DD tanks on D-Day

this is something for my history assignment. does anyone know something in depth about these little things? i need some info on how useful these DD tanks were on D-Day, so any good websites would be great.

PS: i've already looked at wikipedia, so anything other than wiki plz.

T-U-P, in advance, I apologize for what may come across as things said in rote. Hopefuly, this helps.

Wikipedia asside, this is what I know.

The Tanks at Omaha beach had one of the worst times. The seas were rough and most of the tanks actualy sunk before they got there. Many of the Tanks that sunk on D-Day off of Omaha are actualy still there today, some with their crews still traped inside.

As in the instances on Juno, the Tanks that did make it were easy targets on the beaches for German artillery, though this as you well know was due to them being first on the scene. The few DD's that did manage to make it to Omaha in that instance were mostly picked off by the experenced soliders manning the emplacements there.

A big problem for the tanks was also the fact that when sea-water got into the engines of the tanks, it caused noxious gases and fumes to be produced. This also happened to be a big problem on Submarines as well, but naturaly, in a tank it was even more dangerous.

If you want a site, although this may seem a bit silly, the Saving Private Ryan Encyclopedia actualy has some pretty detailed info about the Tanks that made it up on Omaha beach.



There were also some links at the bottom of the Wiki that could be used, if you like.

I know this is not quite what you wanted, but I hope it is a start. There is not much I know that is not covered by the Wiki.

well thanks for the website.

it's annoying when the history books i have and the info on some websites differ and often contradict each other. wikipedia says that on Juno beach the tanks arrived later than the first wave of infantries, thus the casualties; however, my books say that the tanks arrived before the infantries and started clearing the obstacles for the infantries, thus the books concluded that the Juno landing was the only successful use of DD tanks...

confusion...

for a few hours there i thought no one in the entire SDF know anything about these little buggers, lol

It's understandable. It depends on who's testimony you take: The Soliders or the Commanders. The Commanders may say that they launched the tanks, but can be unclear as to how many made it or were destroyed by artillery or sunk. While the testimony of soliders varys from person to person. One saying they saw the tanks, another did not, etc.

Also, another bit of info: The German's manning the stations at Omaha were superior in training and experence to those manning the guns at Juno, Utah, Gold and Sword. That is what accounts for the higher ammount of casualties at that particular beach compared to the others. I'm not sure on individual German units, but you could look them up.