Heinrich Severloh: The Beast of Omaha Beach

[Skr13]

Hi, this is not a true discussion topic, just some info that I think everyone should appreciate to know or remember.

Well, yesterday night was playing Forgotten Hope 2, on Omaha beach map, as US soldier, then there was a player from German side, that achieved a score over 75-0 K/D, naturally some people(on US side) were talking about his/her performance on battle, and suddenly I remembered about "The Beast of Omaha Beach"...

He was known as the “Beast of Omaha Beach.” Heinrich Severloh, a German soldier with the 352nd Infantry Division, was one of the most notorious gunners on Omaha Beach during that fateful day of June 6, 1944.

Heinrich Severloh: The Beast of Omaha Beach | Omaha Beach

He later became infamous when he claimed, in his autobiography that as a machine gunner in a foxhole, he inflicted over 1,000 casualties to American soldiers landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day. This claim has never been academically verified.

Heinrich Severloh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[hannibaldinski]

Found panorama picture of his claimed position.

 

[Koenigstiger]

I got a ton of kills playing as Japanese MG on Iwo, and I found one of the best MG positions I think I've ever used

It was this little hole in the bunker but not only that it was fairly restrictive against the enemy, they'd have to come out into my field of fire before they could get a shot on me ^^

 

[Roughbeak]

Hey, I was actually online when he was playing:

Forgotten Hope 2 Awards

 

[DerJoachim]

Well i did visited Omaha beach and Normandy as a whole, after observing the spots, i can safely said it was so easy to defend these positions.
To be honest i dont even know how americans managed to take the beach with so "few" casualties and after 2 days...i am pretty sure Germans both ran out of ammunition and got devastated by naval fire, because seriously it is just impossible to advance on those beach, the field of view and fire is "beutiful" as a defender...

Heinrich's claims are half true i beleive, i mean, one good trained soldier with a MG-42 here, was a kill galore, i can beelieve that he singlehandlely managed to gun down hundreds of americans, but 1000 seems a bit too much.

 

[Skr13]

Hey, I was actually online when he was playing:

Forgotten Hope 2 Awards

So, it was him, ok

 

[Koenigstiger]

Well i did visited Omaha beach and Normandy as a whole, after observing the spots, i can safely said it was so easy to defend these positions.
To be honest i dont even know how americans managed to take the beach with so "few" casualties and after 2 days...i am pretty sure Germans both ran out of ammunition and got devastated by naval fire, because seriously it is just impossible to advance on those beach, the field of view and fire is "beutiful" as a defender...

Heinrich's claims are half true i beleive, i mean, one good trained soldier with a MG-42 here, was a kill galore, i can beelieve that he singlehandlely managed to gun down hundreds of americans, but 1000 seems a bit too much.

It's a rough estimate at best, also I think he did end up running out of ammo, if I recall correctly he had 2 Kar98 Rifles and the MG42

Also I don't know if I would consider 3,000 (numbers from wikipedia) casualties just a few.

 

[Roughbeak]

Estimates are always estimates, we really can't prove anything if he did create 1000 casualties.

 

[Feldmeijer]

Estimates are always estimates, we really can't prove anything if he did create 1000 casualties.

I'm pretty sure that's not the exact number, but it could be roughly close. (unless the counted every single guy he shot down and marked it down, which he obviously didn't.)

 

[hannibaldinski]

Does it mean 1000 kills or 1000 kills + wounded? Don't know exact numbers of death. But if there where 3000 lives lost. I don't think he was responsible for 1/3 of that.

 

[Koenigstiger]

Does it mean 1000 kills or 1000 kills + wounded? Don't know exact numbers of death. But if there where 3000 lives lost. I don't think he was responsible for 1/3 of that.

Casualties just means killed or wounded

Yea it's just a rough estimate, no doubt he would have gotten hundreds of kills, he was in a really good spot but I mean who was keeping count?

 

[hannibaldinski]

thank you. This thread just gave me a gameplay idea ;P

 

[Koenigstiger]

Beast of Omaha simulator 2014?

 

[Skr13]

thank you. This thread just gave me a gameplay idea ;P

Glad to hear that!