Utah Beach: Sainte-Mere-Eglise; Sainte-Marie-du-Mont

A beautifully illustrated album of the Utah Beach operation, including previously unpublished photographs, documents and testimonials from the Allied and German troops On the night of 6 June 1944, more than 400 planes dropped the US parachutists of the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy. The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment landed on drop zone C near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, and the 82nd Airborne Division landed at Sainte-Mere-Eglise. A group of about 100 men gathered under General Taylor, who commanded the division at drop zone C, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ewell, who commanded the 3rd battalion of the 506th Regiment, and they moved towards Utah Beach to take control of the exit. On the way they neutralised a German strong point near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. Another group of parachutists destroyed a battery west of the town. Meanwhile at Sainte-Mere-Eglise, 12km north of Carentan, the 82nd Airborne Division took the Germans by surprise. The planes that carried the men of the 82nd American Airborne Division were fired upon when they approached the western coast of Cotentin; some were damaged and others slightly scattered. Around 1am a house was burning and as the alarm bell rang, people of Sainte-Mere-Eglise attempted to put out the fire. The first parachutists fell on the town in a total chaos. Civilians sheltered in their houses and the Germans shot several parachutists. Outside the town Lieutenant-colonel Krause, who commanded the 3rd Battalion of the 505th Pachutist Infantry Regiment, gathered 158 men, but the Americans encircled the town and captured Sainte-Mere-Eglise at dawn, taking about 30 prisoners. This book provides a vivid, compelling illustrated history of these pivotal events. French language.