WN62: Two German Soldiers Who Fought on D-Day, and Escaped

Quick answer: What was WN62 on Omaha Beach?

Widerstandsnest 62 was a German strongpoint on the bluff above the Colleville draw at the eastern end of Omaha Beach, overlooking the Easy Red and Fox Green sectors. Its guns held up American troops for much of June 6, 1944. Two of its defenders, Heinrich Severloh and Franz Gockel, survived and later told their stories.

John admits this is not an easy story to tell or to hear, but it helps explain D-Day from the other side. WN, for Widerstandsnest, means "nest of resistance." WN62 sat on a spur above the Colleville draw, overlooking the Easy Red and Fox Green sectors, and was among the deadliest positions on Omaha Beach. It held about forty men, most from the 716th Division plus a team from the 352nd directing artillery, along with casemates, an anti-tank gun, mortars, and machine guns behind wire and mines. Gefreiter Heinrich Severloh of the 352nd manned an MG 42 there for about nine hours. In a memoir published in 2000 he claimed to have caused well over a thousand American casualties, a claim historians dispute, since total American losses along the whole of Omaha that day are estimated at about 2,400. Franz Gockel of the 716th, only eighteen, fought from another position in the complex until he was wounded. Both men escaped when the position fell. Gockel later returned to Normandy and met the American and British veterans he had fought against. Today WN62 holds memorials to the 1st Infantry Division and the 5th Engineer Special Brigade.

Why it matters for leaders: Understanding the people on the other side of a fight, including what drove them and what they later regretted, makes the history more honest.

Q: Why are Severloh's claims disputed?

A: He claimed to have inflicted 1,000 to 2,000 casualties, but estimated total American casualties on all of Omaha Beach on D-Day were about 2,400, from many causes.

Q: What memorials stand at WN62 today?

A: Memorials to the U.S. 1st Infantry Division and the 5th Engineer Special Brigade.

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By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation