On 6 June 1944, the American troops landed in Normandy on Omaha Beach. The Vth Corps under General Gerow was assigned the task to clean off the beaches, and to build up exit corridors. But nothing occured as expected : near all the amphibious tanks sank, the bombers had been missing their targets, a strong tidal current veered of course the landing ships, and the engineers troops who had to open breaches in the defenses lost much equipment. At 6:30 am the first wave of the 1st Infantry Division was slaughtered, the second wave at 7 am suffered heavy losses. Around 9 am, the Rangers and the 116th Infantry Regiment opened the first exit. Around 10 am, two gates were finally cracked open at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, with the support of tanks, and two destroyers shelling the casemates of Les Moulins. Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer was liberated at the end of the afternoon of D-Day, Colleville-sur-Mer was seized the next day.