Battle for Hill 178

After weeks of tough battles, Major General J. Lawton Collins, commander of VII Corps, is eager to put an end to the battle for Cherbourg and orders three Infantry Divisions to attack the "Festung" (fortress). 9th US Infantry Division …

1944-06-23

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After weeks of tough battles, Major General J. Lawton Collins, commander of VII Corps, is eager to put an end to the battle for Cherbourg and orders three Infantry Divisions to attack the "Festung" (fortress). 9th US Infantry Division is charged with clearing the western flank, from Bois du Mont du Roc to the Épiney Farm. The region is defended by Kampfgruppe Keil, a hodgepodge of the 919th German Infantry Regiment and other disparate units. On June 23, supported by artillery fire and platoons of tank destroyers, the 39th, 47th and 60th US Infantry Regiments attack the German positions. After a day-long struggle, they manage to break through in the evening. On June 24, Kampfgruppe Keil is forced to withdraw to take refuge into the "Westeck" (West corner), a fortified position to the North.

Bois du Mont du Roc, France

The Battle of Cherbourg was part of the Battle of Normandy during World War II. It was fought immediately after the successful Allied landings on 6 June 1944. Allied troops, mainly American, isolated and captured the fortified port, which was considered vital to the campaign in Western Europe, in a hard-fought, month-long campaign. When they drew up their plans for the invasion of France, the Allied staff considered that it would be necessary to secure a deep-water port to allow reinforcements to be brought directly from the United States. (Without such a port, equipment packed for transit would first have to be unloaded at a port in Great Britain, unpacked, waterproofed and then reloaded onto landing craft to be transferred to France). Cherbourg, at the end of the Cotentin Peninsula, was the largest port accessible from the landings. The Allied planners decided at first not to land directly on the Cotentin Peninsula, since this sector would be separated from the main Allied landings by the Douve River valley, which had been flooded by the Germans to deter airborne landings. On being appointed overall land commander for the invasion in January 1944, British Army General Bernard Montgomery reinstated the landing on the Cotentin peninsula, partly to widen the front and therefore prevent the invaders becoming sealed into a narrow lodgement, but also to enable a rapid capture of Cherbourg.

Wikipedia: Battle of Cherbourg

German

American

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Countryside

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