Private Normandy DDay Tour "Band of Brothers" + Utah Beach

A small and quiet rural community, Saint-Mère-Eglise was of great importance as it straddled all communications to Cherbourg. While nearly 13,000 American paratroops were being dropped under a full moon into the confusion of the surrounding countryside, famously one company was dropped, at about 1:45am, onto the village square and cattle market of this now world-famous village.

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, parachutes on Normandy began. A Douglas C-47 transport aircraft belonging to the 439th Troop Carrier Group and carrying the company officer of the 506th PIR Easy Company, 101st Airborne, is hit by the German anti-aircraft defense and is trying to land. It crashed at 1:12 hitting a hedge, killing all crew members and parachutists on board.

Several sticks of this regiment land in the immediate vicinity of the village at First hours of June 6, 1944, victims of navigational errors by pilots. During the night and the morning of June 6th, Major John P. Stopka, gathers all the isolated elements near Ravenoville. These paratroopers attack a farm (formerly of the Marmion family) which was turned into a fulcrum by the Germans to control the crossroads between departmental roads 14 and 15. They kill six soldiers and make 24 prisoners and then moved into the buildings. Lost or isolated paratroopers reinforce the position: these men belong mainly to the 1st battalion of the 506th PIR (1/506th) and the 2nd battalion of the 502nd PIR (2/502nd), but Stopka also gathers men from the 3/502nd, 2/506th, battery A of the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and the 508th PIR (82nd Airborne Division). They defended themselves against several German attacks before retreating the next day in direction of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.

On the morning of June 6, 1944, the battery of Brécourt was active and opened fire on the American troops which landed on Utah Beach: the paratroopers were therefore in charge of seizing the position and destroying the howitzers. It was Lieutenant Richard D. Winters who received this mission, with a handful of men belonging to the Easy Company of the 506th PIR. Winters, in marked net inferiority, knew that the effect of surprise was the best asset of his action. He ordered the opening of the fire which allowed the two groups to move to the base of assault: when the support fire stopped, Winters and Compton stormed the German position while using the trenches network from which they operate from one howitzer to another. Surprised, the Germans were disorganized and reacted late, leaving American paratroopers the opportunity to destroy the guns before retreating. Winters had 4 killed and 6 wounded in his ranks.

Utah Beach was the first beach to be stormed by the Allies on the morning of 6 June 1944. It was chosen to establish a beachhead in the Cotentin region in order to capture the town of Cherbourg and its deep water port. At the end of the day, more than 23,000 American soldiers landed to fight a titanic battle and liberate France.

Visit the museum at Utah Beach.

On June 6, 1944, the American paratroopers quickly seized the village because of its proximity to the jump zone: about thirty German soldiers surrendered. The parasites leave some elements in Angoville-au-Plain and then head towards their respective objectives. Two American medics belonging to the 2nd Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Kenneth J. Moore and Robert E. Wright, settled in the small village church two hours after touching the ground of France. They put in place an advanced medical antenna and hang a white flag with a red cross at the door. In the emergency and with the medical equipment that they manage to recover on the zone of release, they treat the wounded, both American and German.

The 506th Paratroop Infantry Regiment of the 101st American Airborne Division undertook a series of maneuvers during the night of June 11th to 12th around Carentan and attacked the town on the 12th morning on the east side by a road that forms a T with The one which takes the direction of Périers (towards the south) where the houses sheltered the Germans. The city of Carentan had to be taken because it was the main crossroads between the Cotentin and the Calvados and the Allied tanks had to pass through the city before attacking Cherbourg, one of the main objectives of the Battle of Normandy because of its port in Deep water that can accommodate boats of high tonnage and thus unloading the material faster and more important. Some of the houses of Carentan still bear the traces of the battle.