WN 62, Omaha beach viewd from the German side

[peleliuexplorer]

I think it is more a case of the former more than the later. Apparently, up until he revealed that he was the "Beast of Omaha Beach" during the interview in 2006; he said that the only person told about his actions on June 6th was his wife. This makes sense, since revealing this to anyone else would have raised some eyebrows at the very least, and at the very most, probably would have lead to his execution. You don't advertise to your captors that you killed a huge number of their comrades.

No doubt he hit alot of US soldiers that morning/afternoon but would love to see confimration of the claims of the huge casualty figures he mentioned. Also, who were the other gunners who contributed to the bloodbath on Omaha?

-Eric

[MauserKar98k]

No doubt he hit alot of US soldiers that morning/afternoon but would love to see confimration of the claims of the huge casualty figures he mentioned. Also, who were the other gunners who contributed to the bloodbath on Omaha?

-Eric

No doubt, I would also like to see confirmation of Severloh's claims, but the lack of surviving witnesses to the event definitely complicate matters. As far as I know, Severloh kept shooting all by himself, even when all his comrades in WN62 had been killed; therefore, they obviously can't give us their testimony. Are there any other survivors of WN62 that might have seen Severloh at work?

On the subject of other Omaha Beach gunners, who knows? There might be other Severlohs out there that are still hiding and are unwilling to reveal, the number of casualties that they inflicted on our guys as they tried to come ashore.

What needs to be remembered though, is that there was only one "Beast of Omaha Beach". We* gave the anonymous landser that defended the Dog Red sector of Omaha Beach that name; and we didn't know who the guy was until Severloh said that it was him several years ago. There is not a "Beast of Utah Beach" to my humble knowledge, just as there is not a "Beast of Point du Hoc". Apparently, the actions "Beast of Omaha Beach" (Severloh) were so significant, compared to defenders of the Atlantic Wall, that he was the only one given a moniker to fit his deeds by the veterans during and after the war had ended, to my knowledge anyway.

*(or should I say, American soldiers who made it through the attack on Omaha Beach)

[Larry deZeng]

MauserKar98k said:

Apparently, the actions "Beast of Omaha Beach" (Severloh) were so significant, compared to defenders of the Atlantic Wall, that he was the only one given a moniker to fit his deeds by the veterans during and after the war had ended, to my knowledge anyway.

That "someone" was given this moniker is unchallenged. However, your statement at face-value makes it sound like all 17,246 U.S. soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach during the daylight hours of 6 June 1944 and survived the war held a meeting somewhere and voted to name the MG gunner of WN62 the "Beast of Omaha Beach". I'm sure it did not happen that way. Some writer somewhere, perhaps a journalist a day or 2 or 3 after 6 June while writing a press release after talking to a handful of survivors, coined this appellation and it stuck. That's how nicknames like this usually get started. The losses on Omaha were so disproportionally high compared to Utah and the other beaches that many writers were inspired to "wax poetically" to try and explain the slaughter. I do not think one should be carried away by this moniker and jump to conclusions that Severloh caused significantly more losses than any other German defender. We will need a lot more evidence than just a tag of unknown origin.

--Larry

[peleliuexplorer]

MauserKar98k said:


That "someone" was given this moniker is unchallenged. However, your statement at face-value makes it sound like all 17,246 U.S. soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach during the daylight hours of 6 June 1944 and survived the war held a meeting somewhere and voted to name the MG gunner of WN62 the "Beast of Omaha Beach". I'm sure it did not happen that way. Some writer somewhere, perhaps a journalist a day or 2 or 3 after 6 June while writing a press release after talking to a handful of survivors, coined this appellation and it stuck. That's how nicknames like this usually get started. The losses on Omaha were so disproportionally high compared to Utah and the other beaches that many writers were inspired to "wax poetically" to try and explain the slaughter. I do not think one should be carried away by this moniker and jump to conclusions that Severloh caused significantly more losses than any other German defender. We will need a lot more evidence than just a tag of unknown origin.

--Larry

Couldn't agree with you more. Going back to Peleliu, there was a name given to a ridge that caused many Marine casualties called "Bloody Nose Ridge". That name was unkown to the Marines who assaulted it at the time and just a fabrication of a combat correspondence's description. The name stuck. I'm sure your average "Joe" who landed on Omaha never heard of the "beast of Omaha" until much later when the media inflated the tabloid story of a single German soldier allegedly on a mg for so long a time.

[MauserKar98k]

That "someone" was given this moniker is unchallenged. However, your statement at face-value makes it sound like all 17,246 U.S. soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach during the daylight hours of 6 June 1944 and survived the war held a meeting somewhere and voted to name the MG gunner of WN62 the "Beast of Omaha Beach". I'm sure it did not happen that way. Some writer somewhere, perhaps a journalist a day or 2 or 3 after 6 June while writing a press release after talking to a handful of survivors, coined this appellation and it stuck. That's how nicknames like this usually get started. The losses on Omaha were so disproportionally high compared to Utah and the other beaches that many writers were inspired to "wax poetically" to try and explain the slaughter. I do not think one should be carried away by this moniker and jump to conclusions that Severloh caused significantly more losses than any other German defender. We will need a lot more evidence than just a tag of unknown origin.

--Larry

Correct, I obviously didn't mean that all the US soldiers got together and voted on what to call this one MG gunner. From what you said, I can see how writers may have contributed to the story. I also agree that we need more evidence before we make any concrete conclusions; starting with reading Severloh's book. I wish it was in English.

[Robert1931]

WN 62 has been translated, and the author/publisher, von Keusgen, has the translation. He says he wants to publish in English, but so far no results.

[peleliuexplorer]

WN 62 has been translated, and the author/publisher, von Keusgen, has the translation. He says he wants to publish in English, but so far no results.

....get a rope...

-Eric

[Edward]

From Larry de Zeng's mention Severloh would certainly not have been the only German returning very effective fire that day. Imo, it is a case of a Landser in a strongpoint with clear fields of fire cranking off thousands of rounds from one of the wars top killing machines...the MG42 against very exposed GI's. From the description it was nothing short of a massacre.

If you really want to read something incredible there is a book just out on a GI who won the MOH holding off a company of Japanese soldiers virtually alone from an exposed fox hole. His position was overrun and he fought much of it hand-to-hand beating back the assault.

[LDR]

WN 62 has been translated, and the author/publisher, von Keusgen, has the translation. He says he wants to publish in English, but so far no results.

Thats a real shame. Typical. Maybe the author could sell privately? Simply printed on paper and stapled. I should image a few people here would be interested in buying an english version regardless of the quality of printing etc.

[Doug Kenwright]

"I just spent half the night reading all the comments on other forums (axishistory,etc.) regarding the "beast of Omaha". General impression is most folks brush those inflated claims under the rug as unproven and untrustworthy. The main D-Day historians, ie. Cornealius Ryan and Ambrosia apparently don't even mention him! All my books on the Omaha battle don't mention him either. What does this tell you? Try a google search and lots of info comes up."

Cornelius Ryan infamously failed to mention a Canadian presence on D-day in the first edition of his book..he was forced to go back and re-write our inclusion..!!

One thing i have found odd is the perception from a lot of Allied D-day veterans who were shocked that the Germans would want to fight back!..i hear this again and again..who do they think they were? Defending their position, as if the mere fact of us showing up should have had all the defenders throwing their hands up in the air.


Point number two is the human brains capacity to dwell on unsavoury subjects, so much so to the point where you feel responsible for a greater proportion of the blame than you should have.

[bigschuss]

One thing i have found odd is the perception from a lot of Allied D-day veterans who were shocked that the Germans would want to fight back!..i hear this again and again..who do they think they were? Defending their position, as if the mere fact of us showing up should have had all the defenders throwing their hands up in the air.

I can't speak for the Canadians or British troops, but the Americans expected light resistance because of information they were fed.

For example, they were told the German coastal defenses would be softened up by aerial and naval bombardment, and would be so shell shocked that they would offer little resistance. Of course, the aerial bombardment, especially on Omaha, was ineffective and did little to softened up the Germans.

They were also told the majority of troops defending the beaches were either lower quality German divisions made up of young boys and wounded vets of the Russian front, or conscripts and POW's from the conquered territories in the East who had little allegiance to the Third Reich and who would surrender quickly. What the allies failed to detect, of course, was the movement of an entire crack German division to the coast in the month prior to the invasion. I forget the division off the top of my head...the 352nd?

I think these few things help explain that general attitude you described. I don't think this was a general attitude towards the German army in general. In fact, that 1st Division had already gone up against them. It was probably just a general opinion of the pending battle in Normandy based on local intelligence.

[Jean-Loup]

I was contacted by a women in February who is searching for her grandfather. Her grandmother lived in Carentan, Normandy during the war, and ended up having a relationship with a german soldier during the summer of 1942.
She told me the soldier was named Ludwig Maier/Meyer, and that is all she knew.
She had been in contact with the WASt, etc, but everybody explained to her that Ludwig Meyer is about as common as it gets, and without a birthdate, nothing could be done.
I told her her only hope was to get a list of all the units in and around Carentan in 1942, and get the WASt to check if any Ludwig Meyers were in those units. She found a few units, but there were no Ludwig Meyers in them.
Just a few days ago, the Wast sent her a letter to say that they were closing down her case, because it is totaly desperate...

Ahhh, Ludwig Meyer, where are you??

Today I was looking at my copy of Heins Severlohs book, and I just about fell of my chaire (it was in fact a toilet bowl, to be precise) when I looked at page 32.

[Larry deZeng]

For me, the most interesting part of that story is the fact that Severloh's book is available in French as well as German. I may have missed something in the thread, but I thought it had only been published in German. I would think fewer French-speakers would be interested in Severloh's story than English-speakers, so I am surprised a French publisher decided to take it.

--Larry

[whscharfschütze]

This should be his strongpoint on wn62. i was there in 2006

Best wishes

karel

[whscharfschütze]

vieuw