Was recently watching a pseudo documentary where a war correspondent was commenting on his experiences. At one point he said they spent 5 days on the craft and I was kind of caught off guard. I always thought they boarded troop ships to cross the channel, dismounted into the landing crafts via cargo netting (or whatever its called) and then stormed the beaches. Did I miss something? If I did, how can you pack a platoon of men on a small craft like that for five days. What/how did they eat, stretch, bathroom, etc. I really hope that I'm mistaken and the guy wasn't referring to 5 days on the craft, but if I'm right I have to know what the deal is.
Heres the sauce if anyone wants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4kmRTZrgMQ
I answered this exact question a year ago here, but I'll reproduce it below.
The convoys carrying troops departed from ports in southern England on the afternoon of June 5, 1944 and proceeded slowly across the channel with heavy air cover. They dropped anchor in their designated transport areas 23,000 yards offshore at roughly 0200 on June 6, at the same time that airborne forces were being landed. Boat teams were assembled, and loading and lowering of small landing craft began at 0430, with H-Hour at 0630; so, roughly a maximum of two hours for the first men loaded. Elements of the 4th and 24th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons proceeded in their landing craft two hours before H-Hour to clear out a small German observation post on the St. Marcouf Islands off Utah Beach.
Sources:
- Omaha Beachhead (6 June-13 June 1944), by the Historical Division, War Department
- U.S. Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations: Cross-Channel Attack, by Gordon A. Harrison