By Kevin M. Hymel

The American Army that stormed the beaches of Normandy was mostly green but well trained. For months men practiced climbing down rope ladders into landing craft, exiting in columns of threes, racing across a beach, assaulting pillboxes, storming bluffs, and digging foxholes. Medics treated and evacuated the mock-wounded, while supply soldiers loaded and unloaded ships.

To make the training as realistic as possible, soldiers and sailors fired live ammunition. “It was unnecessary for the instructors to tell us to stay low to the ground,” recalled Sergeant John Slaughter. “Strategically placed explosives boomed all around, which made them seem like the real thing.” In one exercise, the Navy saturated the beach with 80mm mortar fire. “The bombardment was not lifted in time,” recalled Private Harold Baumgartner, “and Andy Peacock was wounded in his upper lip.”

The routines were exhaustive and redundant, but the soldiers’ ability to act without thinking became the difference between life and death on the battlefield. The exercises also gave the soldiers confidence that they were ready to go to war and best the soldiers of Adolf Hitler’s armies.

Under the protection of a barrage balloon, a Landing Craft Patrol heads to Slapton Sands, a British beach similar to the Omaha and Utah Beaches of Normandy.
Under the protection of a barrage balloon, a Landing Craft Patrol heads to Slapton Sands, a British beach similar to the Omaha and Utah Beaches of Normandy.
A 4th Infantry Division 2½-ton truck backs onto an LST at Berth Port. An LCM sits to its left.
A 4th Infantry Division 2½-ton truck backs onto an LST at Berth Port. An LCM sits to its left.
Navy corpsmen practice mending wounded soldiers. This training would come into heavy practice on June 6, 1944.
Navy corpsmen practice mending wounded soldiers. This training would come into heavy practice on June 6, 1944.
A truck rolls out of an LST at Slapton Sands.
A truck rolls out of an LST at Slapton Sands.
Navy beach masters take a break from their training with a friendly game of darts. The black bag on the shooter’s hip holds a gas mask, attesting to the anxiety of a gas attack so close to the invasion.
Navy beach masters take a break from their training with a friendly game of darts. The black bag on the shooter’s hip holds a gas mask, attesting to the anxiety of a gas attack so close to the invasion.
U.S. Navy Beach Masters communicate with ships offshore with walkie-talkies and signal lamps.
U.S. Navy Beach Masters communicate with ships offshore with walkie-talkies and signal lamps.
Soldiers drive a jeep off an LST. Notice the snorkel attached to the right side of the windshield to prevent saltwater from pouring into the exhaust.
Soldiers drive a jeep off an LST. Notice the snorkel attached to the right side of the windshield to prevent saltwater from pouring into the exhaust.

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