bataille pour la pointe du Hoc

Taking the Pointe du Hoc on 6 June 1944 was one of the most spectacular events of D-Day. Two hundred and twenty-five highly-trained American soldiers were given the “hardest of missions”, according to General Bradley: climb the over 100 feet high cliffs, assault a highly defended German position and destroy six cannon before they could pour devastating fire on the Utah and Omaha Beaches. This is a complete account of this event. We start with the distant origins of the Rangers at the very beginning of the 17th Century and the first colonists in America. Later, a unit of elite soldiers was set up in 1942; we go over their long and painful training in the United States and in the United Kingdom as well as their first fight at Dieppe, then in North Africa, in Sicily and Italy. Then they landed on 6 June 1944. Very precise details about the bombing of the Pointe du Hoc allow us to understand all the destructive power which the strongpoint went through before the assault. The complete account of the Rangers’ incredible sea crossing up to the Normandy beaches plunges us immediately into the heart of Overlord. Then it gives way to the violent fighting on the Pointe du Hoc until 8 June, but also all the confrontations on Omaha Beach. A lot of poignant eyewitness accounts by soldiers but also by Norman civilians, enable us to enter into the core of the battle. After the Pointe du Hoc was taken, the future of the Rangers in Europe and the very singular destiny of some of them after the war are revealed to us… More than two hundred and seventy photographs, among which a lot of unpublished HD ones, together with maps, enable the reader to find his way over the battlefields. A detailed account of the bombers, the barges and the quantities of equipment used for the fighting also gives us an insight into the event and answers a lot of questions very thoroughly.