Segment of barbed wire from the German defenses at Pointe du
Hoc, Omaha Beach, Normandy, France. Pointe du Hoc, a fortified
German strong hold atop the cliffs west of Omaha Beach, was
taken by Companies D, E, and F of the 2nd Ranger Battalion. The
Rangers scaled the 100 foot high cliff using grapnel hooks,
ropes, and ladders, while under heavy enemy fire. Once the
concrete gun emplacements were reached it was discovered that
the Germans had moved the five 155 mm guns that the Rangers had
been sent to destroy. Patrols were sent out. Incredibly, the
weapons were found a short way inland hidden in an orchard and
temporally unattended. Sergeants Leonard Lomell and Jack Kuhn
used their thermite grenades to damage the guns’ firing
mechanisms. Lommell later received the Distinguished Service
Cross and Kuhn the Silver Star for destroying these menacing
cannon that easily could have caused extensive casualties on the
beaches below had they not been put out of action. The attack on
Point-du-Hoc was costly and difficult