User:Gog the Mild/RAF at Omaha Beach

Lead and info box.

RAF involvement
It may come as a surprise to learn that a contingent of RAF personnel also landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day.

In order to provide frontline infantry the best possible aerial protection, both on the beaches and as they moved forward to secure the beachhead, it was necessary that the Allied Air Forces provided radar detection and guidance to be in place on the evening of the D-Day invasion.

As a result, a relatively small force of about 160 Royal Air Force technical personnel, together with their attached supporting Signals and other units, were scheduled to land on Omaha beach in Normandy at high tide on D-Day (about 11:00hrs), immediately after the first waves of American assault troops had secured the beach and their Engineers had made it safe.

As the United States did not have their own radar available by D-Day, it was agreed by the Government of the United Kingdom that one of its own Mobile Ground Controlled Interception Radar Units, (GCI 15082), would be lent to the US. The British mobile radars, being able to detect the range, bearing and height of potential enemy aircraft, were ideally suited for this role, provided they could be located on favorable sites and were available for immediate use on the night of the landings.

GCI 15082 was formed as a Ground Controlled Interception unit in August 1943 at Renscombe Down, near Swanage in Dorset. It was equipped with what was then the latest in radar, including height-finding apparatus, and it was used primarily for the control of night fighters in forward fighting areas. The unit was mobile, with heavy equipment mounted on Crossley trucks and smaller apparatus on Bedfords. Operational status, following arrival at a designated site, was expected to be reached in two hours.

In order to provide this air cover, three Base Defence Wings (re-designated as "Sectors" – BDS - in May 1944) were begun to be formed from 1st January 1944 with the appointment of Group Captain Moseby as the Commanding Officer of No. 21 BDS at RAF Church Fenton, North Riding of Yorkshire. At a later date, the second and third Wings, Nos 24 and 25, were formed, the former with effect from 1 February 1944 at RAF Acklington, Northumberland, and the latter with effect from 1st March 1944 at RAF Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire.

The plan had been for 21 BDS to land at Easy Red Beach at around 11.30 am when the tide would be in and to drive ashore. However, at the appointed hour for 21 BDS to land, the beach had not been taken, so they were ordered to circle offshore until the situation improved. Slowly, US Forces began to penetrate the bluffs and by early afternoon, at several points along the beach, advances were being made.

By mid-afternoon, the first draw had been taken (E-1), quickly followed by E-3. There was now a chance to land 21 BDS, and so at 5.00pm, 6 hours behind schedule, they were ordered in. However, while they should have landed at the E-1 draw, they were actually put ashore closer to the D-3 draw, which was still being viciously fought over.

The tide was also low, and so the vehicles were dropped far out on the flat, sandy beach into low water. There were deep, hidden channels. The whole contents of one LCT drove off the ship and straight into a deep channel, never to be seen again.

Other vehicles became stuck in deep sand and mud and became drowned out by the advancing tide. Those that made it to the edge of the shingle found themselves trapped with no exit off the beach. They became sitting targets for the German mortar and artillery shells that picked them off, one after another.

The US forces that were on the beach with them were traumatized and immobile. Many men were dead or injured. 21 BDS’ position was grave, and they too were suffering casualties. The only solution was to get off the beach and get into the shelter of a ravine.

Several of the British Officers managed to organize themselves and some of the Americans to utilize an abandoned bulldozer to break through the shingle and effect their escape.

Their plan was successful, and the remaining, unscathed vehicles were driven a few hundred yards to the comparative safety of the destroyed hamlet of Les Moulins. Out of the original 27 vehicles, only 8 survived, and 21 BDS had lost 11 dead and 39 seriously injured out of their starting complement of about 150.

Along with many detachments of the US 5th Army, they had suffered shocking losses, and had endured a frightening ordeal. Despite losing most of their equipment, they were able to re-group on 7th June and salvage some vehicles from the beach, though still under sniper fire. By the 8th June, they had established a temporary working base at the airstrip close to St. Laurent and claimed their first “kill” on the 9th June.

Six men were awarded either the Military Cross or Military Medal from 21 BDS.

One tragic error that the RAF committed was to send these men into conflict in their RAF blue battle dress, treated with “anti gas” material - once this uniform got wet, it became more grey than blue and became far too similar to the German grey uniform. It was reported that, on many occasions, the ill-fated 21 BDS were being shot at from both sides.

Replacement vehicles and men were sent over after a week or so, and the rest of 21 BDS were operational by 1st July. 21 BDS went on to become the joint most successful GCI unit on the Western Front, with over 46 enemy aircraft downed in the first three months of the invasion alone.