Troops of the US 7th Corps wading ashore on Utah Beach, 6 June 1944

Troops of the US 7th Corps wading ashore on Utah Beach. Note the identifying bands worn on the left sleeve.

Utah was the most westerly of the invasion beaches, and the first to be assaulted. The current swept the first wave of men from the US 4th Infantry Division over 2,000 yards south of their target into the most lightly defended sector of the entire Normandy front. The US 101st Airborne Division had successfully secured the causeways across the flooded low-lying land behind the beach and the tanks and infantry were able to move inland. 23,250 men were landed on Utah on D-Day, at a cost of under 250 casualties.