beach exits, many of which are still defended. Progress is uneven and units become mixed. In the west, men reach Vierville; elsewhere, fighting continues towards Saint-Laurent and Colleville. Holding the beach does not yet mean controlling the inland area.
Document shown. A diagram of the morning’s advances in the Vierville sector, from the collection. A documentary reconstruction, not a photograph taken during the fighting.
08Around midday
By midday, troops have moved inland, but routes for vehicles remain limited. Landing craft, tanks, equipment and wounded men crowd the shore. Firing continues. Engineers’ work and support from ships are needed to widen the routes and sustain the groups that have advanced.
Document shown. The boundary between Dog White and Dog Red seen from the air. The collection places this film frame at about 12:30 on 6 June 1944.
09In the villages
For local residents, 6 June brings waiting, fear and movement between homes and shelters. Bombardment damages the villages. Michel Hardelay’s recollections and other Vierville accounts describe the soldiers’ arrival and everyday life overturned. These are individual experiences rooted in particular places, to be read alongside one another.
Document shown. Michel Hardelay, portrait from 1939. A document predating D-Day, used here to accompany his account.
10During the afternoon
Reinforcements and supplies continue to arrive, amid delays and losses. Beach organisation begins while fighting remains close. At Vierville and around Saint-Laurent and Colleville, American positions are still shallow. Several objectives planned for the first day have not been reached.
Document shown. According to the collection’s caption, LCT 207 lands at 16:00 on the boundary between Dog Red and Easy Green to unload four self-propelled guns of the 58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion. Beyond it are LCI 92, stranded on the shingle at Dog White, DD tanks of the 743rd Tank Battalion and the villas of Vierville.
11On the evening of 6 June
By the evening of 6 June, the Americans hold a still-fragile strip of ground. The day has left many dead, wounded and missing. Survivors seek their units and prepare for another night. The landings have ended neither the fighting nor the dangers faced by local residents.
Document shown. Wrecked landing craft on the beach after the fighting. The collection does not give the photograph’s exact date: it illustrates the aftermath, not a documented moment on the evening of 6 June.
12Passing on the memory
Yves Cordelle brought together maps, photographs and witness accounts to understand this day through its places and people. His website, created in 2006, lets readers return to the documents and their sources. Preserving this collection means keeping a human memory of war and caring for peace.
Document shown. Yves Cordelle on Omaha Beach. A contemporary photograph, separate from the 1944 archives. Photo © Yohann Cordelle
The chronology draws on the collection’s dossiers and the following historical references.