Defiance Before Hill 30 WTO (id:#67189)

(HASL 12b - Drop Zone: Chef-du-Pont ID: CdP04)   [next]   [previous]

Caponnet, France 1944-06-08 (39 others)

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Overview:

A bad drop prevented the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment from securing any of its objectives along the Douve River. The best effort was made by an ad hoc group of roughly two companies under Lt. Colonel Thomas Shanley whose drive towards the bridge at Pont-l'Abbé was stopped cold by a battalion from Grenadier-Regiment 1057. Thus rebuffed, the paratroopers fell back to the high ground overlooking the Chef-du-Pont crossing where they were surrounded and constantly harassed for the next two days. The key element of the position was a standing patrol at a farm and a road junction at the bottom of the hill, blocking the road from the west to the bridge. At dawn on 8 June, the Germans made their most determined effort to take the crossroads.

Defender: American (2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division)  

Errata (source)