History Main / StormingTheBeaches

* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops largely unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea in the South and their puppet republics of Donbas in the East, most notably besieging Mariupol. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea and controlling the whole basin of the Sea of Azov. Further landings were planned to take the Western Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the failure of the ground offensive on Mykolaiv, the failure to hold Kherson, the war of attrition dragging on after the failure of the Kyiv offensive and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have since deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops largely unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea in the South and their puppet republics of Donbas in the East. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea and controlling the whole basin of the Sea of Azov. Further landings were planned to take the Western Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the failure of the ground offensive on Mykolaiv, the failure to hold Kherson, the war of attrition dragging on and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have since deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops largely unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea in the South and their puppet republics of Donbas in the East. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea and controlling of the whole basin of the Sea of Azov. Further landings were planned to take the Western Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the failure of the ground offensive on Mykolaiv, the failure to hold Kherson, the war of attrition dragging on and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have since deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops largely unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea in the South and their puppet republics of Donbas in the East. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea and control of the whole basin of the Sea of Azov. Further landings were planned to take the Western Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the failure of the ground offensive on Mykolaiv, the failure to hold Kherson, the war of attrition dragging on and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have since deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops mostly unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea in the South and their puppet republics of Donbas in the East. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea. Further landings were planned to take the Western Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the failure of the ground offensive on Mykolaiv, the failure to hold Kherson, the war of attrition dragging on and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have since deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops mostly unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea in the South and their puppet republics of Donbas in the East. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea. Further landings were planned to take the Western Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the failure of the Mykolaiv offensive, the failure to hold Kherson, the war of attrition dragging on and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have since deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops mostly unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea in the South and their puppet republics of Donbas in the East. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea. Further landings were planned to take the Western Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the war dragging on and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have so far deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

* During UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar, the North Korean invasion was turned back when the UN forces under General Douglas [=MacArthur=], staged an amphibious assault on the west coast of South Korea near Incheon, near the capital Seoul which was under communist control. To make it even more awesome, they landed in an area that was notoriously bad for shore landings (among other things, the area tends to get muddy and ships risked getting stuck), waiting until the tide was right before attacking. The North Koreans were not prepared for it, as the bulk of the KPA was at the Pusan Perimeter trying to take out the last UN hold on the peninsula.
* One of the famous stunts by special forces commander [[MilitaryMaverick Larry Dring]] during the Vietnam War was organizing a private 'invasion' of a beach where some VC would take [[DisproportionateRetribution occasional pot-shots at a passing Navy vessel]]. When hauled up before his CO to explain, Dring could only reply, "Well sir, I once saw a movie about World War 2." You can [[http://vietnamveteransmemoral.homestead.com/dringlarry.html read the story here]] (Story #1, pages 6-8).
* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops mostly unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea and their puppet republics of Donbas. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea. Further landings were planned to take the Western Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the war dragging on and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have so far deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

* During the mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in early 2022, Russians landed troops mostly unopposed on the Ukrainian coast of the sea of Azov in support of their ground troops coming from both Crimea and their puppet republics of Donbas. This resulted in them occupying a corridor going all the way from Donbas to Crimea. Further landings were planned to take the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and Odesa, but the war dragging on and Ukrainians demonstrating their capabilities in [[UsefulNotes/NavalWeapons anti-ship missiles]] by sinking the Russians' Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser ''Moskva'', have so far deterred Russians from attempting such landings again, in addition to beaches on said coast being mined.

How well this tactic works varies wildly. If the enemy does not expect an attack from the water, the invaders will have an amazing advantage. However, in most cases you can look forward to a protracted battle for the beach! The defenders may have pillbox fortifications, machine gun nests, and Czech hedgehogs (huge metal {{Caltrops}}) on the beach. The attackers' goal is to get boots on the ground, aling with equipment, establish a beachhead, and then bring in as many reinforcements as possible as ''fast'' as possible in order to advance into enemy territory.

* ''{{Dieppe}}''. Canadian miniseries that focused on the planning and training for the disastrous Dieppe Raid of 1942. Inspired by the book ''Unauthorized Action'', shifts focus back and forth between the British, Canadian and American war leaders trying to prosecute the war, and a platoon of Canadian soldiers eager to get into the fighting. Possibly for budgetary reasons, only the actions on one of the six landing beaches are actually portrayed at the conclusion of the film.

How well this tactic works varies wildly. If the enemy does not expect an attack from the water, the invaders will have an amazing advantage. However, in most cases you can look forward to a protracted battle for the beach! The goal is to get boots on the ground, establish a beachhead, and then bring in as many reinforcements as possible as ''fast'' as possible in order to advance into enemy territory.

* The Korean war film ''Film/MyWay'' ends with the Normandy assault, where Allied troops land in Omaha Beach en masse and begin overwhelming the German forces.

* Doable in ''VideoGame/TotalWarRomeII'' when attacking coastal towns from the sea. Your men will spawn in weak transports and have to land in and around the town. They will also have to get past harbour defenses in cities and naval garrisons.

** Had Operation Downfall taken place (Olympic in southern Kyushu in November 1945, Coronet in the Kanto Plain in March 1946), it would have surpassed even Overlord in the number of invading Allied troops (up to 5 million US troops and another 1 million British; in contrast there were "only" 2 million total Allied troops involved with Overlord after two months). The massive number of casualties projected from the experiences of fighting in Iwo Jima and Okinawa (1 million American, half a million British, ''ten million'' Japanese including civilians) was used to justify the UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki in order to avert this (whether the reader agrees with this assessment or not [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment is beyond the scope of this page]]).

* ''VideoGame/HellLetLoose'' has the Omaha and Utah Beach maps, where the Americans spawn from landing craft and must fight their way onto shore, while the Germans defend from various inland fortifications such as bunkers, trenches, and gun emplacements.

* Possible but risky in ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings''. Your army will take serious environmental penalties for landing in a hostile province when an enemy army is present. There are lesser terrain penalties for attacking across a river or strait[[note]]Some landmasses that are close together, such as Britain and Ireland, can be traveled between without needing ships, the assumption being that your army just shanghaied local fishing boats and the like.[[/note]], as well. The second game compounds this with the fact your {{morale|Mechanic}} will be capped at 50% after the sea voyage. However, landing in a friendly province, or one you previously occupied in the same war, does not apply the penalties even if hostile troops are present.

* An unopposed landing is shown in ''Film/TheThinRedLine'', the Japanese forces having withdrawn to the interior of Guadalcanal.

The iconic RealLife examples of this trope made famous during a little dust-up known as UsefulNotes/WorldWarII secured the image of an army invading an enemy-held shore in the public consciousness and inspired the use of amphibious attacks in all kinds of military- and war-related works. But this kind of warfare is of course much older than that. Ever since humans learned how to build boats, they've been using them to get the drop on their enemies -- just ask those HornyVikings.

** ''VideoGame/RisingStorm2Vietnam'' has the map Resort, which involves Southern troops landing and attacking a VC-held beach resort.