Night Shift

Shortly after midnight, German guns laid down a brief artillery barrage onto positions held by the 1st Battalion of the US Army’s 115th Infantry Regiment, which had recently been brought up to the front line to relieve the battle-worn 116th …

1944-07-11

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Shortly after midnight, German guns laid down a brief artillery barrage onto positions held by the 1st Battalion of the US Army’s 115th Infantry Regiment, which had recently been brought up to the front line to relieve the battle-worn 116th after a 48-hour rest three miles behind the front lines. As the bombardment eased, elements of the 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division – including a handful of combat engineers armed with flamethrowers – assaulted the still-dazed Americans, who were themselves preparing for an early morning attack against these very same German troops.

Bellefontaine, France

The Battle of Saint-Lô is one of the three conflicts in the Battle of the Hedgerows, which took place between July 7–19, 1944, just before Operation Cobra. Saint-Lô had fallen to Germany in 1940, and, after the Invasion of Normandy, the Americans targeted the city, as it served as a strategic crossroads. American bombardments caused heavy damage and a high number of casualties, which resulted in the martyr city being called "The Capital of Ruins", popularized in a report by Samuel Beckett.

Wikipedia: Battle of Saint-Lô

German

Americans