Point du Hoc
From OMGWiki
Pointe du Hoc is a clifftop location on the coast of Normandy in northern France. It lies 4 miles west of Omaha Beach, and stands on 100 ft tall cliffs overlooking the sea. It was a point of attack by the United States Army Ranger Assault Group during the Battle of Normandy in World War II.
This map was created by Spartan11793. It was designed for exclusivity with the OMG modification for Company of Heroes.
This six player map is still in beta.
Contents |
History
At Pointe du Hoc, the Germans had built, as part of the Atlantic Wall, six casements to house a battery of captured French 155mm guns. With Pointe Du Hoc situated between Utah Beach to the west and Omaha Beach to the east, these guns threatened Allied landings on both beaches, risking heavy casualties in the landing forces. Although there were several bombardments from the air and by naval guns, intelligence reports assumed that the fortifications were too strong, and would also require attack by ground forces. The U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion was therefore given the task of destroying the strong point early on D-Day.
Prior to the attack, the guns were moved approximately 1 mile away. However, the concrete fortifications were intact, and would still present a major threat to the landings if they were occupied by artillery forward observers.
Despite initial setbacks because of weather and navigational problems, resulting in a 40-minute delay and loss of surprise, the cliffs were scaled and the strongpoint was assaulted successfully, with relatively light casualties. Fire support was provided during the attack by several nearby Allied destroyers. Upon reaching the fortifications they learned that the artillery battery had been moved out of position.
The Rangers regrouped at the top of the cliffs, and a small patrol went off in search of the guns. This patrol found the guns nearby and destroyed them with thermite grenades. The new battery location inland was sited solely for Utah beach.
The costliest part of the battle for the Rangers came after the cliff assault. Determined to hold the vital ground, yet isolated from other assault forces, they fended off several German counterattacks over the next two days, until reinforced from Omaha Beach. The original plans called for an additional, larger Ranger force of eight companies to follow the first attack, if successful. Flares from the clifftops were to signal this second wave to join the attack, but because of the delayed landing, the signal came too late, and the other Rangers, mostly of the U.S. 5th Ranger Battalion, landed on Omaha instead of Pointe du Hoc.
The added impetus these 500+ Rangers provided on the stalled Omaha Beach landing has been conjectured to have averted a disastrous failure there, since they carried the assault beyond the beach, into the overlooking bluffs and outflanked the German defenses.
Map Description
This map is based off the clifftop location on the coast of Normandy in northern France.
Creator's Comments
I like the redesign of this map more so than the original. I modeled it off of Brecourt.
Download Versions
In order to download this map you have to get OMG.
