 The survivors at the shingle , many facing combat for the first time , found themselves relatively well @-@ protected from small arms fire , but still exposed to artillery and mortars . In front of them lay heavily mined flats exposed to active fire from the bluffs above . Morale naturally became a problem . Many groups were leaderless and witnesses to the fate of neighboring troops and landings coming in around them . Wounded men on the beach were drowning in the incoming tide and incoming landing craft were being pounded and set ablaze . 
