This quantitative analysis of Capa’s D-Day photographs of landings on Omaha Beach challenges many of the Clan Coleman assertions. It casts doubt on the assertion that Capa arrived at 0820 with Colonel Taylor in the 12th wave. It shows that, rather than panicking when kicked out of the LCVP, Capa adjusted to the sudden radical change in his circumstances and seized the opportunity to take more pictures. It refutes the claim that Capa took his first photographs from behind a hedgehog. It shows the testimony of eyewitnesses to be plausible and valid. It shows that it was very possible that Capa made it to the beach and that his film inadvertently was ruined by short exposure to seawater (or overexposure to light). It shows how this could be missed by an expert and misinterpreted by a naïve darkroom assistant. It shows that John Morris, who was unfamiliar with darkroom processes and technical details, and who was unable to discern whether film was ruined by light, or water, or heat, accepted the conclusions reached by the darkroom staff. It shows that Coleman's elaborate conspiracy conjecture is a fantasy. It’s that simple.
Robert Capa behaved courageously on the morning of June 6, 1944. He accomplished his mission to capture images of the landing on Omaha Beach and get those pictures back to London before deadline so the world could see what had happened. Two of his pictures from that morning are indisputably iconic, and among the most important of the Twentieth Century.
And wouldn't we all like to see what was on that second roll!*
* For a tantalizing look at Robert Capa’s imagined lost roll, check out Philip Toledano’s work here.