Can You Survive D-Day?

The ramp drops in chest-deep water, hundreds of yards short of the sand. You're carrying a full combat load. Machine-gun fire is hitting the water around you. What gives you the best chance?

• Stay low in the water behind the ramp
• Hold your rifle high and wade steadily forward
• Drop your pack and heavy gear
• Swim underwater toward the shore

You've reached the sand alive. Ahead is open beach swept by pre-sighted machine guns. Behind you the tide is coming in. What do you do?

• Keep moving toward the seawall despite the fire
• Take cover and wait for the naval barrage to resume
• Lie flat and play dead until the guns shift elsewhere
• Go back into the water where fire is lighter

You reach the shingle bank and seawall. Men are piled up two deep against it, sheltered from the machine guns. Do you settle in there?

• Yes, it's the only real cover on the beach
• Yes, and wait there for reinforcements
• Yes, hold the position and return fire
• No, move on as soon as you can

Your unit landed in the wrong sector. Your officers are dead and the men around you are strangers from three different companies. What do you do?

• Hold position until proper orders arrive
• Attach yourself to whoever starts moving and leading
• Work your way down the beach to find your own company
• Take charge and try to sort the men back into their units

You're pinned in the open with no cover in sight. The only things breaking the sand are the German steel obstacles, hedgehogs and mined stakes, planted to gut landing craft. Do you use them?

• No, they're mined and will kill you
• No, the Germans have them pre-sighted
• Yes, get behind one, it's the only cover there is
• No, move to a shell crater instead

The naval and aerial bombardment has just lifted. You're minutes from the beach. What should you expect to find?

• German defenses largely intact and fully manned
• Bunkers destroyed and defenders dead
• Defenders too dazed to fight for an hour
• Wire and mines cleared for your advance

A wounded man screams for help in the open sand behind you. Your orders are explicit: keep moving, leave the wounded for the medics. What do you do?

• Go back for him, no order justifies leaving a man
• Keep moving and trust the medics to reach him
• Drag him to the nearest obstacle for cover
• Stop and return fire to protect him where he lies

The fire is heaviest at the five draws, the narrow gullies that offer the only vehicle routes off the beach. Where do you try to climb?

• Straight up a draw, it's the fastest way off
• Along the waterline to the far end of the beach
• Wait for engineers to clear a path up a draw
• Up the steep bluffs between the draws

Late morning, and grass fires from the bombardment throw thick smoke across part of the beach. What do you do with it?

• Wait for it to clear so you can see the enemy
• Avoid it, it could be a gas attack
• Advance under its cover toward the bluffs
• Use it to carry the wounded back to the boats

It's late morning. You've reached the base of the bluffs with a handful of men from mixed units, no officer among you. Do you go up?

• Wait at the base for tanks to support the assault
• Yes, climb now and take the strongpoints from behind
• Wait for a fresh wave to land and reinforce you
• Return to the seawall and hold until ordered forward