Krisenmanagement

DATE: 18/01/2026

TIME (GMT): 19:00

ERA: WW2

MAP(S): Utah Beach

TYPE: COOP

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Sclembi

SLOTS: 82 / 89

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RATING: (57)

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Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, overall commander on the Western Front, reported to Hitler in October 1943 regarding the weak defenses in France. This led to the appointment of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to oversee the construction of enhanced fortifications along the Atlantic Wall, with special emphasis on the most likely invasion front, which stretched from the Netherlands to Cherbourg. Rommel believed that the Normandy coast could be a possible landing point for the invasion, so he ordered the construction of extensive defensive works along that shore. In addition to concrete gun emplacements at strategic points along the coast, he ordered wooden stakes, metal tripods, mines, and large anti-tank obstacles to be placed on the beach to delay the approach of landing craft and impede the movement of tanks. Expecting the Allies to land at high tide so that the infantry would spend less time exposed on the beach, he ordered many of these obstacles to be placed at the high-tide mark. The terrain at Utah is flat, offering no high ground on which to place fortifications. The shallow beach varies in depth from almost nothing to 800 yards (730 m), depending on the tides. The Germans flooded the flat land behind the beach by damming up streams and opening the floodgates at the mouth of the Douve to admit seawater.

Defense of this sector of eastern coast of the Cotentin Peninsula was assigned to Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben and his 709th Static Infantry Division. The unit was not well equipped, lacking motorized transport and provided with captured French, Soviet, and Czech equipment. Many of the men were Ostlegionen (non-German conscripts recruited from Soviet prisoners of war, Georgians, and Poles), known to be deeply unreliable. The southernmost 6 miles (9.7 km) of the sector was manned by about 700 troops stationed in nine strongpoints spaced from 1,100 to 4,400 yd (1,000 to 4,000 m) apart. Tangles of barbed wire, booby traps, and the removal of ground cover made both the beach and the terrain around the strongpoints hazardous for infantry. The German 91st Infantry Division and 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, who arrived in May, were stationed inland as reserves. Detecting this move, the Allies shifted their intended airborne drop zones to the southeast.

Bombing of Normandy began around midnight with over 2,200 British and American bombers attacking targets along the coast and further inland. Some 1,200 aircraft departed England just before midnight to transport the airborne divisions to their drop zones behind enemy lines. Paratroops from 101st Airborne were dropped beginning around 01:30, tasked with controlling the causeways behind Utah and destroying road and rail bridges over the Douve. Gathering together into fighting units was made difficult by a shortage of radios and by the bocage terrain, with its hedgerows, stone walls, and marshes. Troops of the 82nd Airborne began arriving around 02:30, with the primary objective of destroying two additional bridges over the Douve and capturing intact two bridges over the Merderet. They quickly captured the important crossroads at Sainte-Mère-Église (the first town liberated in the invasion) and began working to protect the western flank. Generalleutnant Wilhelm Falley, commander of 91st Infantry Division, was trying to return to his headquarters near Picauville from war games at Rennes when he was killed by a paratrooper patrol.

The 709th Static Infantry Division was a coastal defence unit assigned to protect the eastern and northern coasts of the Cotentin Peninsula. This included the sites of the Utah Beachhead and the US airborne landing zones. The Division included a number of 'Ostlegionen' – eastern – units of various nationalities, mainly from the occupied countries of eastern Europe. These were a mixture of volunteers, conscripts and former Soviet prisoners-of-war who had chosen to fight in the German Army rather than suffer the harsh conditions of prisoners. Two battalions of the 739th Grenadier Regiment were Georgian battalions. Two further battalions were also designated as Ost units in the divisional order of battle. These battalions were led by German officers and NCOs.
Elements of the 709th were heavily engaged on D-Day, defending the peninsula against US airborne landings and against the US 4th Infantry Division landing on Utah Beach. Ten days later the division reported that it had sustained around 4,000 casualties from an initial strength of over 12,000. General Schlieben surrendered 'Fortress' Cherbourg to the Americans on 29 June 1944.

We will play as a company from 795th Infantry Battalion (Georgian), reorganised to fit the task at hand with a few specialist elements to aid in our night operation. We will deploy into the rear area of Utah Beach a short while after the US paradrops and we will attempt to manage the crisis at hand by hunting down and eliminating the smaller paratrooper units before they are able to organise themselves into larger strike force. The players will move through designated search sectors and assist any nearby units should the need arise.