During the famous WWII beach landings, why didn't the soldiers carry some kind of shield to prevent getting cut down by enemy fire?

by randomgenemutation

It seems like a relatively small piece of steel or iron would do the trick.

white_light-king

Oddly enough, this question has been asked before and got pretty good replies. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1mm0d8/why_didnt_the_allies_use_ballistic_shields_when/