Allied plans to capture Colleville

The beach areas planned for the assault were located between the valleys of Cabourg (F1), Colleville (E3) and Le Ruquet (E1), which corresponded to the areas named Fox Green and the eastern half of Easy Red, sectors entrusted to the 1st US Infantry Division.

On the other hand, on the German side, the defences consisted of fortified coastal areas, the WN 60, 61, 62 on the coast, and the WN63, in the village (in the center on the road leading to the beach), PC of the companies 3/726 (of the 716th division) and 8/916 (arrival more recently with the 352nd division).

Artillery preparation prior to landing

The landings at Colleville were to be preceded by aerial and naval bombardments, in the half hour before H-hour, intended to "amollier" all known positions and demoralize German troops.

18 Liberators B24 "quadrons" (about 90 quadrimotors carrying about 300 tons of bombs of 50 and 225 kg) were to bomb 3 WN 60, 61 and 62, behind Colleville beach, between 0600 and 0625 in the morning (H-30 to H-5). In the absence of visibility due to the ceiling of the clouds, it was planned to delay the time to release the bombs so that on average they fell further away from the landing vessels, thereby ensuring their safety. As a result, the bombs have generally fallen far beyond the land, completely missing their objectives.

The naval bombardment was to last from 0550 to 0627 hours (H-40 to H-3). It was to be provided by many vessels of all types, grouped into "Fire Support Group", FSG (fire support groups). These ship groups were also in charge of the Saint-Laurent defences and the Longue long range battery (4 150mm guns) that could intervene on the fleet at sea.
Bombardment vessels were:

The first landings

After these preliminary bombings, the landings were to be followed in successive waves, controlled by the presence of escorts to guide the landing craft towards their assigned range. (PC 553- SC1291- PC552 - SC1307)

Tanks

• 10 minutes before H time, that is 6:20, 1 company 1/2 (B and 1/2 C/741 Tank Bn) of amphibious tanks Sherman DD (Duplex Drive) or 24 tanks DD (H-10). These tanks were to be carried by 6 LCT (Mark6) and dropped at sea 4km from the coast (LCT 603, 537, 600, 599 on Fox Green with B/741Tk, and LCT 601, 598 on Easy Red with 1/2 C/741Tk).
  They had to create the surprise by arriving alone on the beach, thus diverting the attention of the Germans and protecting the engineers teams who had to get rid of the beach obstacles.
• At time H, 6:30 am, 10 standard Shermann tanks (Cie A/741 Tank Bn) accompanied by 5 Engineer Tankdozers were to be disembarked from 5 LCT(A) (A like Armoured, cad armoured, car specially protected by metal plates) - LCT(A)2339, 2425, 2049, 2287, 2037.
  Their role was also to support the assault companies by their fire and divert the attention of the engineering teams responsible for removing beach obstacles.

Assault infantry
At H time then at H+30 until H+90, (6:30, 7:00, 8:00), 2 assault infantry battalions, from the 16th regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, the "Big Red One":

• On Easy Red East, F/16, then G and H/16, on LCVP from LSI Henrico and Samuel Chase
• on Fox Green, companies I and L/16 and K and M/16, on LCA from LSI Empire Anvil

Their role was to capture the 2 exit routes of the E3 Colleville and F1Cabourg beaches.

The Engineering groups responsible for beach obstacles
At the time H+3 (6h03), 5 LCM were to land 5 "Gapteams" of the SETF (Special Engineer Task Force, charged on the LSI "Prices Maud"), each combining about 45 engineers (from 299th EngrBn) and Marins (from NCDU, Naval Demolition Unit) (team details).
Their role was to create 5 marked and cleared passages of 45m wide obstacles across the beach, 3 on Easy Red East and 2 on Fox Green. Each Gapteam was to be reinforced by one of the 5 tankdozers landed at H+0, to repel the destroyed obstacles to explosives.
At H+8 and H+25, 5 other LCMs had to land to strengthen the Gapteam according to the progress of their work.

Between H+65 and H+120 (7h35 at 8h30), taking advantage of the marked passages through the obstacles, 4 LCI (L) were to land at tide becoming the first elements of Engineering and medical services:

on Easy Red East at 7:35, the LCI 88 with the Cie B/37 Eng Bn
At 8:30 am, the LCI 89 with HQ Cy 1 Eng Bn

on Fox Green at 7:35, LCI 493 with Cie A/37 Eng Bn
at 8:30 am, the LCI 83 with the B/20 Eng Bn Co.

around H+90 (8h00) , LCI 491, 1 LCM and 1 LCVP were to bring on Easy Red the advanced PC of the 16th RCT

From 8am until about 10am the following waves of assault consisted mainly of LCT and DUKW amphibious trucks carrying through the marked channels the first artillery, DCA and Engineering units.
In particular:

• the 7th artillery battalion (7 FA Bn) with 12 105 howitzers on DUKW, (on Easy Red)
• the 62nd Armoured Artillery Battalion (62 FAA Bn) with 16 howitzers of 105 (self-propelled armoured chassis) on 5 LCT (on Fox Green)
• engineers battalions 1 Engr Bn and 348 Engr Bn, (attached to the 1st Division)
• Part of the 81st Chemical Mortar Bn (120mm morters)
• DCA units: 197th, 397th, 697th AA Bn
• the 5th Special Engineer Brigade, in charge of operating the eastern part of Omaha Beach (20 Engr Bn, 37 Engr Bn, , 336 Engr Bn, 6th Beach Bn)

They were responsible for supporting the advance of the assault troops towards the interior and for clearing and opening roadways to the assembly area of the 16th regiment south of Colleville.
From this assembly area, the 16th regiment was to pursue its objectives by reaching the Formigny-Mosles road before the end of the day.

The arrivals of reinforcements
The 18th regiment was supposed to arrive on Easy Red West, normally in the morning.
In the afternoon, the third regiment of the 1st Division, the 26th RCT, part of Force B (the first support of Force O), could be disembarked as required. A tank battalion, the 745th Tk Bn was also ready to land in the afternoon.