D-Day: UTAH Beach - The Matrix Games version of West Front

On the morning of June 6th 1944 Utah Beach was completely obscured by smoke from the bombardment of the big naval guns to the beach, itself rows of obstacles. These obstacles were in the form of stakes or piles slanted seaward, steel hedgehogs and tetrahedra, and "Belgian Gates," which were barricade- like gates constructed of steel to make a defensive line continuous. Immediately behind the beach, pillboxes, tank turrets mounted on concrete structures, "Tobruk Pits," firing trenches, and underground shelters connected by a network of trenches and protected by wire, mines, and antitank ditches. Thirty thousand men and thirty five hundred vehicles of the 4th US Division were assembling offshore, waiting for dawn. Hard fighting against the 709th and 91st German Infantry Division in the Cotentin Peninsula, had preceded the seaborne landings, as two airborne divisions, the 82d and 101st, had been dropped into the beachhead area several miles inland. Their mission was to seize crossings or destroy bridges over the Merderet and Douve Rivers and secure vital exits of causeways leading inland from the beach across inundated areas, and thus facilitate the expansion of the beachhead by the 4th Division. The mission of the airborne divisions was a key one, for the success of the Utah assault was largely dependent on the success of their operation.