The War Room XVI: Le Hamel, Gold Beach, D-Day

The fight over the seafront village of Le Hamel, on the western edge of Gold Beach, 6 June 1944.
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[@DavidSmith-pv4lv]

My dad's brother was in 1st Hampshires and so so thank you so much for telling this story - all of which I didn't know. Brilliant!

[@ThatOneGeneral_]

The amount of specialised equipment and indirect support brought to the beaches by the Allied forces really emphasises how vast their industrial capacity was in comparison to the Axis' by this point in the war. Fantastic video as always.

[@Poopingcricket]

This was fascinating, and really well presented. Thanks for making this.

[@MrBumbo90]

these videos should have waaay more views than that. Amazing work.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much!

[@wojszach4443]

i love how detailed this documentary is

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much man!

[@wojszach4443]

@@usuallyhapless9481 i feel like i am the one to thank, two tiks or two haplesses how you wanna call it is godsend

[@tremendousbaguette9680]

2:50 "Rommel, having experienced allied air superiority in North Africa" and soon about to experience it again himself...

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Yep

[@colbysimpson5936]

I read James Holland's 'Brothers in Arms' and 'An Englishmen at War' at some point last year. It's really cool to see the day's event's in the area all tied together coherently after getting only the limited perspective of the Sherwood Rangers. Great work!

[@chriswaters443]

id recommend the book dday spearhead brigade for the infantry and engineer perspective also covers the SRY on the day

[@dadoogie]

Brilliant video as always mate.

[@danielmounce8490]

Excellent as always. Thank you.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@wartsnall7332]

Very good as per usual. Hopefully BFC's Battle Pack 2 will be getting the UH treatment sometime soon.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much! Sadly my dance card is pretty damn full at the moment, so it might be a while before we go poke about Utah.

[@BelteshazzarBaumbruck]

Excellent...! Please would you add a bibliography for further reading...?

[@NrRipp]

more videos about D-Day and Italy please

[@michaelbourgeault9409]

16.48 - Durham Light Infantry Forward Observer with the bear necessities: radio, Stirling, and a cup of tea :)

[@WgCdrLuddite]

It's actually a Sten Mk.III. I'll get me coat.......

[@daniel_feal]

Excellent work, Mr Hapless. As usual for you. Thank you!

[@The2ndFirst]

This was remarkably good Hapless.

[@SilencedMi5]

Great video! These detailed insights into the tactical situation in less-discussed battles are much appreciated. With summer coming into full swing, maybe a video on something in France 1940? Too few discuss tactical details in favor of hand waiving away an embarrassing strategic defeat.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

May 1940 is definitely an interesting one- we've just had two WW2 episodes in a row though, so it's probably time to swivel back to something earlier

[@jonathandarraugh9566]

Excellent video. Such detail. Keep up the good work.

[@user-fm6ns5nb4j]

That's an excellent summary. Well done.

[@Tinblitz]

I wonder how much different things would have been had the attack force been more spread out as was originally intended, too. While I imagine another enfiladed artillery piece (WN38) was positioned to provide supporting/cover fire to WN37, I wonder if moving armour and troops up on its blind spot would have allowed it to be silenced much quicker. Throughout this video I kept thinking how much war has been changed not just by technology, but also by the improvement of overall communication, and reliability of mechanical equipment has become since the 40s.

[@horseman2777]

Another Hapless banger

[@artemisfowl7191]

7:00 brief note, many Royal Navy ship classes share a name starting with the same letter, hence the U class destroyers all have a name that starts with U.

[@faatihh1130]

Heard the same for tanks, majority of them starts with C, Churchill, Cromwell, Crusader, Etc though there were exception.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Yep. It's quite useful when you've got a bazillion ships.

[@pauldangel734]

Excellent presentation and analysis!

[@larsdejong7396]

To be fair, at Salerno, their biggest mistake was to continue despite the German air attacks on their way there. General Clarck should have realized that Kesselring was wel aware of his movements. And despite only one armoured division being close enough to counter them, more reinforcements were quickly send, culminating in the counterattack that almost spelled the doom of the entire battle. Rather than outmanouvering the Germans, he had to be rescued by Monty. Yes, 21st panzer was close enough to launch a counterattack at the beachhead, but it was up against a MUCH larger force than at Salerno. Anyway, this engagement at Gold also shows how well the Germans had set up their defense with their limited resources. A 15-16'' gun might have put that bunker out of action, but that's danger close. Plus, those guns really don't have the accuracy to reliably hit something that small. Ultimately, the Allies were only able to overcome it thanks to their massive advantage in raw firepower, all of which could be coördinated much more easily. Can't wait for the next episode. Keep up the excellent work. :)

[@usuallyhapless9481]

I think continuing on towards Salerno after being rumbled is one of those things that isn't actually that likely to alter proceedings. A bit like if the Germans had spotted the D-Day invasion fleet at midnight: it's too big to stop, but definitely big enough to bully its way onto the beach without the element of surprise.

[@larsdejong7396]

@@usuallyhapless9481 True. To be fair to Clarck, the terrain at Salerno was also perfect for defense.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

2:25 Why is he looking through a periscope? What utility does it being a periscope rather than normal binoculars give him in this situation?

[@mimir4965]

Its a propaganda photo. You ask yourself why.

[@Catacomb007]

It's a stereoscopic rangefinder. The photo is at a bad angle. The periscope isn't one vision block, but 2 legs in a V-shape, projecting 2 very slightly different images to a lens at the bottom. Adjusting that lens until the two images are identical tells you the range to the target in focus.

[@copter2000]

​@@mimir4965What a helpful reply. 😮

[@usuallyhapless9481]

What Catacomb007 said. He's probably near Calais eyeballing the white cliffs of Dover

[@nikolailucyk]

Very good video.and use of pictures and annotated maps!

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much! You can never have enough maps

[@erraov9976]

Thank you, I have yet to learned so much detail about this even though it’s such a famous event

[@josiahrowden]

Another great video!

[@shawnclarke9414]

Great video mate, interesting to see how effective a single AT gun was. D-day will forever be such an interesting topic, I feel for the poor defenders at the beach.

[@nickscannell2227]

17:00

[@rpick7546]

No such thing as overkill.