Might These American Paratroopers Cease the Germans from Reaching Utah Seashore on D-Day?

O n the night of June 5, 1944, Louis Leroux, his spouse, and their six youngsters scrambled atop an embankment close to their farm to research the sounds of distant explosions. Three miles south, Allied fighter-bombers have been attacking bridges over the Douve River on France’s Cotentin Peninsula. Within the fading twilight the household watched silhouetted warplanes peel away from the glowing tracers of German anti-aircraft fireplace that stabbed skyward. When the thrill ended, the Lerouxs returned house to mattress, unaware that their farm would play a significant function within the Allied liberation of France.

Their slumber was disturbed just a few hours later by the droning of low-flying plane. Gazing out their home windows, they have been startled to see descending parachutes. “They seemed like large falling mushrooms,” recalled Madame Leroux. “We didn’t know what they have been however may see that they have been touchdown within the marshes.” When shrapnel from German flak shells pelted the roof, Madame Leroux and her husband gathered their youngsters to take shelter within the stone stairwell.

The farmstead sat on the east financial institution of the Merderet River, which bisected the Cotentin Peninsula north to south. The farm ignored one in all simply two crossing factors: the La Fière Bridge on the highway to the village of Sainte-Mère-Église. Whereas on the excessive floor, the household house was nearer to the riverbank than initially meant due to the German occupiers who, recognizing the defensive potential of the panorama, had manipulated locks to flood the realm with seawater. Rivers and streams had overflowed their banks to show vast swaths of bucolic fields into swampland and a shallow lake.

At daybreak on June 6, a platoon of Germans arrived on the Leroux’s farm. They searched the stables and occupied the home whereas the household retreated upstairs to the primary bed room. When gunfire erupted outdoors, the Lerouxs once more scrambled for canopy. Bullets cracked via home windows, splintering shutters and ricocheting off inside stone partitions. The staccato of German Mausers, MP40s, and MG42s echoed via the home because the occupiers fired again on the attackers.

Throughout a pause within the taking pictures, the household rushed downstairs, previous wounded Germans sprawled within the kitchen, and into the wine cellar. Eager to flee, they nudged open the exterior cellar door. Recognizing a soldier—who they thought was British—they yelled, “Français! Français!”

He replied in French: “Keep the place you might be and shut the door!”

A number of hours later the door opened, and the identical soldier commanded them, once more in French, “Get out!”

The Lerouxs now realized the troopers have been American paratroopers. They questioned the French household to be taught what number of Germans have been inside, after which the taking pictures resumed because the French household sought cowl. “The noise took our breath away,” admitted Madame Leroux. The People have been peppering the home with rifles and machine weapons. The skirmish ended after a bazooka spherical exploded into the home and paratroopers sprinted in to herd the surrendering Germans out. Within the lull that adopted, the Lerouxs celebrated their violent liberation by gifting a bottle of Calvados brandy to the People. “They requested us to drink some first,” recalled Madame Leroux, “which we did. Then all of them drank some.”

The paratroopers, there to grab the bridge and anticipating a German counterattack, informed the Lerouxs it was too harmful for them to remain. The household packed meals and blankets earlier than strolling to a neighbor’s house. Throughout their exodus, they handed extra American troopers heading to the bridge.

The La Fière bridge was the D-Day goal of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Capturing the bridge intact was important to the Allies’ plans: first, they wanted to forestall the Germans from utilizing it to maneuver reinforcements towards the landings at Utah Seashore and second, they needed the bridge to serve later as an artery for armor and infantry to interrupt out from the beachhead towards the final word goal: the port of Cherbourg.

A member of the 505th later described the nighttime parachute drop they’d made into Normandy as “a mannequin of precision flying and excellent execution.” Pilots of the 315th Troop Service Group—veterans of missions in Sicily and Italy—had dropped their passengers proper heading in the right direction. Below the command of Lieutenant John “Crimson Canine” Dolan, Ready Firm assembled 98 % of its troopers inside an hour. The 505th’s sister regiment, the 507th, was imagined to land on the other facet of the Merderet, nevertheless it was not as lucky. Climate, anti-aircraft fireplace, and hopelessly misplaced pilots scattered them throughout 60 sq. miles.

With their drop zone only a half-mile from their goal, Dolan’s lead platoon pushed via the graying gentle of daybreak and reached the Leroux’s farm in half-hour. The troopers instantly searched the bridge for demolition expenses and put the German occupiers beneath siege. By mid-morning, with the assistance of paratroopers from the 508th PIR, the east facet of the bridge was safe, however the scattered state of the 507th left the protection of the west facet in a weakened state.

Main Frederick C.A. Kellam, the first Battalion commander, organized his males in addition to troopers from different scattered items into a fringe. The troopers of the 505th, most of whom had seen fight in Sicily and Italy, supplied the spine of his protection. As one of many veterans recalled, “We knew precisely what to anticipate on the upcoming mission: incoming mortar rounds, the terrifying German 88s, machine pistols, and one-on-one assaults towards machinegun nests.”

The highway previous the bridge reduce throughout the swampy marshland through an elevated, tree-lined causeway nearly 700 yards lengthy. Kellam’s males dug in on a mild slope dealing with the river. The place was lower than splendid because it left them within the open and in view of any Germans on the far facet, however defending from the protected reverse slope wasn’t an choice. One constructive, although, was that any assault from the other facet may solely come throughout the slim causeway.

“Crimson Canine” Dolan positioned Ready Firm closest to the bridge: a platoon on either side, plus one other in reserve 400 yards to the rear. Dolan’s heavy firepower consisted of three .30-caliber belt-fed machine gun crews and two bazooka groups dug in to the left and proper of the bridge. He additionally positioned a 57mm anti-tank gun 500 ft again, at a bend within the highway the place it had a direct line of fireplace down the causeway. A platoon of fight engineers stood by to blow the bridge within the occasion of an enemy breakthrough. To forestall that, troopers blocked the far facet of the bridge with Hawkins mines. “We positioned our anti-tank mines proper on the highest of the highway the place the Germans may see them,” recounted Sergeant William D. Owens, “however couldn’t miss them with their tanks.”

The troopers created an extra roadblock by pushing a German flatbed truck—disabled throughout the earlier firefight for the farmhouse—into the center of the bridge.

A reconnaissance of the far financial institution revealed it was occupied by solely a handful of 507th troopers slightly than the anticipated battalion. With out radio contact and the planned-for assist, the lads led by Kellam and Dolan have been on their very own.

The primary signal of hassle got here at 4:00 p.m. when scout Francis C. Buck got here hightailing it again throughout the lengthy causeway. He’d heard spurts of gunfire adopted by the unmistakable clanking of tanks. Shut behind him have been just a few males from the west financial institution who have been fleeing the German advance. Buck paused briefly on the two bazooka positions to offer them a heads-up earlier than sprinting to Kellam’s command put up.

The enemy heralded their assault with an artillery barrage, which lifted as 4 tanks rolled throughout the causeway. Following them have been an estimated 200 soldiers. The People held their fireplace—the fleeting glimpses of discipline grey uniforms darting between the timber wasn’t but value losing ammunition.

The primary tank—a Panzer Mk III—paused 40 yards in need of the bridge. The commander, apparently recognizing the mines, opened his hatch and stood up for a greater look. Certainly one of Dolan’s machine gun crews squeezed off a burst on the tempting goal and killed him immediately. With that, the American line erupted with rifle and machine gun fireplace.

The 2 bazooka groups went to work. Gunners Lenold Peterson and Marcus Heim deserted their foxhole so they may purpose round a concrete phone pole. To their proper, Privates John D. Bolderson and Gordon C. Pryne did the identical. Just some hours earlier, Pryne had been a rifleman, “However on the soar, one of many guys on the bazooka crew broke his ankle,” he mentioned. “They gave that job to me. I didn’t need it, actually, however they mentioned, ‘You bought it.’”

The 2 groups pummeled the lead tank, which in flip fired a spherical at Peterson and Heim. It flew excessive, shattering the phone pole. Dolan later admitted, “To today, I’ll by no means have the ability to clarify why all 4 of them weren’t killed. They fired and reloaded with the precision of well-oiled equipment.”

The lead tank was hit by a number of 2.36-inch high-explosive rockets, one in all which disabled a observe whereas one other briefly set it alight. Peterson and Heim superior to get a greater shot on the second tank—a captured French Renault R-35 painted Wehrmacht grey—which was some 20 yards behind the primary. Heim later recalled, “We moved ahead towards the second tank and fired at it as quick as I may load the rockets into the bazooka. We stored firing on the second tank, and we hit it within the turret the place the physique joins it, additionally within the tracks, and with one other hit it additionally went up in flames.”

The 57mm gun fired as effectively and was subjected to heavy enemy retaliation. Within the melee, two tank rounds punched via the glacis protect, and 7 males have been killed retaining it in operation.

A 3rd tank now lumbered towards the bridge as German mortar shells pounded the American line. Though the primary tank was disabled, the primary gun and machine gun have been nonetheless barking out shells. Speeding out from his foxhole, Non-public Joseph C. Fitt scrambled atop the primary tank to toss a hand grenade into the open hatch and end off the crew.

Whereas the tank battle raged, the German infantry struggled to advance towards the burden of American firepower. One paratrooper noticed that the bunched-up enemy, in search of cowl alongside the treelined causeway, “made an actual good goal.”

With the German assault stalling, the 2 bazooka groups yelled for extra ammo. Three males, together with Main Kellam, scrambled ahead with satchels of rockets. The trio was 15 yards from the bridge when one other mortar and artillery barrage crashed in. Kellam was killed, and the opposite two males badly wounded, one mortally. Kellam’s demise made Dolan the senior officer. His first motion after taking command was to dispatch a runner to the regiment’s command put up to advise them what occurred.

Artillery continued to rain in. “They actually clobbered us,” admitted Owens. “I don’t know the way it was attainable to reside via it.”

Owens’ platoon was out entrance. When his radioman with the walkie-talkie took a direct shell hit, they misplaced contact with Dolan. “So, from then on, so far as we have been involved, we have been a misplaced platoon,” mentioned Owens. Anticipating one other assault, Owens slithered from foxhole to foxhole gathering grenades and ammunition from the lifeless to redistribute to his males. “I knew we would wish each spherical we may get our fingers on.”

The enemy infantry rushed ahead once more, passing the knocked-out tanks and getting nearer to Owens’ platoon, which poured fireplace into their ranks. “The machine gun I had was so sizzling it stop firing,” mentioned Owens. He shouldered a lifeless man’s BAR, firing it till he ran out of ammo, then he switched to a second machine gun of a knocked-out crew.

Owens may hear one other machine gun stitching the German flank and the plonking belch of a 60mm mortar lobbing shells alongside the causeway. Riflemen squeezed off shot after shot. It was getting determined. “We stopped them,” Owens recounted, “however they’d gotten inside twenty-five yards of us.”

Simply because the German assault failed, Colonel Mark J. Alexander, the regimental govt officer, arrived with 40-odd paratroopers he had managed to gather alongside the way in which. His inspection of the defenses confirmed they have been set in addition to could possibly be anticipated. Shortly thereafter, the division’s second-in-command, Brigadier Common James M. Gavin, arrived with males from the 507th. Gavin concurred with Alexander’s evaluation, later recounting that Dolan’s troopers holding the bridge have been “effectively organized and had the scenario in hand.”

Alexander requested Gavin, “Would you like me on this facet, the opposite facet, or each side of the river?”

After glancing on the far financial institution, Gavin replied, “You higher keep on this facet as a result of it seems just like the Germans are getting fairly sturdy over there.” The 2 officers agreed that attacking throughout the bridge would divide their manpower and may cost a little them the bridge within the face of a robust counterattack.

German shells continued to pummel the American positions. One shell exploded on the sting of a foxhole, burying the 2 occupants. Alexander helped dig them out after which despatched them again to the medics.

First Sergeant Robert M. Matterson, who was directing the wounded to the help station, mentioned they have been coming again in such numbers that he “felt like a policeman directing visitors.” Certainly, because the day ended, dozens of males flowed previous whereas dozens extra of their comrades lay lifeless, strewn throughout the battlefield.

Sundown gave approach to darkness, with a brilliant moon that was sometimes obscured by scudding clouds. All through the night time, the Germans periodically lobbed artillery shells on the People, whereas Alexander dispatched provide events to scour the division’s drop zone for extra ammunition.

At daybreak, the rising solar launched mist from the encircling swamps and heralded the arrival of a squad of airborne engineers together with two extra machine gun crews. Colonel Alexander warmly welcomed the lads and directed them to dig in.

The extra firepower was a lot wanted, however Alexander was nonetheless involved about his accessible arsenal: “We had no long-range firepower apart from machine weapons. Nicely, we had one 57mm gun with six rounds of ammunition and a restricted provide of mortar rounds, however this all needed to be held in reserve for any severe effort the Germans may make to cross the bridge.”

Alexander’s psychological stock was interrupted when a bunch of paratroopers on the far facet of the Merderet River tried to wade throughout. He watched helplessly as German fireplace reduce into the lads sloshing via the water. A handful made it to security, however most have been killed and a number of other of the wounded drowned.

The Germans preceded their subsequent assault with intensified shelling, together with tree bursts. Two extra captured French Renault tanks have been within the vanguard. Dolan’s 57mm crew held their fireplace—with solely six rounds left they needed a transparent shot. However when the lead tank boldly geared onto the bridge, the 57mm crew cracked off a spherical. The shell struck the tank, sending it and its companion into retreat. Nestled in entrance of the anti-tank gun was Corporal Felix Ferrazzi, a radioman serving as a machine gunner. With a transparent view down the causeway, he added to the mayhem with repeated bursts of fireplace into the advancing Germans. The gunners implored him to maneuver as a result of 57mm’s muzzle blast, however regardless of being wounded, Ferrazzi stayed put—till a mortar shell mangled his .30-caliber. The opposite People added to the wall of lead, particularly Sergeant Oscar Queen, who estimated he fired 5,000 rounds from his belt-fed machine gun.

Thirty minutes into their assault, the Germans floundered. They started their withdrawal because the paratroopers neared their breaking level. Dolan’s 1st Platoon was down to fifteen males; one squad had simply three troopers nonetheless standing. Owens despatched a runner to report back to Dolan: they have been nearly out of ammo and unable to repel the subsequent assault; may they pull again? Dolan replied, “No, keep the place you might be.” He then scribbled a brief message for the runner to relay to Owens: “We keep. There isn’t any higher place to die.” Together with his orders in hand, Owens organized what was left of his platoon.

However the Germans had had sufficient. They waved a Crimson Cross flag and requested a 30-minute truce to get better their wounded. Owens and his comrades used the time to convey up extra ammo and decide who was nonetheless alive. Ready Firm had suffered 17 killed and 49 wounded; the battalion was all the way down to 176 males. The exhausted Owens then sought a greater view of the causeway. “I estimated I may see a minimum of 200 lifeless or wounded Germans scattered about. I don’t know what number of have been within the river,” he mentioned, “Then I sat down and cried.”

However the battle for La Fière Bridge wasn’t over. For the Allies to interrupt out of the beachhead, the stalemate needed to be damaged. Later that night, Common Gavin relieved the battered 505th paratroopers with components of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment. In a cost rivaling the Mild Brigade, the glider males made a daylight assault throughout the causeway on June 9. Pushing via the pall of pleasant artillery and withering enemy fireplace, they efficiently occupied the far financial institution, whereas one other group of 100 paratroopers swarmed in behind them to assist safe the foothold. The highway to Cherbourg was now open for Main Common J. Lawton Collins’ VII Corps, nevertheless it got here at a heavy price. The 82nd Airborne had suffered 254 males killed and greater than 500 wounded to grab, maintain, and safe the very important bridge at La Fière.

The Leroux household returned to search out their house in ruins and most of their livestock victims of the crossfire. They lived within the steady—because it had suffered the least injury—rebuilding their farm over the subsequent 5 years. They moved again into their house in time for Christmas 1949.

“Our household celebrated,” recalled Madame Leroux, “completely happy, regardless of our distress, to all be again collectively with out having suffered any lifeless or wounded, due to the American troopers who fought to liberate and save us.”