Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors of the amphibious assault component of Operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded German-occupied France with the Normandy landings. "Omaha" refers to an 8-kilometer (5 mi) section of the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel, from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve river estuary. Landings here were necessary to link the British landings to the east at Gold with the American landing to the west at Utah, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the Normandy coast of the Baie de Seine (Bay of the Seine river). Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops, with sea transport, and a naval bombardment force provided predominantly by the United States Navy and Coast Guard, with contributions from the British, Canadian and Free French navies.

The Longues-sur-Mer battery (German: Marineküstenbatterie (MKB) Longues-sur-Mer; also designated Widerstandsnest (Wn) 48) is a World War II German coastal artillery battery approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) north of the village of Longues-sur-Mer in Normandy, France. The battery is sited on a 60 m (200 ft) cliff overlooking the Baie de Seine and formed a part of Germany's Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications, between the Allied landing sectors of Gold Beach and Omaha Beach. The battery shelled Allied naval forces off both beaches on D-Day (6 June 1944), but was damaged by Allied shore bombardment the same day, then captured on 7 June 1944 by British ground forces, playing no further part in the Normandy campaign. The battery is the only one in Normandy to retain several of its original guns in situ. It was listed as a historical monument in October 2001, and remains in a good state of conservation.

La Pointe du Hoc (French pronunciation: [pwɛ̃t dy ɔk]) is a promontory with a 35-metre (110 ft) cliff overlooking the English Channel on the northwestern coast of Normandy in the Calvados department, France. In World War II, Pointe du Hoc was the location of a series of German bunkers and machine gun posts. Prior to the invasion of Normandy, the German army fortified the area with concrete casemates and gun pits. On D-Day, the United States Army Provisional Ranger Group attacked and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs. United States generals including Dwight D. Eisenhower had determined that the place housed artillery that could slow down nearby beach attacks.