THE TERRIBLE STORY OF ROBERT CAPA: On D-Day, Omaha beach, 1944.

THE TERRIBLE STORY OF ROBERT CAPA: On D-Day, Omaha beach, 1944.

Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro.

He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.

A group of images known as "The Magnificent Eleven" were taken by Capa on D-Day. Taking part in the Allied invasion, Capa was attached to the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division ("Big Red One") on Omaha Beach. 

The US personnel attacking Omaha Beach faced some of the heaviest resistance from German troops inside the bunkers of the Atlantic Wall. 

Photographic historian A. D. Coleman has suggested that Capa traveled to the beach in the same landing craft as Colonel George A. Taylor, commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment, who landed 1½ hours after the first wave, near Colleville-sur-Mer.

Capa subsequently stated that he took 106 pictures, but later discovered that all but 11 had been destroyed. 

This incident may have been caused by Capa's cameras becoming waterlogged at Normandy,[6] although the more frequent allegation is that a young assistant accidentally destroyed the pictures while they were being developed at the photo lab in London.  

However, this narrative has been challenged by Coleman and others. In 2016, John G. Morris, who was picture editor at the London bureau of Life in 1944, agreed that it was more likely that Capa captured 11 images in total on D-Day .

 The 11 prints were included in Life magazine's issue on June 19, 1944,  with captions written by magazine staffers, as Capa did not provide Life with notes or a verbal description of what they showed. 

The captions have since been shown to be erroneous, as were subsequent descriptions of the images by Capa himself.[28] For example, men described by Life as taking cover behind a hedgehog obstacle were members of Gap Assault Team 10 – a combined US Navy/US Army demolition unit tasked with blowing up obstacles and clearing the way for landing craft.

In 1947, for his work recording World War II in pictures, U.S. general Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Capa the Medal of Freedom. That same year, Capa co-founded Magnum Photos in Paris.

 The organization was the first cooperative agency for worldwide freelance photographers. Hungary has issued a stamp and a gold coin in his honor.