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The American 1st Infantry Division and 29th Infantry Division would be badly mauled in their dawn landing at Omaha Beach. Rough seas from marginal weather conditions, mined obstacles on the beach and mines in the bluffs, a sea wall to overcome, barbed wire, and heavily armed concrete fortifications beyond waylaid them. The concrete fortifications also included the deadly German MG-42 heavy machine gun that could shoot 1,200 rounds per minute, more than twice as many rounds as American and British machine guns. The MG-42 laid down a withering, suppressing fire with a distinctive sound that earned it the nickname ““Hitler’s buzzsaw.”...With more than 1,000 dead in just a few hours and bodies strewn everywhere on the beach, the American high command began to consider evacuating the beach. This would have left a German-controlled beach area between American troops on Utah Beach and the other three British/Canadian beaches — a serious problem for the Allies.Amid this looming tragedy, a company of roughly 150 men from the 1st Infantry Division commanded by Captain Joseph Dawson miraculously landed on the beach where there was a tiny gap between the interlocking fields of heavy gunfire coming from the German fortifications. They safely got to the sea wall and reorganized to prepare an attack on the strong fortifications as their orders dictated.The famous historian Stephen Ambrose chronicled in his book D-Day that when Captain Dawson observed the piles of bodies to his left and right and sized up the grim situation, he decided to ignore his orders, which were to make a direct, suicidal attack against the formidable German fortifications. Instead, his company would move straight inland between the fortifications and try to pick its way between some smaller hills and ravines, with the goal of reaching the high bluffs overlooking the beach....Dawson, Spalding, and Streczyk, and the men they led, managed to slip in between strong German fortifications that were slaughtering the troops on the beach and to fight their way to the top of the Omaha bluff, clearing a path that others could follow. Using the element of surprise by attacking from the rear, they methodically destroyed many German defenses. Besides saving hundreds, perhaps thousands, of American lives, these three unsung American heroes were probably most responsible for transforming the D-Day battle at Omaha Beach from a bitter defeat into a glorious victory. Surely, these three men deserve to be fondly remembered as “the Angels of Omaha.”[/quote
