Suddenly, the men were up to their armpits in the chill water, weighed down by equipment, floundering, but holding their rifles high. Then they felt the grip of firm sand beneath their feet and they sloshed ashore, the dark shy above them filled with the roar of aircraft, the enemy strongpoints ahead vanishing in an inferno of shellfire from warships 12 miles offshore. The time is 6.31am. After 70 hours in ships, awaiting H-Hour of D-Day, the US 4th Infantry Division came ashore on the Cotentin Peninsula one minute late: 600 men in 20 landing craft of 30 men each. Utah Beach is established.
But they are not the first troops in Normandy; paras dropped over night to seize key points on the flanks of the landing zone.
To the east of the 4th Infantry, for 50 miles a similar drama is unfolding in four other sectors. Tidal variations call for different H-Hours for Gold, Juno and Sword, where the landings are up to one hour and 25 minutes after Omaha and Utah.
At Omaha, a stretch of sand enclosed by rocky outcrops, the US 1st Infantry was ordered to make a head-on assault against strongly defended positions while engineers cleared lanes through obstacles and minefields. But much of the vital equipment was lost in heavy seas, as landing craft were pitched against sandbanks, throwing men into the sea. Unarmed, they then struggled ashore to be met by withering enemy fire. Only 100 tons of 2,400 tons needed have been put ashore.
For the British on Sword Beach it is a story of missed opportunities. The paras gained their objectives against heavy odds, but the British 3rd Infantry Division, spearheading the assault dug in instead of pressing home its advantage. On Juno and Gold beaches, the British and Canadians have had a mixed reception. Air and naval bombardments failed to silence the enemy guns. Landing craft and tanks were hit, but the flail tanks drove paths through the minefields and the bobbin vehicles laid mattress tracks over rough ground.
All told, 75,215 British and Canadian and 57,500 American troops have landed by sea, and 7,900 British and Canadian and 15,500 US troops by air. The Allied death toll is 2,500 - 1,000 at Omaha. Total D-Day casualties - killed, wounded, missing or PoWs - are 6,603 Americans, 3,000 Britons, 946 Canadians and around 6,500 Germans. The Allies lost 114 aircraft.