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== Pointe du Hoc ==

[[File:Rangers-pointe-du-hoc.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|U.S. Army Rangers climbing Pointe du Hoc.]]The first stage of the attack was carried out at a high bluff called Pointe du Hoc, located between Utah beach to the west and Omaha beach to the east. Three U.S. Army Ranger companies were tasked with capturing the battery of 155mm guns housed in a casement at the top of the cliff. This mission was ordered as a first step to the invasion so as to prevent the Germans from opening fire on the soldiers who were to land on Omaha and Utah. Unfortunately, due to choppy seas and German defenses, the landings suffered a crucial forty minute delay. German artillery sunk one of the ten Allied transport vessels, which resulted in the drowning deaths of all but one man. The Rangers finally reached the base of the cliff of Pointe du Hoc at 0710 hours.<ref>Michael J. Lyons, ''World War II: A Short History,'' 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010), 250.</ref>

The landing craft were equipped with rocket launchers that propelled grapnels and ropes up the sheer cliff in order for the men to ascend to the top. Under German fire, these soldiers suffered heavy casualties and fought their way to the top. Once reaching the plateau they found that their objective, the guns, had been moved. Patrols were deployed and five of the projected six guns were found and their firing mechanisms destroyed. Of the nearly three hundred Rangers deployed in the first assault group, 150-200 were either wounded or killed in action. The second wave of Rangers, an additional 500 men, was awaiting the signal flare to join the attack.<ref>Tothe, Lecture.</ref>Due to the initial forty minute delay, the flare was fired too late and the additional Rangers had joined the invasion at Omaha Beach.