This report was attached to the Historical Record report (see 16th Infantry Historical Records) prepared on 9 July 1944. It was sent by the 16th Regiment to the Commanding General, 1st U.S. Infantry Division.

Casualty counting is not an army’s first priority and is rarely precise. In massive and chaotic operations such as D-Day precision is impossible. Nonetheless, the figures in this report from the 16th Infantry are as reliable as any we’ll ever have for that unit.

The report lists 970 casualties (defined as killed, wounded, or missing) for 6 to 8 June. This closely tallies with other 16th Infantry reports which are not as detailed. The 16th Infantry probably suffered about half the Omaha beach casualties in the D-Day assault. (See notes below the table.)

HEADQUARTERS 16TH INFANTRY
Office of the Regimental Commander

NOTE ON THESE FIGURES:  The ending strength for officers in Companies K and M is off by two. A note in the margin explains that two officers were transferred between these companies.

COMPARISON TO OTHER REPORTS: The D-Day tally in the S-3 report and the Medical Detachment history are one casualty higher than the total in the table above. While agreement between those two reports is no sign of independent verification, still one hopes the report would include a comment if the figure was known to be substantially false or flawed. 

SIXTEEN INFANTRY AND D-DAY:  The best guess (or rather a guess by the best writer on D-Day) of total casualties on Omaha Beach is 2,000. (See the endnote in “Cross-Channel Attack”.) The lion’s share of casualties belong to the first-assault regiments, the 16th and 116th Infantry. 

Although total casualties suffered by the two regiments are comparable, the 116th suffered three hundred more battle deaths and far fewer men missing. This tallies what with we know about the horrific landing of the 116th on Dog Green sector and the chaotic landing of the 16th on Easy Red and Fox Green. (See 29th Division casualty figures.)