Sword & Gold Beaches Normandy 1944

Four years after the dramatic escape of the British Army at Dunkirk, the Brits returned to mainland Europe as part of the largest invasion the world had ever seen. With their new allies, the Americans, and after years of planning, the last stronghold in Europe was ready to go on the offensive against the Nazis.

The attack plan for D-Day called for a massive amphibious landing in Normandy and divided the landing zone into five beaches. Two were assigned to the British and given the code names Gold and Sword.

Although most histories of D-Day focus on the American action at Omaha Beach because it was the most dramatic and bloody, the British efforts were just as important to the overall plan.

The attack on Gold Beach began with a massive bombardment from aircraft and surface ships in an attempt to knock-out the German defenses. At 7:30 am, the infantry began hitting the beaches. However, the sea was crowed with mines and other obstacles. A score of landing ships struck mines and suffered damaged of various degrees. Specialist teams of underwater demolition experts were forced to struggle through the water while disabling mines and blowing the other obstacles, all under heavy sniper fire from the remaining German defenders. Some people say that the British had a relatively easy time getting ashore at Gold, and certainly that is true when compared to Omaha, but that should not lessen the sacrifice of the 400 British soldiers killed or wounded at Gold. Their blood helped clear the road that would allow 25,000 allied troops to land by the end of the day.

At the same time, the Brits were also landing at Sword beach. At Sword the air and naval bombardment had been less effective. Although the landing ships had an easier time putting men ashore, the infantry were faced with a number of obstacles to overcome while enduring constant machine gun and artillery fire. As part of the defences, the Germans had set up mine fields, concrete sea walls and anti-tank ditches. Here British ingenuity came into play in the form of Hobart's Funnies. These odd looking tanks had been specially designed to overcome such obstacles. Some used giant rolling pins on the front of the tank that whipped around heavy chains. These could be driven through mine fields with the chains safely detonating the mines as it went. Other tanks boasted special bridges carried on top or in front of the tank which could be laid over walls or across ditches. These tanks proved tremendously helpful in overcoming the obstacles laid out at Sword beach. Still, the British paid with blood. Over 600 men were killed or wounded during the attack on Sword Beach. By the end of the day nearly 30,000 allied troops had landed at Sword Beach.

Although the British didn't actually reach their objectives on D-Day (except for linking up with the Canadians who came ashore at Juno Beach), they accomplished what was necessary. The taking of Sword and Gold beach were instrumental in the invasion of occupied France. If either attack had failed it could have spelt disaster for the Allies. June 6, 1944 should still stand as one of the proudest days in British History.

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