The first American troops to land from the sea on D-Day were 132 troopers of the 4th. Cavalry Group.   They captured the two tiny islands of St. Marcouf. These Islands are situated 3 miles off Utah beach and were thought to be defended by German troops. The men captured the islands at 4:30 am, and though they were undefended, two American troopers were killed and 17 were wounded with landmines and German artillery fired from the mainland beach defences.

The American troops boarding the landing craft were up to eleven miles from shore and had to endure up to three hours of being tossed around in a very rough sea before even landing on the beach!! Many were obviously sea sick and possibly in no fit state to commence battle when they were eventually put down on the beach..

The first men on Utah Beach landed without loss. This was due to a twist of fate.. Had their guide boat not have been sunk, they would have landed on their intended positions which was very heavily defended and a great loss of life would have resulted. Without a guide and in heavy tidal conditions the assault landed 2,000 meters to the south of their objective, the Germans not expecting a landing at this point left it virtually undefended.
The DD Tanks (Duplex Drive) landed quite successfully on Utah and this was a great advantage to the Infantry.
The picture to the right shows the men in their fox holes on Utah beach and the DD Tanks driving along the beach.
The second wave of troops were directed to the safer part of beach which by now was secured and very soon the engineers had cleared any obstacles that were there.

By Mid-day the Divisional Commander Major-General Raymond Barton was on the beach and ordered the move inland. The men of the 4th. Division soon linked up with the men of the 101st Airborne.
Due to the marshes in the north, the progress was much slower than expected and the men of the 12th. and 22nd. Infantry were prevented from reaching their D-Day objectives
In the Centre the 8th. Infantry Regiment came across German resistance and this prevented them joining up with the  82nd. Airborne who were in Ste-Mere-Eglise.