Two hours after landing, men of the US 4th Division are off the beach and driving towards the villages inland. By noon engineers have cleared the beach at a cost of six killed and 39 wounded. Enemy strongpoints are taken out by company-sized attacks. Most of the Germans surrender as soon as the Americans close in. At one point the defenders are found with only a few machine guns and mortars, a single 88mm gun and the turret of an old Renault tank set in the sands.
The worst that the Americans have to fear is the crossing of flooded fields behind the sand dunes, each man struggling with 68 pounds of equipment. At time the water if neck deep. But by nightfall, 23,000 men have landed with 1,700 tanks, guns and trucks at a cost of 197 casualties.
Major Dick Gosling, the commander of the artillery battery attached to the 1st Battalion, the Hampshire Regiment, is hit in the leg soon after coming ashore. He crawls down to a captured German pillbox to join other casualties. The Germans' breakfast of sausages and coffee is still warm. A letter from a French girl tells one of the Germans she will meet him this evening, 6 June.
There have been some nasty moments. Gold Beach is a mass of wrecked landing craft, tanks, blankets and equipment, and pulped bodies. But driving inland, the men are cheered by French civilians who throw flowers. By evening the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division has reached the Bayeaux to Caen road, and the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards have reported only light German resistance to their tank spearheads.
The Canadians are late coming ashore, and on the rising tide they find themselves struggling with the submerged enemy mines and angles irons. Many of the first wave of landing craft are lost. When three craft are blown up, only two men are killed; the rest free themselves from the wreckage and race forward to attack.
Twelve lanes have been cleared by the Canadian 2nd Armoured Brigade before nightfall, and men are swarming inland after intense street fighting in Courselles. Tank patrols, disregarding snipers, are at Brettonville.
Von Rundstedt has at last got Hitler's permission to move the powerful 12th SS Panzer Division. At midnight it reaches Evercy, nine miles south-west of Caen. It lies in the path of the Allied thrust from Juno.
Two hours after H-hour at 7.30am, a sense of order is emerging from the wreckage of Sword. Seven of the eight planned exits inland are cleared. Free French commandos take Ouistreham, and by 1.30pm British commandos under Lord Lovat have seized Hermanville.
The King's Shropshire Light Infantry pushes on and at 4pm it is joined by the guns and armour of the Staffordshire Yeomanry. At Bieville, some three miles from Caen, 24 tanks of General Edgar Feuchtinger's 21st Panzer Division attack. After losing five tanks they pull back and swing west, probing the gap between Sword and Juno.
The Sword advance slows. In the rear, a massive traffic jam of armour has built up in the narrow roads, delaying supplies. Prudence becomes caution and Caen remains in enemy hands.