On the path to glory

On the path to glory, a guide to the Battle of Carentan.

Bloody Gully, Hell's corner, Purple Heart lane, Dead Man's corner... in addition to the thousands of graves lined up in Normandy cemeteries, young Americans immortalized a number of battlefields and battle sites in English terms that are still used today, to the point of appearing as such on maps. Mysterious places at first sight, to be discovered and visited, to better understand the difficulty and complexity of the military operations carried out by American paratroopers in June 1944, to liberate the Cotentin territories. The purpose of this guide is to help you discover these sites, and to explain their importance in the overall context of a battle that mobilized the entire resources of the powerful 101st Airborne Division, its 4 full regiments, its artillery, engineering and medical support, not to mention the decisive support of a Combat Command from the 2nd US Armored Division. On the evening of June 13, 1944, the combined effort of these powerful forces repelled all German pretensions to Carentan, foreshadowed by the formidable Fallschirmjaeger Regiment 6, and the impressive 17.SS- Panzergrenadier-Division “Götz von Berlichingen”, which came from Thouars to drive the Americans back into the sea.

By Denis Van Den Brink, photos by Julien Delavier. 200 pages. French/English version.