D-Day General: How Dutch Cota Saved Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944

by Noel F. Mehlo Jr., Joseph Balkoski (Contribution by), Maj. Gen. John Raaen Jr. (Contribution by)

Overview

Omaha was the make-or-break Allied beach on D-Day—in (perhaps) the make-or-break campaign of World War II. If American soldiers couldn’t gain a foothold there, then D-Day was unlikely to succeed. On June 6, 1944, U.S. troops on Omaha suffered the worst casualties of any of the five Allied invasion beaches—so many casualties, and so much tactical difficulty, that Omaha almost didn’t succeed. One big reason why Americans gained a foothold on Omaha was Gen. Norman “Dutch” Cota.

A graduate of the West Point class of 1917 (alongside famous classmates Matthew Ridgway, Mark Clark, and Lightning Joe Collins), Norm Cota played football with Dwight Eisenhower, who graduated two years earlier. From March 1941 to February 1943, Cota served with the famous 1st Infantry Division, the Big Red One, as division intelligence officer, plans/training officer, and finally chief of staff. He performed so well in the North Africa campaign that he was sent to England to help plan D-Day. After laying the tactical groundwork for the amphibious landings, Cota was made assistant division commander of the 29th Infantry Division. On the eve of D-Day, he told his men, “You’re going to find confusion. The landing craft aren’t going in on schedule, and people are going to be landed in the wrong place. Some won’t be landed at all.. .. We must improvise, carry on, not lose our heads.”

On June 6, 1944, under heavy fire, Cota landed with the second wave of the 29th Infantry Division on Omaha Beach, about an hour after the start of the invasion. He personally rallied the survivors of the landings and led the opening of one of the first exits off Omaha. Cota seemed to be everywhere that day. Coming upon a group of Rangers, the general told them, “Rangers, lead the way” (hence the Rangers’ motto). He is also known for saying, “Gentlemen, we are being killed on the beaches. Let us go inland and be killed.” And, to a captain uncertain how to proceed: “I’ll tell you what, captain.You and your men start shooting at them. I’ll take a squad of men, and you and your men watch carefully. I’ll show you how to take a house with Germans in it.” Having demonstrated the task, Cota asked the officer, “Do you understand? Do you know how to do it now?. .. I won’t be around to do it for you again. I can’t do it for everybody.”

Great quips—which American military history will always remember and which show the character, in every sense, of Dutch Cota. Cota was a fighter—a fighting general, a D-Day general—and his contribution to D-Day will remain his rallying of demoralized troops and his blazing the trail toward the breakout and victory on Omaha. Ted Roosevelt Jr., who landed at Utah Beach, has always received credit as the D-Day general (like Cota, Roosevelt also demanded that he land on D-Day—and then died of a heart attack a month later), but Cota is the hero-general of the day, having landed early on D-Day on bloody Omaha. Portrayed by Robert Mitchum in the grand D-Day film The Longest Day, Cota has not yet received his due—and there’s a campaign now afoot to award him a belated Medal of Honor. His story cries out to be told. Now, with the cooperation of the Cota family, Noel F. Mehlo Jr. tells the compelling story Dutch Cota on Omaha Beach, revealing new information and never-before-seen photos.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811739658
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/15/2021
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	645,454
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Noel F. Mehlo Jr.’s career has spanned geology, transportation, and history. After his time in the army in military intelligence, he wrote and self-published the book The Lost Ranger: A Soldier’s Story, about his grandfather in the 5th Rangers in World War II. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Contributor Joseph Balkoski is, in the words of USA Today, “the top living D-Day historian” and, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, “a true maestro of original D-Day history.” He has written Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and Beyond the Beachhead, the first in a five-volume history of the 29th Division in World War II. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Contributor John Raaen Jr., a 1943 West Point graduate, earned a Silver Star with the 5th Rangers on D-Day, when his battalion landed on Omaha by mistake (instead of at Pointe du Hoc). He went on to a distinguished career in army ordnance, earning a degree in nuclear physics from Johns Hopkins and serving in Korea and Vietnam. He is a member of the Ranger Hall of Fame and Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame. He lives in central Florida.

Table of Contents

Foreword Joseph Balkoski vii

Foreword xi

Current and Living Former Division Commanders of the 29th Infantry Division

Preface xv

Chapter 1 Tne Dauntless 1

Chapter 2 From Chelsea, Massachusetts, to North Africa 7

Chapter 3 A General Named Dutch 49

Chapter 4 The Blue and the Gray 69

Chapter 5 German Defenses near Vierville 95

Chapter 6 Western Omaha Beach, H-Hour to H+1 Hour 135

Chapter 7 Cota's D-Day Landing 159

Chapter 8 Vierville 197

Chapter 9 Seventeen Miles 231

Chapter 10 Beyond Intrepidity 277

Chapter 11 A Dream Realized 307

Appendix I 1984 Letter to President Reagan and Congressional Response to Mr. A1 Dogan for Cota MOH Upgrade 327

Appendix II Congressional Request Letter for Cota DSC Upgrade to MOH 331

Appendix III Letters of Support for BG Cota MOH Upgrade 335

Notes 341

Bibliography 355

Acknowledgments 361

Index 363

About the Author 373

Editorial Reviews

General Norman Cota, as yet unrecognized for his service and heroism, was the savior of the landing at bloody Omaha Beach, and thus of the D-Day operation. Noel Mehlo’s account goes far to restore this leader’s position as one of the war’s great figures.

Robert Slayton

There is no account of any other senior leader who took broad and repeated charge of hopeless situations and personally turned them into tactical success, or inspired others to do so, thus avoiding uncounted casualties. Cota and his 29th Infantry Division fought their way off the deadly beach, up the overlooking heavily entrenched terrain and via D-1 and D-3, and ended the day in a defensible posture on French soil through Cota’s courage and determination. Extensive research has produced over 400 pages documenting Cota’s individual intrepidity above and beyond. D-Day General puts this important story on full display to the reader.

Carroll D. Childers

This is a long-needed account of one of the most heroic American soldiers of D-Day. It intertwines dramatic first-hand accounts within broader descriptions of the D-Day fighting in order to thoroughly portray Cota’s remarkable contributions to the US Army’s eventual victory at Omaha Beach.

Steven Zaloga

A detailed discussion of the tactical situation at Omaha Beach and Cota’s outstanding leadership there.

Lt. Col. Tim Stoy