(details) General Bradley aboard the USS cruiser Augusta
The situation seen by the American Generals
on board the LSH "Ancon" and the cruiser "Augusta"
In the early hours of the assault, headquarters. of the Vth Corps (General Gerow), received very little information on what was happening on land. On board his ship Headquarters, the LSH "USS Ancon", the direct messages from the beach were virtually non-existent.
The Vth Corps depended on what it could get from American ships near the coast and its information detachment under Colonel Talley's command. This detachment tried to reach the shore early aboard two DUKW, but it thought that radio equipment would probably be lost if they landed. That's why Colonel Talley's 2 "decks" continued to patrol along the beach a few hundred metres from the shore.
Unfortunately, from these "barriers" it was very difficult to see what was really going on, impossible to distinguish where the Americans were moving forward, where they were infiltrating and where they were completely destroyed. Transmissions, when they existed, were always mediocre and slow.
Also the first news arriving at the V° Corps was fragmentary and not encouraging. The messages spoke of sunk ships, intense fire from enemy artillery, submerged DUKW and grounded troops.
The first penetrations by small units on slopes often camouflaged by smoke and vegetation have escaped the sightings at sea. Their attention was mainly directed to beach outings where nothing was visible.
At 9:45 a.m., the V° Corps (General Gerow on the LSH "Ancon") sent a report to the First Army (General Bradley on the cruiser "USS Augusta"): "Mining obstacles, slow progression, the 1st Battalion of 116°Regiment reported being stopped at 7:48 a.m. by machine gun fire. Two LCTs put out of combat by artillery. » . It was obviously completely insufficient and very misleading. At the same time, in several places over the 6 km. American troops had already crossed the German thin line of defense, taking advantage of the holes between its fortified points.
At 11:55 a.m., the V° Corps was still as ill-informed and its next report to the First Army states: "Location on the Dog beach exit always critical at 11 a.m. The 352nd Infantry Division identified. The 116°Regiment is on the ground, fighting continues on the beaches, vehicles arrive slowly on the beaches»
Major States were completely unaware of the capture of Vierville at that time and General Bradley seriously considered the abandonment of the bridgehead and the transfer to Utah Beach of undisembarked units of the "O" Force.
From 1 p.m. onward, Headquarters information began to catch up and subsequent information became more reassuring.
