D-Day: Interview with Two U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion Members Who Describe the Attack at Pointe-du-Hoc

 | World War II  | 2 comments  | Print This Post  | Email This Post

Now, when you camouflage five big howitzers, 5-inch guns, these are not ordinary, run-of-the-mill artillery that you cart around behind jeeps. These had stabilizers and everything on them. The wheels went up over our heads. Their muzzles went way the hell into the air, above our reach. People say we took them out with fragmentation grenades. That’s not so. We couldn’t even reach the muzzles. Where they protruded out of the orchard they had netting over them. That’s why the aerial photographs never indicated that they were there. They were about a mile inland from the Pointe and the cliffs’ edge.

When we got to the gun position and looked over, I saw some Germans being talked to. They were gathering there, putting on their jackets. It was 8 o’clock in the morning or thereabouts. I guess they were organizing themselves. Their positions were textbook ready. There was nothing to indicate that the guns had been fired. There were no ejected shells. If you know what an artillery position looks like, they’re never that perfect after they’re fired. The entire battery, five big coastal guns, were there at the ready. All the shells were stacked, and there was no debris–no empty shells or powder bags. If you’ve ever been in an artillery outfit after it’s been engaged, it’s a mess cleaning up after it. This position was in perfect order. I believe the reason they couldn’t fire was because E Company had taken out their observation post at the Pointe first thing. That was where their concrete observation bunker was. They had no directions to fire with, no firing orders. Their lines of communication had been cut off. I don’t think those Germans knew there were any Rangers or American soldiers within a mile of them. They were so nonchalant about walking around, acting as if there was no enemy about because we were so quiet. They weren’t in a hurry to do anything. Some have said: We don’t believe it. No good artillery man ever left his position unguarded. Well, all I know is, that morning there weren’t any guards in their gun position. We didn’t draw any fire at any time while near their guns. Maybe they were waiting for a roving OP [observation post] to set up, or maybe they thought there would be incoming shelling from Texas after the 88s stopped their crawling fire.

Kuhn: They didn’t expect us.

Lomell: They never appeared to me to be worried about the cliffs. That was their rear. They wanted to protect everything in their new rear area [the landward side]. Now, people say to me, But they must have heard the grenades. No, they didn’t. Thermite grenades are silent, but I didn’t know if I was going to meet some guard who was sound asleep at his position or what.

WWII: How did you actually destroy the guns?

Lomell: Jack covered me, and I went to the guns with two thermite grenades, Jack’s and mine. The heavily foliaged dip in the swale was deep enough to keep me out of the Germans’ line of sight. I put one thermite grenade in each of the first two guns’ visible moveable gears. Then I took my Tommy gun, wrapped it in my field jacket and smashed the sights on all five guns [for unknown reasons the sixth gun was missing]. I didn’t know if I was going to get back in there. I wanted to do as much damage as I could. After I did the job, I went back to Jack and said, We gotta get some more grenades! We immediately ran back to the guys at the roadblock, where they gave us all their grenades. As fast as we could, we ran back up the road. We wanted to see if the Germans had heard anything. They hadn’t. They still didn’t appear to have their lines of communication open. Their observation post had been knocked out. Jack watched them to see that they didn’t kill me.

Kuhn: When we came back with all of the grenades I placed some on the No. 1 gun. Len had already put one on it. I would say, offhand, that’s the only one I put anything on.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to

Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, World War II