Page "Omaha Beach" Paragraph 6

Bound at either end by rocky cliffs, the Omaha Beach crescent presented a gently sloping tidal area averaging 300 yards ( 275 m ) between low and highwater marks.

Above the tide line was a bank of shingle 8 feet ( 2. 4 m ) high and up to 15 yards ( 14 m ) wide in some places.

At the western end the shingle bank rested against a stone ( further east becoming wood ) sea wall which ranged from 4 – 12 feet ( 1. 5 – 4 m ) in height.

For the remaining two thirds of the beach after the seawall ended the shingle lay against a low sand embankment.

Behind the sand embankment and sea wall lay a level shelf of sand, narrow at either end and extending up to 200 yards ( 180 m ) inland in the center.

Steep escarpments or bluffs then rose 100 – 170 feet ( 30 – 50 m ), dominating the whole beach and cut into by small wooded valleys or draws at five points along the beach, codenamed west to east D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1.