Breakout Through St. Lo

Six weeks after Dday, the 29th infantry Division was still fighting in the hedgerows of Normandy, apposed by the German 352nd Infantry Division. The vital crossroads town Saint Lo was a key objective to the breakout of Normandy. On …

1944-07-18

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Six weeks after Dday, the 29th infantry Division was still fighting in the hedgerows of Normandy, apposed by the German 352nd Infantry Division. The vital crossroads town Saint Lo was a key objective to the breakout of Normandy. On July 18, the 29th surprised the greatly weakened 352nd and moved into Saint Lo. The Germans immediately counterattacked Major Thomas Howie, commander of the 116th Regiment, told his men, ’You'll see me, in St. Lo!", Howie was killed in the attack. His men carried his body into the town.

Saint-Lo, 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

American