the amphibious invasion by the allies at normandy on june 6, 1944 set several all-time records. 160,000 allied troops were landed from around 4,300 landing craft. 12,000 allied war planes and transports sortied out. most of the top ground, air and naval commanders were british. the operation was jointly planned by the staff of general of the armies eisenhower (an unofficial sixth-star general) and field marshall montgomery. montgomery was in overall command.
it was a relatively silent and bloodless invasion. the biggest invasion in history went largely un-noticed. un-noticed and bloodless, except for skirmishes by advanced allied paratroopers against german soldiers on patrol, and the omaha beach landings. very often books mention briefly that allies met the stiffest opposition at omaha beach and around 2,500 american soldiers were killed.
the “stiffest oppostion” consisted of three machine gun positions and only one was directly facing the landing americans. that one was designated w-62 (resistance nest 62) with an mg-42 light machinegun (7.92mm belt-fed, air-cooled, bipod-mounted) manned by corporal heinrich serveloh.
serveloh had a clear view of the lower ground, the wide sandbar and the beach. the american landing craft dropped their front doors down, allowing american troops to jump into chest-deep water and wade with all their weapons and packs around 20 meters to the beach. serveloh was around 500 meters away.
serveloh opened fire with his mg-42 at 5AM. his commanding officer advised him to let the americans wade in the water in straight rows from their craft before opening fire. once they reached the beach, they would spread out. that is exactly what serveloh did. he enfiladed countless rows of american soldiers wading helpless in the water. before long, the wave swells hitting the beach were filled with dead, bobbing US troops. behind him, his 19 companions in w-62 kept passing ammo to servelo’s weapon. his machinegun barrel started overheating early and he had no spare barrel. the barrel was already setting fire to the dry grass close to his gun. he paused only to wait for the next landing craft to stop and discharge more hapless soldiers, giving him time to cool his weapon.
w-62 stopped firing 9 hours later at around 3PM. corporal serveloh had exhausted his supply of 12,000 machine gun rounds. his exact kill on d-day will never be known but both sides estimated that he killed between 1,500 and 2,000 american soldiers in 9 hours, and accounted for around 83% of allied casualties at omaha beach. it was a singular achievement for an infantry soldier who was at the right place at the right time, and performed his duty admirably.
serveloh was captured by the americans during their retreat as the allies consolidated their hold on the five beaches. americans nicknamed him “the beast of omaha beach.” he was subjected to forced labor in american farms and later in road construction in britain. he was released in 1947. during his captivity, he refused to talk about his experience at omaha even with his fellow-german soldiers out of shame and guilt. most of his american captors knew what he had done but treated him decently.
in germany he went back to live and work in their family farm. married and had children. he made friends with at least one omaha beach survivor, david silva, who took three bullets to the chest. silva’s account was mentioned in cornelius ryan’s book “the longest day.” that is how serveloh knew of him. silva chose to reside in germany.
serveloh travelled many times to omaha beach to pray for those he had killed. he had never made any request to be forgiven for what he had done but silva pronnounced his forgiveness in confidence.
heinrich serveloh died on january 14, 2006 aged 82. this doper feels he should be specially honored for his skill, his dedication, and above all, his humanity.
