Heinrich Severloh was a soldier in the German 352nd Infantry Division stationed in Normandy in 1944. He became infamous for a memoir WN 62 – Erinnerungen an Omaha Beach Normandie, 6. Juni 1944, published in 2000. This book is noted for the authors' claim that as a machine gunner, Severloh inflicted over 1,000 and maybe over 2,000 casualties to the American soldiers landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day. Subsequent to the book being published, some have referred to Severloh as "The Beast of Omaha." However, Severloh's claim is not viewed as credible by either US or German historians. Total US casualties from all sources along the five-mile length of Omaha Beach on D-Day are estimated at about 2,400.
Early life
Severloh was born into a farming family in Metzingen in the Lüneburg Heath area of North Germany, close to the small city of Celle.
into the Wehrmacht on July 23, 1942, at the age of 19, Severloh was assigned to the 19th Light Artillery Replacement Division in Hanover. He was then transferred to France in August to join the 3rd Battery of the 321st Artillery Regiment, where he trained as a dispatch rider. In December 1942, he was sent to the Eastern Front and assigned to the rear of his division to drive sleighs. As punishment for making dissenting remarks, he was forced to perform physical exertions which left him with permanent health problems and necessitated six-month convalescence in hospital. After this, he went on leave to his family's farm to help gather the harvest. In October 1943, Severloh was sent for non-commissioned officer training in Brunswick, but was recalled after less than a month to rejoin his unit which had been reclassified as the 352nd Infantry Division and was stationed in Normandy.
Omaha Beach
extends for 5 miles from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer. The beach defences at Omaha consisted of 8 concrete bunkers containing 75 mm or greater artillery, 35 pillboxes, 18 anti-tank guns, six mortar pits, 35 Nebelwerfer, 85 machine gun nests, 6 tank turrets and supporting infantry. Infantry deployments on the Beach consisted of five companies concentrated at 15 strongpoints called Widerstandsnester, numbered WN-60 in the east to WN-74 in the west. Severloh was part of WN-62, the largest strongpoint defending Omaha Beach. The American plan of attack divided Omaha Beach into ten sectors, codenamed Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. WN-62 at the eastern side of Omaha Beach overlooked both Easy Red and Fox Green sectors.
Widerstandsnest 62
WN-62 was 332 meters long by 324 meters wide and between 12 and 50 meters above the beach, depending on the distance from the shore, with a good overview of the beach area. The foxhole Severloh fired from was 170 meters from the sea wall and around 450 meters from the landing area of the first wave of Higgins Boats. On D-Day WN-62 was manned by 27 members of the 716th Infantry Division and 13 members of Severloh's 352nd Division, whose task was to direct fire of the 10.5 cm artillery batteries located 5 kilometres inland at Houtteville. Defences included two type H669 concrete casemates, one empty and the other with a 75mm artillery piece, a 50mm anti-tank gun, two 50mm mortars, a twin-barrelled MG 34 7.92mm machine gun on an anti-aircraft mount and two prewar Polish machine guns. Another 50 mm anti-tank gun covered the rear, and the perimeter was ringed by barbed wire and anti personnel mines. Severloh was assigned to a Senior Lieutenant Bernhard Frerking as an orderly. While Frerking coordinated the artillery fire of the battery at Houtteville from a bunker, Severloh says he manned a MG 42 machine gun, and fired on approaching American troops with the machine gun and two Karabiner 98k rifles; while a sergeant whom he did not know, kept him supplied with ammunition from a nearby ammo bunker until 15:30. He claimed to have fired over 13,500 rounds with the machine gun and 400 with the rifles. Interviewed in 2004, he said: "It was definitely at least 1,000 men, most likely more than 2,000. But I do not know how many men I shot. It was awful. Thinking about it makes me want to throw up."
Surrender and captivity
Severloh retreated to the nearby village of Colleville-sur-Mer, with Kurt Warnecke also from the 352nd and Franz Gockel from the 716th, where he surrendered the next day. His commanding officer, Lt. Frerking and most of the other defenders of WN-62 were killed at their posts by American troops. Severloh was first sent as a prisoner of war to Boston, United States. In December 1946, he was transferred to Bedfordshire, England as forced labor working on road construction. Severloh was returned to Germany in March 1947 after his father wrote to the British military authorities saying he was needed to work back on the farm.
Severloh's story became known for the first time in 1960, when his testimony was used in Paul Carell's book Sie kommen! Die Invasion der Amerikaner und Briten in der Normandie 1944. In the 1960s an American military chaplain, David Silva, who had been wounded by three bullets in the chest on Omaha Beach, was contacted by Severloh - who had found his name in the Cornelius Ryan book The Longest Day. They later met several times, including at the 2005 reunion of Allied Forces in Normandy. On 5 June 2004 RTL showed a two-hour documentary in co-production with CBC Radio: "Mortal enemies of Omaha Beach – the story of an unusual friendship," by the filmmaker Alexander Czogalla. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the landing in Normandy, a one-hour documentary was broadcast on June 6, 1984, by the American broadcaster ABC. As part of the research, Heinrich Severloh gave a four-hour interview. In 2000, Severloh's memoir, WN 62 – Erinnerungen an Omaha Beach Normandie, 6. Juni 1944, ghostwritten by Helmut Konrad von Keusgen was published. Severloh died 14 January 2006 in Lachendorf near his home village of Metzingen, aged 82 years, 6 months and 22 days.
Skepticism
Total US casualties at Omaha Beach on D-Day have been variously estimated between 9,000 and over 25,000.
