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Why did destroyers move close to shore during the Omaha Beach battle?
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Omaha Beach
U.S. infantrymen wading from their landing craft toward Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
During the Normandy Invasion, U.S. Navy destroyers moved close to the shore at Omaha Beach to provide critical fire support during a moment of near-disaster for Allied forces.12
As the American troops faced intense, deadly fire from the veteran German 352nd Infantry Division, the landing operation stalled, and commanders even considered evacuating the beach. To prevent the failure of the assault, the destroyers steamed into shallow waterārisking scraping their bottomsāto engage German fortifications at point-blank range. This direct naval gunfire significantly reduced the effectiveness of the German defensive positions, allowing American troops to eventually scale the cliffs and establish a foothold.132