This was the landing ground for the 50th. Northumberland Division. The D-Day objective being, to take the beach and move inland seven miles to Bayeux to meet up with American forces coming off Omaha at Port en Bessin.
Unlike the American landings, the British landed at 7:25 a.m. almost an hour later. The  German defences were known to be of a very high calibre at this location, they included the 716th. Static Division along with the 352nd. Infantry Division. Following a massive bombardment by the Royal Navy the landing craft were deployed from seven miles out from shore, this gave them a lot shorter run in than the Americans who deployed twelve miles from shore.
Due to the heavy seas, it was decided not to launch the D. D. Tanks from their landing craft, but actually run them straight up to the beach head, this was an extremely successful decision, as, unlike at Omaha, the British infantry had the protection of heavy armour landing with them on the beach and this certainly prevented a massacre, the like of which had been experienced on Omaha.

H.M.S. Warspite and
H.M.S. Ramillies  off the coast of Normandy.
The bombardment was aimed at the German coastal batteries and was very successful.

The shelving sand at Gold beach meant the landing craft grounded earlier than expected, and the men had a long way to wade ashore, this was the last thing they needed. The first wave came under heavy fire from the German defenders and the 1st. Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment suffered the loss of their commanding officer and also their second in command within minutes of landing!
Second to land were the Commandos of the 4th. Special Service Brigade, they suffered tremendous loss with only one of their landing craft actually reaching the shore! The commandos were not used as front line infantry but were designated special missions, No. 47 Royal Marine Commando had the objective of Port en Bessin, which was taken after a tremendous fire fight on June 7th.

Men of the 50th. Division storming Gold Beach 6th. June 1944.
Heavy armour can be seen being landed at the same time, this was the key to the success of the landings on Gold Beach.
The 69th. Brigade Group came ashore with their special equipment known as "Funnies" and helped clear a path for the invading forces.

The infantry can be seen here coming ashore on Gold Beach with the added protection of the D.D. Tanks (Duplex Drive). Unlike the Americans at Omaha the British didn't launch the D.D.'s but brought them ashore on their landing craft, a brilliant decision as every one of them were brought into action almost immediately on hitting the beach.

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