Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc, a 100-meter-high cliff positioned between Utah and Omaha Beaches, contained six German 155mm cannons in heavily reinforced bunkers that were capable of inflicting massive damage on both beaches. In order for D-Day to go as planned, it was determined that Point du Hoc, the strongest of the German defensive positions on the Norman coast, had to be captured. Weeks before D-Day, the Allies sent heavy bombers from both the U.S. Air Force and the British Bomber Command to bombard the area and continually did so up to the dawn of June 6. Then, it was the battleship Texas's turn to shell the position. In total, Pointe du Hoc got hit by over ten kilotons of explosives, which put together is equivalent to the power of the atomic bomb that was later dropped on Hiroshima. The Texas finally stopped firing at 6:30 in the morning, the exact time the American Rangers were scheduled overtake the cliff.

The soldiers were carried to the beach on LCA boats, slow and heavy landing craft that sacrificed mobility for security. Water sprayed all over the sides as the LACs chugged along, and many of the soldiers became seasick, having just eaten large meals prior to boarding. However, everything seemed to be going smoothly until they realized that they were heading towards the wrong beach. The British sailors captaining the LCAs were accidentally directing the ships towards Pointe de la Percée instead, which was around halfway between the Vierville draw and Point du Hoc. This costly error caused the rangers to arrive at Pointe du Hoc 35 minutes later than planned, giving the Germans time to recover from the bombardments and regroup their defenses.

Once the soldiers made it to the beach, they were charged with the nearly impossible task of scaling the massive cliff that the Germans were on top of. They had to use ropes and rope ladders to climb to the top, and just getting to the ropes was a challenge all in itself, as German machine guns fired all across the beach, killing countless men in their methodical sweeps. To make things worse, the Germans on the top were cutting the ropes and tossing grenades over the cliff. Despite all this, within five minutes the rangers were at the top, and ten minutes later, most of the rest of the soldiers were up.

As they surveyed the landscape, the soldiers quickly realized that the guns weren't there. Nevertheless, the rangers moved on to their next objective: to set up roadblocks on the paved road that connected Grandcamp and Vierville in order to prevent German reinforcements from moving to Omaha. As they proceeded inland they were met with heavy German resistance, resulting in massive casualties and injuries that overwhelmed the Army medics. However, by 9:00 they were finally able to set up the roadblocks and messaged back "Located Pointe du Hoc -- mission accomplished -- need ammunition and reinforcement -- many casualties." Only 25% of the original fighting force was able to continue fighting, but the Germans were never able to retake Pointe du Hoc.

Sources:
https://armyhistory.org/rudders-rangers-and-the-boys-of-pointe-du-hoc-the-u-s-army-rangers-mission-in-the-early-morning-hours-of-6-june-1944/
http://www.worldwar2history.info/D-Day/Pointe-Du-Hoc.html