<P> The primary objective at Omaha was to secure a beachhead of eight kilometres (5 miles) depth, between Port - en - Bessin and the Vire River, linking with the British landings at Gold to the east, and reaching the area of Isigny to the west to link up with VII Corps landing at Utah . Opposing the landings was the German 352nd Infantry Division . Of the 12,020 men of the division, 6,800 were experienced combat troops, detailed to defend a 53 - kilometer (33 mi) front . The Germans were largely deployed in strongpoints along the coast--the German strategy was based on defeating any seaborne assault at the water line . </P> <P> Very little went as planned during the landing at Omaha . Difficulties in navigation caused the majority of landing craft to miss their targets throughout the day . The defenses were unexpectedly strong, and inflicted heavy casualties on landing U.S. troops . Under heavy fire, the engineers struggled to clear the beach obstacles; later landings bunched up around the few channels that were cleared . Weakened by the casualties taken just in landing, the surviving assault troops could not clear the heavily defended exits off the beach . This caused further problems and consequent delays for later landings . Small penetrations were eventually achieved by groups of survivors making improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most heavily defended points . By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won, which were subsequently exploited against weaker defenses further inland, thus achieving the original D - Day objectives over the following days . </P> <P> The coastline of Normandy was divided into seventeen sectors, with codenames using a spelling alphabet--from Able, west of Omaha, to Roger on the east flank of Sword . Eight further sectors were added when the invasion was extended to include Utah on the Cotentin Peninsula . Sectors were further subdivided into beaches identified by the colors Green, Red, and White . </P> <P> Omaha was bounded at either end by large rocky cliffs . The crescent - shaped beach presented a gently sloping tidal area averaging 300 m (330 yd) between low and high - water marks . Above the tide line was a bank of shingle 2.5 m (8 ft) high and up to 15 m (49 ft) wide in places . At the western end, the shingle bank rested against a stone (further east becoming wood) sea wall which ranged from 1.5--4 m (5--13 ft) in height . For the remaining two thirds of the beach after the seawall ended, the shingle lay against a low sand embankment . Behind the sand embankment and sea wall was a level shelf of sand, narrow at either end and extending up to 200 m (220 yd) inland in the center, and behind that rose steep escarpments or bluffs 30--50 m (33--55 yd) high, which dominated the whole beach and were cut into by small wooded valleys or draws at five points along the beach, codenamed west to east D - 1, D - 3, E-1, E-3 and F - 1 . </P>

Where did the name omaha beach come from
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