Bloody Gulch

This mission covers Easy Company’s (506th PIR) defense of the heights about one mile southwest of Carentan against a determined early-morning attack by elements of the 6th FJ and 17th SS Divisions. Flanked on the north and south by flooded …

1944-06-13

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This mission covers Easy Company’s (506th PIR) defense of the heights about one mile southwest of Carentan against a determined early-morning attack by elements of the 6th FJ and 17th SS Divisions. Flanked on the north and south by flooded ground, and under the command of Lt. Winters, Easy Company had nowhere to go. And to make matters worse, their sister companies on the flanks had bugged out just as the attack started! Can Easy Company and Lt. Winters hold fast and stop this attempt to retake Carentan? On an interesting note, an Easy Company soldier named Fritz Niland was sent home a couple of days after this battle because his three brothers were killed during the week prior: two on June 6th in Normandy (at Ste. Mere Eglise and Utah Beach) and one in Burma.

Carentan, France

The Battle of Carentan was an engagement in World War II between airborne forces of the United States Army and the German Wehrmacht during the Battle of Normandy. The battle took place between 6 and 13 June 1944, on the approaches to and within the town of Carentan, France. The objective of the attacking American forces was consolidation of the U.S. beachheads (Utah Beach and Omaha Beach) and establishment of a continuous defensive line against expected German counterattacks. The defending German force attempted to hold the town long enough to allow reinforcements en route from the south to arrive, prevent or delay the merging of the lodgments, and keep the U.S. First Army from launching an attack towards Lessay-Périers that would cut off the Cotentin Peninsula. Carentan was defended by two battalions of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 (6th Parachute Regiment) of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division and two Ost battalions. The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, ordered to reinforce Carentan, was delayed by transport shortages and attacks by Allied aircraft. The attacking 10ist Airborne Division, landed by parachute on 6 June as part of the American airborne landings in Normandy, was ordered to seize Carentan. In the ensuing battle, the 10ist forced passage across the causeway into Carentan on 10 and 11 June. A lack of ammunition forced the German forces to withdraw on 12 June. The 17th SS PzG Division counter-attacked the 10ist Airborne on 13 June. Initially successful, its attack was thrown back by Combat Command A (CCA) of the U.S. 2nd Armored Division.

Wikipedia: Battle of Carentan

American

German