Well, its 05:30 “local” time now, H-Hour -60 minutes.  I’ll be asleep when the first American seaborne landings take place at Omaha and Utah Beach.  I actually wouldn’t mind staying up all night on this but I sadly have to work tomorrow.

For the WWDDC project myself and @chrisg undertook (along with about 20 other community members – fighting 20+ wargames all across the invasion zone) – I made a humble effort at creating Dog Green in 15mm.  The system was an upgraded Axis & Allies 15mm miniature.

Again, this is four years ago when I was still getting into miniatures more or less for the first time.

Table was about 5 feet on a side.  Not the best.  But it got the idea across.

I was a little pleased with the cardboard scratch-built 15mm LCVP “Higgins” boats.  Built four of these more or less in a couple of hours.  I decided not to paint vomit on the decks.

The “wiederstandnester” bunkers were a little stop-gap … and honestly were “designed” (if that’s the word) more to resemble the bunkers from the movie Saving Private Ryan more than how German bunkers were actually layed out on the Vierville Draw.

German 88s (FlaK 36s) and scratch-built x4 20mm positions overlook antiboat pilings and “Czech Hedgehog” beach obstacles.

Elements of 1st Bn, 116th RCT, 29th US Infantry hit the beach at 06:30 local.  Good news and bad news on the table … the Germans have hit one of the Higgins Boats with a direct mortar strike, but the DD Shermans have rolled much better than they performed historically, and a few of them have actually made it to the  beach.  Historically, only a handful made it of the lead battalion of 55 machines.  The infantry were thus left with no tank support against German bunkers, MGs,and heavy weapons fire coming straight off the crest of that bluff.

That’s a lot of open sand to cross before they reach the sea wall running along that road.

Clear the murder holes!

Of course, it looked rather different for the people who were actually there. One of the VERY few photos to survive from the actual bloodiest of all Normandy beaches has since been titled: “The Jaws of Death.”