Utah Beach Initial landing to Midday 6 June 1944

Utah was the furthest west of the D-Day landing beaches and was cut off from the rest by an area of marshy terrain. The area behind the beach had been purposefully flooded by the Germans to limit an Allied advance to a network of small lanes that passed between the flooded fields. Airborne forces were dropped behind the German defensive line to assist the beach assault and to slow down any German reinforcements that would inevitably try to move towards Cherbourg. The landing craft were pushed 2 miles (3 km) east of their intended landing site by tidal currents, but eventually came ashore in an area that had weaker defences. As all incoming land-bound forces were re-routed through this sector, the beach was quickly secured. The airborne drop behind the beach had mixed success; paratroopers were scattered over a wide area but caught the mainly conscripted Germans forces off guard.