Many people have seen the D-Day landing footage from the Allied perspective, including footage just like this of machine gun fire raking across troops as they’re coming to shore.

And many people have seen the view looking up from the beach at the German defenses.

Where? But in this video, I’m going to show you the trenches that the Germans use, the bunkers that they were firing from, and I will try to show you exactly what they saw on that fateful morning.

You will literally be looking using expert mapping from my friend Michael Aman, we explore three strong points, and I take you inside a previously believed to be inaccessible bunker.

So stick around to find out exactly who or what found inside.

[Music] Hello.

This is Steel Rain.

Just fire systemated out.

Omaha Beach is a 5m long cresant beach separated by Allied planners into landing beach sectors.

It also had five natural beach exits.

But unsurprisingly, the German strong points protected these exits.

Now I’m going to take you to strong point 60 in the east, 62 in the center near easy red and fox green sectors.

And I’m going to take you to Vita’s nest 71 overlooking dog green sector.

Now, this is Vita Stan’s Ness 71, a D1 Verville drawer.

And we’ll start to the east of the position.

I wanted to show you this view first so you could see the elevation of Vidastans 71 above Omaha Beach.

Now, many people are also surprised at the buildings aligned along the beachfront, some of which are actually contemporary to 1944, and they’re also fortified by the Germans.

Another factor I want to talk about is the cresantshaped bay at Omaha Beach which allowed for flanking fire from the heights across the beach envelading fire.

Now here I’m actually traversing the trench positions which existed along the bluffs.

And here you can just picture the Germans looking down from this vantage point.

Not only did the soldiers have to cross this open beach, they also had to make their way up these heights.

And just look how steep these defenses are.

This is probably the type of defense that most people envvisage when they think about Omaha Beach.

Remembering back to those opening scenes from Saving Private Ryan which became so iconic.

So let’s get into the position itself.

First we’re going to check out a Tbrook which house an NG34.

So here’s uh Tbrook at Vita Stanness 71.

You’ve seen loads of these before on my channel, but it’s always worth checking them out.

There’s the recess right on top of the cliff.

So, we’ve seen a fighting position, but where did they sleep? This is a failed mass used as a shelter.

They didn’t necessarily sleep here unless the invasion was deemed imminent.

But inside here, they had a water tank and a boiler or a pressure oven.

It seems set low to the ground.

And that’s because it had the trenches connecting it from here to the fighting positions.

One of those trenches led right here looking down onto the beach.

So next we’re going to look at something really quite special.

This is a double embraasion machine gun position which covered the approach on the D1 Verville draw.

So, still at Vida Stan’s nest 71.

That double machine gun embraasia is down here.

And we’ll try and make our way down.

Hello.

[Music] Someone’s bed.

German view.

Yeah.

Not the easiest place to get into, but someone has left a bed here, which uh it’s probably been there a while.

So this is the way in and the way out.

Obviously only one way in, one way out.

And it’s full of all the leaves, twigs, rocks, etc.

mud that’s fallen in here over the last uh 80 years or so.

And uh now I’m going to try and get back out.

As you get around the corner, it’s actually really dark to try and get out.

And the gap is only this big, which you pretty much have to crawl through.

I wouldn’t advise it, but it is good fun.

And don’t wear your uh your Sunday best down here.

I want to show you exactly how inaccessible this position is.

We’re down here on the D1 draw now.

The beach is just down there.

But this is where the position is located.

It’s an old quarry.

And these pictures are fantastic to show you what it looked like on D-Day, but also how it looks now because they actually excavated lots of stone away from this position.

[Music] And this is one more Tbrook I want to show you.

Still on top of Vita Stans 71.

And there’s another to Brook covering the rear of the position as well.

You can see how far away this one is from the actual cliff.

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So, let’s go to Vidastan’s Nest 62.

A defensive strong point perfectly sighted on this prominent outcrop and able to fire on a large portion of the beach.

It was cighted to fire onto easy red sector and the E3 exit.

So, let’s start off at the rear of the position at the Wellck shelter.

Uh, German soldiers needed shelter close to their fighting positions, so this is where they stayed.

[Music] Down these steep steps we come to two rooms.

The first was used as accommodation for three company of 726 regiment.

living in this bunker up to D-Day was sold at Drews, Lairman, Plotter, Selback, Corporal Creefworth who was 35 years old and France Gawk who was 18 years old.

Now France Gawk goal seen here used a Polish MG08 watercooled machine gun on D-Day.

It’s strange to think we know who lived in this bunker and that an 18-year-old in France Gawker was responsible for the death of so many young men who landed on the beaches barely 400 m away.

Next we go to my favorite location at Vidans 62 and that is the observation post.

Heat.

Heat.

[Music] [Music] So this is one of the observation positions used to call in indirect fire onto the beach that day.

And from here you’d be able to coordinate fires from the artillery inland, the numerous batteries which were in land, but also the mortar positions just behind us as well.

And so this would have been relatively well rehearsed.

They would have coordinated fires onto this position, but ammunition was always going to be the issue.

And it was that case on D-Day as well, where they ran out of ammunition relatively quickly.

This was the command post used to communicate with the gun batteries in the rear at Hitville.

And so, can you imagine the troops in there having to race out and then make their way through these trenches down towards their fighting positions.

So, see if we can do that.

Imagine running back and forth while all this time you’re under aerial and naval bombardment.

Well, Bernard Furking, who was at this position as the forward observation officer, was killed right here on D-Day.

Next up, we see the large gun casemates.

This is the R669.

There were two of them on this position.

Now, making our way to the second gun position here at Vita 62.

We’ll go and see what life would have been like for the Germans in here.

again.

Lots of damage on the inside of there.

It’s from tanks firing inside from down onto the beach.

Not from naval gunfire.

People sometimes say this is from naval gunfire, the damage just there, but it’s not.

Now, unfortunately, this is, as you can see, flooded.

I’ve come here in the winter.

So, we’re going to go around the other side.

We’re going to climb down here without falling on our ass.

Hopefully, you get this amazing view of the embrosia here.

Look at that.

Absolutely stunning.

You can see the damage that is taken on the the lip of the embraaser there and also on the um the seawward facing arm.

And this arm obviously protects the gun from naval gunfire, but it didn’t protect it from the tanks down on the beach.

So those that did land, and yes, tanks did land on Omaha Beach, they fired up into the embraasers to silence it cuz they could see them from the beach.

And you can see right in there, loads of damage.

So, what would it have been like for a German gun detachment in here? Well, first and foremost, they would have been firing like 10 men straight down onto the beach in that direction.

They wouldn’t have been firing out to sea.

They fire along the beach.

Um, and most people understand that.

Um, this position would have been bombed prior to D-Day, and it would have been bombed on the morning of D-Day, but there wasn’t a great deal of damage that was inflicted by the aerial bombardment.

It would have also been shelled by naval gunfire, and we know that this gun was still firing uh on Hour when they actually landed on D-Day.

So, the naval gunfire wasn’t uh entirely effective either, although believe me, I would not have liked to have been in here when this place is being hit in and around this area with naval gunfire.

The Germans in here probably would have wanted to expend their ammunition and then withdraw because there is nothing wrong with withdrawing once you’ve expended your ammunition, but their ammunition really would have been expended quite quickly, I suspect, cuz there just wasn’t that much to go around.

If you’re defending everywhere along this frontage, then you really defend nowhere and ammunition would have been in relative short supply.

So, um, believe me, they would have done some damage on the beach.

The gun in here would have done some damage in the beach.

Um, but I suspect they would have ran out of ammunition relatively quickly.

Corporal Lairman, Hans Selvback, and Emeralds Drews were the gun crews behind this bunker crewing the 75 mm gun.

Now, the second casemate, which is just like this one, thankfully never had a gun installed in time for D-Day, so we don’t believe it was firing.

And here’s a view of that seawward facing protective arm to protect it from naval gunfire.

And you can see a great big gouge has been taken out by fire that’s come from behind me which indicates that it’s come from uh either down on the beach most likely or or the sea.

But you can see it’s gouged that uh that big shape right out of here which is quite impressive cuz this stuff is pretty thick.

uh is pretty strong as you can see that it’s supported by steel inside.

You can just see the damage that’s happened there.

Outstanding.

We will finish our tour at Vidastans60 on the far eastern side of Omaha Beach.

Unique thing about Vidastan S60 is the wellpreserved trenches that you can still walk in today and the welldefended fighting positions on top of this outcrop.

[Music] So this video is all about D-Day from the German perspective.

So let’s go and see where the Germans stayed, what they were doing.

So this is obviously a Tbrook.

And this one has a pin mount here, either for a mortar, very likely it could be for a machine gun.

And you can see where it would have been mounted on top there.

And this is ammunition recess which still got wood from 1944 in there.

So this would have had ammunition stowed in there.

Traffic’s pretty strange looking in there actually.

Step for the German to get up on so they could look out of the tbrook.

Now we’re at VA stands in their 60 as I’ve already said and this position was bombarded on D-Day.

So the Germans would have been presumably taking cover in here and inside the Tbrook as his position was being shelled and bombed.

But the thing I love about coming into here is the wood pattern that you can see there.

Hopefully that’s come out quite clear.

That shows that the shuttering uh that they used to pour concrete in here and build these structures has left the imprint against the concrete.

[Music] [Music] [Music] Follow the line of the trenches now and nothing really gives you a feel for the perspective from the Germans than the trenches that they would have dug by hand to provide themselves with protection.

Now, the good thing about coming in the end of uh the winter, start of the spring, is that the grass isn’t quite long enough to cover up these trenches.

I’ve been back here in the win in the summer, and the grass is just too long.

So, let’s have a look at another area that the Germans occupied.

It shows you the positions that they would have used to fire down onto the beach.

This is obviously ammunition storage in here as well.

And these trenches were looking right down onto the beach.

This is the view Germans would have had from Vidastans 60 down onto the Americans as they landed on that beach.

So, if that doesn’t give you a uh a view of Omaha Beach from a German perspective, I don’t know what will.

Another Tbrook with the entrance quite eroded away, but you can see how it was all protected.

Daughter’s laughing at me.

And again, another troo like I said.

And what I love looking at is the shape left by the shuttering.

It’s almost like the wood has left an imprint that lasts for a long time.

There’s more wood in here.

Looks like that’s been burnt away.

Mad to think on D-Day Hams would have gone in there to grab ammunition and put them up into this firing platform.

They’re following the trenches all the way around to the other side of the position.

Again, you can see the cresantshaped bay of Omaha Beach in the background.

And we’re going into one of the other positions now.

Trenches leading their way to it.

You just imagine Germans sprinting down here as they’re under fire going into this bunker position.

This large room was not believed to be accommodation due to the lack of wall hangings that you can see for beds uh on the walls.

Instead, it’s believed that it was either for ammunition storage or for supplies.

Now, interestingly, when this position was finally captured, there were 30 Germans who were taken as prisoners of war.

And many of them were actually found inside this room and inside these corridors, hiding from the advancing American troops and of course the incessant bombardment.

We’re now going to head off the top of this position and onto the forward slopes which face the F1 draw and the Fox Green and Fox Red sectors.

And this is where the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division landed and this was during the initial assault waves.

It was from these forward positions that lots of German fire poured into the Americans as they landed ashore and they caused lots of casualties on D-Day.

A lot of people when they come to Vita Sands 60 miss out on going down to one of the old um gum positions down here.

as the sun comes out and the wind is blocked by the uh the lee of the hill here.

It should be okay.

So, this is uh an old shelter.

And there was a 75 mm gun just just forward of here.

So, pretty much just just hereish.

Um, none of this vegetation was here on D-Day.

It was really bare and that enabled obviously for clear fields of fields of view and fields of fire for the Germans down onto the beach and across the beach.

Now, this 75 mm gun was knocked out on D-Day, very likely by naval bombardment from the destroyers, uh, but also it could have been by tanks which landed on Fox Green sector and they were directed by um, left tenant Montif.

If you look closely at these pictures of the gun taken after D-Day, you can see that there are war trophy markings on the glassis marking how many tanks they destroyed.

This gun had very likely seen action elsewhere before being brought into this position.

I’ve seen lots of maps where it shows a tunnel.

Not sure how far exactly it went, but it wasn’t particularly far.

But this would have provided lots of protection for the Germans here as they come out and crew the crew the artillery piece that was like I said around about here and um fire down onto that section of the beach.

They’ve actually cleared away all of this um growth here which gives a bit more of a true representation of what it actually was like on D-Day.

and it allows visitors to see down onto the beach where before the bushes are really quite high and the trees were quite high.

It was obscuring the view and now they’ve cleared all this away which is awesome.

Uh not sure how quickly those scorch will grow back, but it also allows you to see positions that were previously hidden.

So, every other time I’ve come here, for example, I’ve never realized there was another lower set of trenches that ran just below the ones I’ve shown you before.

So, there’s another set of trenches here that runs parallel, which is pretty cool.

If we go further down, I think there’s another set down here.

[Music] If you’ve made it this far, thank you very much.

I love to ramble, but I really do love visiting these locations and bringing them to you, especially when I get emails from people who say they can’t travel for various reasons.

I hope you did enjoy the video.

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Until next time.

[Music]