Norman Daniel "Dutch" Cota (May 30, 1893, Chelsea, Massachusetts - October 4, 1971, Wichita, Kansas) was a U.S. General during World War II. is the 150th day of the year (151st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: Country United States State Massachusetts County Suffolk County Settled 1624 Incorporated 1739 Government  - Type Council-manager city  - City Manager Jay Ash Area  - City  2. ... is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... Nickname: Location in the state of Kansas County Government  - Mayor Carl Brewer (D) Area  - City 359. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Omaha Beach

Brigadier General Cota was Assistant Division commander of the US 29th Infantry Division at Omaha Beach during the Battle of Normandy. During D-Day planning, he was opposed to daylight landings, believing pre-dawn landings would stand a better chance of success. He did not get his way. A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ... The US 29th Infantry Division was a United States infantry division that existed during World War I and World War II. 29th Infantry Division Symbol Nicknamed Blue and Gray, the divisions motto is 29 Lets Go, taken from General Eisenhowers inspiring speech to the troops preparing for... Combatants United States Nazi Germany Commanders Omar Bradley Norman Cota Clarence R. Huebner U.S. 1st Infantry Division U.S. 29th Infantry Division Dietrich Kraiss German 352nd Infantry Division Strength 43,250 Unknown Casualties 3,000 1,200 The build-up of Omaha Beach: reinforcements of men and equipment moving... Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Free France Poland Nazi Germany Commanders Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander) Bernard Montgomery (land) Bertram Ramsay (sea) Trafford Leigh-Mallory (air) Omar Bradley (U.S. 1st Army) Miles Dempsey (UK 2nd Army) Harry Crerar (Canadian 1st Army) Gerd von Rundstedt (OB WEST) Erwin Rommel... Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ...

Maj. Gen. Norman D. "Dutch" Cota

Cota was not alone in his opposition to daylight landings. General Leonard T. Gerow, commander of the entire V Corps, and Admiral John L. Hall, Jr., commander of Amphibious Force "O" (the naval force responsible for delivery of the US 1st Infantry Division to the beach), both fought to change the Overlord plan, pleading for a night time assault. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Leonard Townsend Gerow (July 13, 1888 - October 12, 1972) was born in Petersburg, Virginia. ... List of military corps — List of military corps by number A number of countries have a Fifth, or V, Corps. ... John L. Hall, Jr. ... In feudalism, an overlord is a supreme lord; one who is the lord of other lords. ...

A year before the invasion, at the Conference on Landing Assaults, Cota made his argument in favor of striving for tactical surprise:

. . . It is granted that strategical surprise will be impossible to attain. Tactical surprise is another thing however... . tactical surprise is one of the most powerful factors in determining success. I therefore, favor the night landing. I do not believe the daylight assault can succeed.

However, the high command concluded that naval and air bombardment would effectively neutralize (at least) or eradicate (at best) the enemy opposition. This reliance on technology, rather than maneuver and surprise, was a salient characteristic of the American approach to amphibious operations. The British - lacking the industrial resources of the U.S. and inclined to fight limited engagements - historically had relied on surprise and flanking maneuver. The plan for Omaha, however, essentially called for hurling infantry directly into a prepared enemy position - a position that was enhanced by the concave shape of the beach (effectively promoting enemy crossfire into the "basin" of the concavity), by natural and man-made articles, by bad weather and other factors. The assumption was effectively that American technology would vitiate the need for surprise.

Most D-Day commanders assured their men that the Germans would be annihilated by the Allies' (principally American airpower) pre-invasion firepower, and that the defenders were in any case outnumbered, inexperienced and demoralized. All of these assessments were revoltingly inaccurate. On the afternoon of June 5 Cota gave one of the few accurate assessments to the soldiers of the 29th Infantry Division:

. . . The little discrepancies that we tried to correct [in the amphibious training center] are going to be magnified and are going to give way to incidents that you might at first view as chaotic. The air and naval bombardment and the artillery support are reassuring. But 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. The enemy will [to some degree prevent] our gaining "lodgement." But we must improvise, carry on, not lose our heads.

While Cota had a far less sanguine view of the plan than did the higher command, even he underrated the extent of the near-catastrophe that awaited V Corps (commanded by General Gerow and composed of the 29th Infantry Division and the famous "Big Red One" 1st Infantry Division) on Omaha. Shoulder Patch of the United States Army 1st Infantry Division. ...

Cota landed with a part of the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Division, in the second wave, approximately one hour after H-Hour, on the Omaha sector known as Dog White. His boat (an LCVP) was under heavy machine gun fire as well as mortar and light artillery fire; three soldiers (including most likely at least one officer) were killed immediately upon leading the disembarkation. The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes. ...

Cota was one of the highest ranking officers on the beach that day. He is famous for personally directing the attack, motivating the shell-shocked, pinned-down survivors into action, and opening one of the first vehicle exits off the beach. Two famous quotes are attributed to him during this time.

• In a meeting with Max Schneider, commander of the 5th Ranger Battalion, Cota asked “What outfit is this?” Someone yelled "5th Rangers!". To this, Cota replied “Well, goddamn it then, Rangers, lead the way!”. "Rangers lead the way" became the motto of the Rangers.

• He is also quoted as saying to his troops, "Gentlemen, we are being killed on the beaches. Let us go inland and be killed." Interestingly, in The Longest Day, Cota renders the similar encouragement that was, as the evidence best suggests, actually delivered by Colonel George A. Taylor: "There are only two kinds of people on this beach: those who are already dead and those who are going to die. Now let's get the hell out of here."

The character of General Cota is played by the actor Robert Mitchum in the movie The Longest Day. Mitchum delivers the famous last line of the film, as Zanuck has Cota order a young soldier driving a jeep to "run me up that hill, son." The Fifth Ranger Infantry Battalion activated September 1, 1943 at Camp Forrest, TN commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Max Schneider, former executive officer of the 4th Ranger Battalion, was part of the provisional Ranger Assault Force commanded by Colonel Rudder. ... Official force name 75th Ranger Regiment Rangers Other names Airborne Rangers Army Rangers U.S. Army Rangers Branch U.S. Army Chain of Command USASOC Description Special Operations Force, rapidly deployable light infantry force. ... The Longest Day is a 3-hour-long 1962 war film with a very large cast, based on the 1959 book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about D-Day, the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, during World War II. // The movie was adapted by Romain Gary, James... George A. Taylor (1899—1969) was an officer in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division during World War II. His famous quote from Omaha Beach: He arrived on the beach in a later wave, about 0800. ... Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American film actor and singer. ... The Longest Day is a 3-hour-long 1962 war film with a very large cast, based on the 1959 book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about D-Day, the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, during World War II. // The movie was adapted by Romain Gary, James...

Cota received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism on Omaha Beach. In 2004 a movement arose to have the Army reconsider upgrading Cota's decoration to the nation's highest award for bravery, the Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States. ...

Hurtgen

Later, as the commander of the US 28th Infantry Division, Major General Cota was involved in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. He also reviewed and approved the death sentence handed down by a court martial on Eddie Slovik, the only U.S. soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Cota is said to have approved the sentence because he was appalled by the bluntness of Slovik's confession.^{[citation needed]} 28th Infantry Division Symbol The 28th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. It continues its service today as part of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. ... Combatants United States Germany Commanders Courtney Hodges Walter Model Strength 120,000 80,000 Casualties 33,000 casualties 12,000—16,000 deaths[1] (est. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...

Cota retired from the army in 1946 at the rank of Major General. He died in Wichita, Kansas, on October 4, 1971 and is buried in the post cemetery at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Insignia of a United States Air Force Major General German Generalmajor Insignia Major General is a military rank used in many countries. ...

See also

• George A. Taylor

George A. Taylor (1899—1969) was an officer in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division during World War II. His famous quote from Omaha Beach: He arrived on the beach in a later wave, about 0800. ...

References