HMS Rodney (29)

The battleship HMS Rodney (29) fires at Normandy. The photo, from the "Morris Collection", is courtesy of Iain Ballantyne, who writes:

"... the psychological impact of aerial bombing combined with the guns of the Navy and Army inflicted Hell on earth upon the enemy. Some German troops were literally driven insane and even resorted to shooting themselves, rather than endure further bombardment. In one episode, some 50 out of 127 German tanks massing for an attack were wiped out.

General Paul Hausser, [survivor of the Eastern Front] commander of the II SS Panzer Corps, was forced at the end of June to tell his higher commanders a ‘murderous fire from naval guns’ together with concentrated fire of British Army artillery had ‘destroyed the bulk of our attacking force in its assembly area.’ He continued: ‘The few tanks that did manage to go forward were easily stopped by the British anti-tank guns."

Rodney was able to fire up to 22 miles inland during her Normandy operations.