Utah Beach
At eleven o’clock on the morning of June 8th, in the midst of a great display of naval power, the
convoy dropped anchor off “Utah” beach on the Cherbourg Peninsula. As far as one could see, the
channel was dotted with ships and landing craft of all types and description. All the larger ships had
barrage balloons moored to the masts and everywhere one looked there was a panorama of floating
“sausages.” Overhead, hawk-eyed Allied aircraft hovered and maintained a constant patrol of the skies
on the lookout for enemy aircraft.
Debarkation
Landing craft pulled up to the sides of the ships and the troops began clambering down the
landing nets and into the smaller boats. Debarkation started at 11:58, and as the crafts rammed up on the
beach, the men unloaded and waded through the waist-deep water to the dry sands, and made their way
inland. The area near Azeville which the Regiment had planned to occupy was still in enemy hands, so
instead the columns moved along a dirt road south of St. Martin de Varreville, and thence north and east
towards Turqueville. As the men marched along, a hot midday sun beat down on them with their heavy
loads of new equipment, accentuating the unpleasantness of those first impressions of Normandy.
Roads were lined with discarded invasion equipment – at frequent intervals, there were signs with skull
and crossbones and the letters “MINEN”. Carcasses of dead horses were sprawled on the roadside, and
occasionally a dead German in a strange grey uniform and black boots stared grotesquely from a ditch.
Now and then, the way would be cleared to allow a jeep with wounded soldiers to proceed in the
opposite direction toward the beaches.
First Day Ashore
The 358th Infantry was now in the war, and it was not to be long before those heavy unsavory
impressions would become actual daily experiences. The day following the landing was spent
reorganizing and getting the vehicles and heavy equipment into the hands of the companies and
battalions. All the while big long-toms in the area sent artillery shells whistling into the enemy lines.
That first night, “Bed Check Charlie”, the nightly, low flying reconnaissance plane of the Germans with
its recognizable drone, introduced himself to the outfit and received a hot reception. In the distance,
over the beach, the sky was aglow with a streak of tracer bullets and antiaircraft fire.
Into The attack
Less than twenty-four hours after the first troops landed on the beach, the Regiment was ordered
to attack. The 1st Battalion jumped off and secured the bridge at Chef du Pont, rescuing a battalion of
paratroopers, and then moved on to take the town of Picauville by midmorning. Pushing on toward Pont
L’Abbe they met fierce resistance and murderous mortar fire. Later in the afternoon the Third Battalion
moved up on the right flank of the First and together they attacked toward the town, but so determined
was the resistance, they were forced to dig in just short of the town that night. Meanwhile the Second
Battalion remained in Division Reserve.
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