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'Gold Beach' was the Allied codename for the centre invasion beach during the World War II Allied invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944. It lay between Omaha Beach and Juno Beach, was 8 km wide and divided into four sectors. From West to East they were How, Item, Jig, and King.
The task of invading Gold Beach was given to the British 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division commanded by Major General D.A.H. Graham, and the British 8th Armoured Brigade of the 2nd Army under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey. The beach was assaulted in multiple brigades of the 50th Infantry Division; on the West was the 231st Brigade, followed by the 56th Brigade, attached to this was a regiment of DD tanks from the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry, the infantry assault battalions that attacked in the West were; the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment, and the 1st Battalion Dorset Regiment. On the East 69th Brigade, followed by 151st Brigade, again a regiment of DD tanks was attached, they were from the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, the infantry assault battalions that attacked in the East were; the 5th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, and the 6th Battalion The Green Howards. Their primary objective was to seize the town of Bayeux, the Caen-Bayeux road, and the port of Arromanches with the secondary objectives being to make contact with the Americans landing at Omaha Beach to the West and the Canadians landing at Juno Beach to the East. The German 716th Division commanded by Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter, and elements of the 1st Battalion of the 352nd Division commanded by Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiss, defended the Channel coast for the Germans.
H-Hour for the Gold beach landing was set for 07:25 and heavy initial resistance was reported. However after the British broke through the German lines, casualties began to drop off leaving the final toll at 400, mercifully fewer than those suffered at the bloody Omaha Beach.
By midnight on the evening of June 6, 1944 the British forces had landed 24,970 men on Gold Beach, and had penetrated six miles into occupied France. They fulfilled one of their secondary objectives by meeting up with the Canadians who had landed at Juno Beach but failed in their primary objective of reaching the Caen-Bayeux road and in their secondary objective of meeting the Americans from Omaha Beach. However they had established a foothold into fortress Europa that would ultimately be a stepping stone to victory.
The beaches of D-Day are still known by their invasion codenames today.

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Additional Images

See also

Sources

Additional Images

Some pictures of modern day Arromanches-les-Bains (Gold Beach) taken June 21, 2005.

See also

★ Arromanches-les-Bains

Sources

★ British D-Day Museum

★ "Gold Beach" from ''Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Normandy 1944''

★ D-Day : Etat des Lieux : Gold Beach

★ ''Gold Beach Jig - Jig Sector and West - June 1944'' Tim Saunders Battleground Europe Pen & Sword/Leo Cooper ISBN 0 85052 866 6

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