1st Infantry Division, 16th Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company, Rear CP
After Action Report
D-day on Omaha Beach
Considerable confusion resulted, the Officer in charge Lieutenant Colonel Mathews was among the first to be hit, and died immediately. Thirty five men in all were wounded and killed from the time the ramp went down till they reached the beach. The beach was crowded, no exits had been made in the wire, the beach was under continual cross fire from small arms and artillery. Communication equipment had been lost and any radio that showed and antenna above the shale shelf drew immediate and personal attention from enemy guns. Into this confusion the rear C.P. group landed at about 0815.
Into this confusion the rear C.P. group landed at about 0815. When these boats were within fifty yards of the shore they came under fire, the men went off in orderly fashion, but the confusion on the beach soon infected them. The commanding Officer proceeded immediately to the vicinity of where the advance CP should have been which was some hundred yards to the left of where they landed. It soon became evident that no such command post existed and that most elements ill pinned on the beach. A word might be said at this point that may in all fairness be included to explain some of the grouping on the beach. A good number of the men in the small craft were deathly sea sick and needed some rest before they could continue. Colonel Taylor sought out the various commanders and tried to get order out of what looked like chaos. "The only people on this beach are the dead and these that are going to die-now lets get to hell out of here".
They did. By that time he had most of the companies moving and followed shortly with headquarters Company. The primary end was to clear the beach so that a good bit of equipment was left behind. In the meantime at a point close to where the rear CP came ashore a hole was made in the wire and it was thru this single hole that the whole combat team left the beach. Cover was taken behind steep hill that bordered the beach some three hundred yards inland. The CP was organized and rescue squads were send back to the beach to salvage what wire radios and other equipment was left there. At this point a count was taken on the personnel present, and those that were hit on the beach. The air support on the personnel command was there almost intact but without equipment. Not one radio was working order, a shortage of wire was reported but within an hour everything was almost in working order.
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