I'm watching Saving Private Ryan and after seeing the massive casualties that occurred on the beaches during D-day I thought: Isn't there a better way to do this? I'm sure this is a though that the allied leaders had too and I know they wouldn't have put these brave men in danger if there was an easier way. At one point someone in the movie says something about tanks not having landed yet either. So what was the reason they didn't just bomb the crap out of Normany and then land or perhaps just land tanks?
A few things conspired against the bombing of the Normandy invasion beaches.
The art of aerial bombardment at the time wasn't very accurate. The USAAF sent bombers over Normandy in the hours before H-Hour but the bomb aimers delayed dropping their bombs for fear of hitting the invasion fleet, which resulted in the bombs landing inland of their intended targets. -It probably didn't help that this happened, as it would have resulted in less craters in the sand for troops to hide in as they made their way up the beaches.
Naval gunfire was not as effective as it could have been. -I can't comment too much on this as I have not done too much reading on the matter. However, I did read an account that an American Destroyer took the risk of running aground to provide close heavy gun support. (hopefully someone else can jump in and expand upon this.)
There were attempts to land specially modified tanks during the early parts of the landings to support the invading troops. However, they were either release too far from shore and sank, or they were quickly knocked out when they made it to the beach. -These tanks were called Hobart's Funnies
Hopefully that helps, and hopefully someone can expand a little bit on the areas I am not great with.
#1: they did try and bomb the atlantic wall and missed. they waited too long and many of their bombs landed inland. I heard one vet remark that there were alot of fine dairy cows blown to bits from the bombing and that's it. You have to keep in mind that for the most part, American troops of all kinds had little to no experience in combat, including pilots. #2: Army leadership doesn't give a damn about the individual man. War is hell and people die. the name GI came from the fact that you were valued as much to the army as your General Issue equipment. The putting "Brave Men in danger" happened everywhere and that's why PTSD is rampant in the military. Some units weren't even allocated rations because of their immanent loss. #3 as others have said, they tried to land tanks and they were almost all knocked out or sank. #4 The army will never use just tanks in an operation. They never have and never will. The infantry were, are, and will be for the foreseeable future the workhorse of the military. Tanks are normally used to support infantry. Tanks are big juicy targets. The Germans had every inch of the beaches zeroed in with mortars and artillery and would have knocked out every single tank. as Patton's quote of his West Point Tactical Professor says "A thousand years ago it was the foot soldiers who won and held territory and it will be the same a thousand years from now" #5 Saving Private Ryan and other similar movies (band of brothers, Saints and soldiers etc...) are not realistic accounts of what happened during world war two. There is no real way to get a perfect account but hollywood is trying for entertainment, not documentaries.