Holy Ground

ln the confusion after the initial drop, small engagements developed everywhere. One such involved the 326th Airborne Engineers and the 2nd Battalion of the 101st, in the small town of Angoville and the surrounding hedgerows. It started when a reduced …

1944-06-06

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ln the confusion after the initial drop, small engagements developed everywhere. One such involved the 326th Airborne Engineers and the 2nd Battalion of the 101st, in the small town of Angoville and the surrounding hedgerows. It started when a reduced platoon entered the town and encountered light Resistance with each side adding forces as the morning waxed on. During the fight, a church at the center of town was turned into a makeshift aid station. A red cross flag was hung in the doorway and men from both sides were treated by the American medics. When the Germans later took the church, they noted what was going on, nodded approvingly, and left the building alone. The church would change hands three times that day, but would be left out of the fighting. On that day, the building was not holy because it was a church, but was made holy in the midst of a battle because it was an aid station.

Angoville, France

Mission Albany was a parachute combat assault at night by the U.S. 10ist Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, part of the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II. It was the opening step of Operation Neptune, the assault portion of the Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord. 6,928 paratroopers made their jumps from 443 C-47 Skytrain troop carrier planes into an intended objective area of roughly 15 square miles (39 km2) located in the southeast corner of the Cotentin Peninsula of France five hours ahead of the D-Day landings. The landings were badly scattered by bad weather and German ground fire over an area twice as large, with some troops dropped as far as 20 miles (32 km) away. The division took most of its objectives on D-Day, but required four days to consolidate its scattered units and complete its mission of securing the left flank and rear of the U.S. VII Corps, reinforced by 2,300 glider infantry troops who landed by sea.

Wikipedia: Mission Albany

German

American