![]() Its origin lay in Louisiana’s swamps with Nebraskan Andrew Jackson Higgins. The key to delivering those overwhelming numbers to the beaches was a simple, mostly wooden boat, the Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) also known as the “Higgins Boat.” Their strike would have to overwhelm the defenses at one point with greater numbers than the Germans could repulse. Two years later the Allies finally had the numbers necessary to breach the German defenses and begin the long fight to Berlin, but to do that they had to first make it to mainland Europe. 19, 1942, which cost the lives of more than a thousand British and Canadian troops. The Allies tested it once in the disastrous Dieppe Raid on Aug. A point the Allies could exploit with a push back onto European continent.Īnticipating such an attempt as early as 1942 Hitler ordered the construction of his “Atlantikwall,” a series of armed strongpoints, bunkers and defensive measures stretching across the whole northern coast of Nazi-occupied Europe. Germany isn’t beat yet her army is still millions strong and her weapons among the most potent, but the nation is at her breaking point. Germany has lost the fight for North Africa, her ally Italy has turned allegiances and the Russians have gained momentum in the East. But on June 6, 2015, room was made for another, the Higgins Boat Monument, a memorial to the little boats and their crews who made the landing and ultimately victory, possible. ![]() High on a hill overlooking the beach the Navy is remembered, along with several memories to various Army units that landed on the beach. Utah Beach, a site of intense fighting in June 1944, is now a peaceful place, with a cool breeze, the sound of waves hitting the surf, and the site of numerous memorials to those who fought 71 years ago. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David R. 1,089 were used on D-Day and were vital for getting troops ashore. Columbus is the hometown of Higgins, who designed the landing craft and whose company built 20,000 watercraft for the U.S. The monument was dedicated Jafter nearly a year of fund-raising by the city of Columbus, Nebraska. UTAH BEACH, France (6 June 2015) The Higgins Boat Monument commemorates the Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel, also known as “Higgins Boats,” their crews and boat designer Andrew Jackson Higgins.
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