The Capture of Carentan

How long did it take Easy Company to secure Carentan?

 

2-3 days it seems: 12th June to 14-15th June.

Their first objective was the town of St. Come du Mont and would use 4 battalions; the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 506th PIR, the 3rd Battalion 502st PIR and the 1st Battalion 401st GIR. The attack stepped off early in the morning of June 8. By mid-morning, the approaches to St. Come du Mont had been cleared and defensive positions established east of the town. 3/501 had reached the Carentan highway and the enemy began withdrawing from the area. Later that evening, the force was reinforced by the fresh 327th GIR. The next objective was to establish bridgeheads across the Douve river. At 1:00 am, June 10, the 101st attacked and by dawn, St. Come du Mont had been encircled and cleared of enemy forces. The drive now focused on Carentan. Here the drive was slowed considerably. Most of the brides and causeways leading to Carentan had been destroyed. Only one causeway was completely intact. The engineers began working under heavy enemy fire to repair the others.

Several patrols were sent forward to scout the approaches to Carentan and came under heavy fire. Finally, 3/502 began to cross the causeways in force in the face of intense enemy fire. The paratroops managed to cross to the the edges of Carentan but could not enter the town. For two days, the 3/502 fought against massed machine gun and artillery fire to establish a foothold on Carentan.

While the battle for the causeways raged, the 327th GIR, reinforced by 1/401 had crossed south of Carentan and secured the eastern exits from the town. That accomplished, the 327th began their assault on Carentan from the east. Carentan was surrounded and being attacked from two sides but the Germans held. The attacking forces were ordered to pull back to allow a massive artillery and naval gunfire bombardment of Carentan to begin. At dawn of June 12, the barrage lifted and the assault began anew. 1/506 and 2/506 attacked from the west and the 501st and 327th attacked from the eat and north. Quick advances were made and Carentan was seized. 1/401 was ordered to remain in Carentan while 1/327 and 2/327 were ordered east to secure the high ground near Montmartin en Grainges. That evening, the 327th ran into stiff resistance at Rouxeville. After a fierce battle, 2/327 broke through the German positions and linked up with a pocket of soldiers from the 29th Infantry Division who had been surrounded. 2/327 the linked up with 1/327 and captured the heights.

By June 14, UTAH and OMAHA had been completely linked. The Germans had launched several counter-attacks at Carentan but were brutally repulsed. The 101st had linked the forces landing at OMAHA and UTAH. The 502nd PIR had linked up with the 82nd Airborne and the 4th Infantry Divisions while the 327th had linked up with the 29th and 1st Infantry Divisions at OMAHA. On June 15, the 101st was transferred to VIII Corps and given the responsibility for the southwest flank. The 101st continued to fight in northern France for the next 3 weeks. In July, they were ordered back to England to prepare for a new mission; Holland

http://www.grunts.net/army/101abnwwii2.html

 

And who did the US forces face in the fighting for Carentan ?

E

 

Found it......

6th Fallshirm regiment and the 17th SS, which at this time was severly understrength, it's strongest unit was it's recon battalion. Most of the armor and heavy weapons did not have ammo.

E

 

Erich,

I just went through Helmut Guenther's DAS AUGE DER DIVISION. As you might know, he was a Ustuf in 17 SS and his book deals primarily with the aufklarungsabteilung..... I think this is his first book about his experiences. He writes a bit in a novel kinda style.

Anyway, I tried to find if he wrote anything about Carentan, but nada. He does mention the 6th FSJ Regiment, but only after that unit is more or less attached to the div. after Carentan. While pratically the whole book is about the Normandy campaign...He is talking about St. Lo a lot...

 

Yes the eyeball battalion.....17th Ss recon got butt kicked from the 14 June on. They were the first to engage allied forces and got pasted, one reason you won;t find much by Günther as he is very bitter about his battalion cesing to exist because of Normandy. I di think he wrote two volumes about his recon battalion ? Anyway I have Hans Stobers volume 1 only on the 17th SS and the second volume which I am trying to find somewhere is covering the bitter defence of Metz and the citadels which were a real hard nut to crack. There is a onster volume covering all ops by 17th SS but can't remember the name though it was by two German authors and around $ 85.00 US some years ago. This might be a nice volume to have and should cover the Carentan fiasco at length. 17th SS lost 4 officer,s 17 wounded and 3 mia, and among the wounded was the CO Werner Ostendorff, replaced by Otto Baum. 229 Nco's and other ranks kia, 760 wounded and 82 more missing. In July the 17th SS was fighting south of Carentan and may have been reinforced by eastern volunteers.....

E

 

some additional information.....

June 10th 1944, Recon unit holding Caumont gap 10 miles of line. Berigny to Balleroy. The rest of the divison was stuck by St. Lo, ourt of fuel.
June 11th, From Caumont to carentan by Rommels order......
June 12th, 2 miles south of Carentan.
June 18th, 5 miles south of Carentan to vire/Elle River Junction: slowly being pushed southward.
July 4th, 12 miles south of carentan, in Periers sector. All German units in this sector were under the 17th SS H.Q.. 2 regiments still 5 miles south of Carentan, Sainteny fighting the US 83rd, 4th and 9th Infantry divisions. US attacks in the rain and mud.
July 5th, Second attack on Sainteny by US 83rd Div.
July 6th, Third attack on Sainteny by US 4th Div.
July 7th, fourth attack on Sainteny. Fiercest German opposition yet ! by W-Ss and Fallshirmtruppen. US attack between Hauts-Vents toward Pont-Heert on the Vire River. Only weak defenses until W-SS and Fallshirm block roads and form pillbox structures for mg and mortars along roadways and marshes, streams and hedgerows, moving around and not giving into US pressure.
July 9th, Resisting attacks between Taute and Vire Rivers.
July 10th, Withdrawl of Army Kampfgruppe Heinz (257th div.), covered by W-SS artillery fire.
July 15th, 7 miles south of Carentan, 4 miles NE of Periers to Taute River...... through July 24th.
July 25th, 17 miles from Carentan, 2 to 5 miles north of Periers, along Lessay-St. Lo Road.
July 25th through 30th 1944....Operation Cobra....

E