 The 101st Airborne Division helped protect the southern flank and captured the lock on the River Douve at La Barquette, but did not capture the assigned nearby bridges on the first day.At Pointe du Hoc, the task for the two hundred men of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder, was to scale the cliffs with ropes and ladders to destroy the gun battery located there.While under fire from above, the men scaled the cliff, only to discover that the guns had already been withdrawn.