West Wall defenses.

West Wall defenses. These German defenses about a mile back from the Normandy beach were knocked out by aerial bombardment and naval gun fire. Note the thickness of the concrete walls. This section of the beach was one of the main strong points stormed by American troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force which landed in France Jun 6, 1944. Up to midnight June 17, 1944, it had cost 15,883 U.S. casualties to establish beachheads in Normandy against such defense. Of thes, 3,283 were killed and 12,600 wounded.