Normandy Hedgerows

Normandy

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany > The ETO  > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 9 Sep 2022.
Content herein is being moved to other webpages.
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For the seven weeks after D-Day, the Allies slowly fought their way inland, the Americans on the right (west) and the British and other allies on the left (east) of the Allied front. 

Elements of two Allied armies, comprising the 21st Army Group and commanded by British General Bernard Montgomery, landed on D-Day:

• Omar Bradley's US First Army on Utah and Omaha Beaches and from the air.
• Miles Dempsey's British Second Army on Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches and from the air.​

The German 7th Army and later the 5th Panzer Army and elements of the 15th Army resisted their advance.

After the June 6 D-Day, thousands of additional personnel, along with many thousand tons of supplies, continued to land each day on the invasion beaches. Two artificial harbors were constructed and eventually the port of Cherbourg became available, but logistics remained a serious issue until the port of Antwerp to the north became operational in late November.

Normandy Campaign Timeline, June - July 1944

• 6 June - Operation Overlord - Allies D-Day invasion.
• 7 June - Bayeux captured.
• 11 June - Carentan captured.
• 14 June - XIX Corps, First Army goes operational.
• 14 June - Free French leader Charles DeGaulle visits Bayeux after four years in exile.
• 15 June - VIII Corps, First Army goes operational.
• 17 June - First Army cuts off Cotentin Peninsula.
• 27 June - Cherbourg, the first large port, seized.
• 30 June - German resistance in Cotentin Peninsula ends.
• 7 July - Allies bomb Caen and British and Canadians occupy north part of city.
• 18 July - British and Canadians begin Operation Goodwood, capturing remainder of Caen.
• 19 July - Artificial Mulberry Harbor A off  Omaha Beach destroyed by storm. Mulberry B off Arromanches heavily used through November.
• 19 July - St. Lo, by now a destroyed city, seized by U.S. First Army.​
• 23 July - Canadian First Army goes operational.
• 25 July - Operation Cobra begins the Normandy breakout.
• 31 July - XV Corps goes operational.

The US advance was hindered by the bocage country through which they fought. This rural landscape consisted of open fields, mostly pastures, enclosed by ancient hedgerows, often with sunken lanes between the fields. As the German Army retreated hedgerow by hedgerow, US casualties grew.

Meanwhile, British and Canadian forces moved south in largely open country, losing large numbers of tanks in several battles with German armor.
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Normandy, June - July 1944

The Bocage Country

Growing the Beachhead - The Advance Through the Hedgerows

Normandy Hedgerow

The Rhino, a modified Sherman tank, effective at penetrating hedgerows.

The Battle of St. Lo

St. Lo, the capital of the Manche Department of France's Normandy Region, is an important road center, and thus was importance to the ETO.

During the Battle of St. Lo, from 7 to 19 July 1944, around 3,000 US troops of the First Army's XIX Corps died, along with hundreds of French civilians. St. Lo was destroyed.

XIX Corps consisted of the 29th, 30th, and 35th Infantry Divisions at the time.

Operation Cobra, spearheaded by VII Corps began in the St. Lo area on 25 July 1944.

St. Lo 1944

The official Normandy Campaign ended on 24 July. Remaining combat in Normandy is summarized in the Liberation > Operation Cobra (the remainder of July) and Liberation > Normandy (August) webpages.

Sources for Big Pigeon's The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day webpage:
General Sources:

• Cross-Channel Attack, by Gordon A. Harrison, 1950, ~495 pp. [CMH #7-4]; see Chapters IX, The V Corps Lodgment & Chapter X, The Capture of Cherbourg.

​Sources for webpage images: (C/O = courtesy of)

• Normandy Hedgerows webpage header photo, https://twitter.com/ww2facts/status/980615347530354688.
• Normandy, June - July 1944  map was produced by Infobase Publishing, infobase.com, a major producer of on-line learning materials. The Infobase Publishing map mentioned above, and many other maps of the ETO, are in the inflab area of medium.com, namely ​medium.com/@Inflab/western-front-maps-of-world-war-ii-58798ee9d792. 
• The Bocage Country map, https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Breakout/maps/USA-E-Breakout-1.jpg - 
• Normandy Hedgerow diagram, excerpted from http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=502585 - C/O http://theminiaturespage.com.
• The Rhino tank, photo, excerpted from https://www.thenmusa.org/armyinnovations/rhinotank/ - C/O the National Museum of the United States Army, Ft. Belvoir, VA, https://www.thenmusa.org. Sgt. Curtis Cullin, 102nd Cavalry Recon. Sqdn. is credited with inventing the Rhino attachment to a standard Sherman tank.
• St. Lo 1944 photo -

​Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day:

• Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.​​

03-01- The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day: (11 dead, updated 27 Aug 2022)
† Aultz, Dorsey Everet, SN 37-189-141, US Army, Pott. Co.

• Co. I, 359th Inf. Regt., 90th Inf. Div., VII Corps, assigned to Third Army, attached to First Army; KIA 13 Jun 1944 near Picauville, SW of St. Mere Eglise, Normandy, France; The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Broman, Donald Norris, SN 37-485-648, US Army, Mills Co. & Los Angeles Co., CA

• 746th Tank Bn., temporarily attached to 83rd Inf. Div.; KIA/FOD 11 Jul 1944 S of Carentan, Normandy, France; The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day; BNR.

† Deitchler, Edgar Kay, SN 37-118-985, US Army, Mills Co.

• 357th Inf. Regt., 90th Inf. Div., VIII Corps, assigned to Third Army, attached to First Army; KIA 17 Jun 1944, near Gourbesville, W. of St. Mere Eglise, Normandy, France; The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Holst, Oscar, aka Pedersen, Oscar Holst, SN 37-126-291, US Army, Pott. Co.

• Battery B, 320th Glider FA Bn., 82nd Airborne Div. VII Corps, First Army; KIA 18 Jun 1944, near Douve River, Normandy, France; The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Hopley, George Peter, SN O-526650, US Army, Cass Co.

• Co. F, 329th Inf. Regt., 83rd Inf. Div., VII Corps, assigned to Third Army, attached to First Army; KIA 4 Jul 1944 SW of Carentan, Normandy, France; The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Pearce, Lawrence Gilbert, SN 37-189-235, US Army, Montgomery Co.

• Co. B, 137th Inf. Regt., 35th Inf. Div., XIX Corps, assigned to Third Army, attached to First Army; KIA 18 Jul 1944 near St. Lo, Normandy, France; Battle of St. Lo. - The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Plagge, Harold W., SN O-1006609, US Army, Lake Co., IL

• 746th Tank Bn.; DOW 9 Jun 1944 near Utah Beach, Normandy, France; The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Pratt, Leonard Earl, SN 37-465-244, US Army, Pott. Co.

• 8th Inf. Regt., 4th Inf. Div., VII Corps, First Army; KIA 10 Jul 1944, near Periers, NW of St. Lo, Normandy, France; The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Schickner, Donald, SN 37-219-544, US Army, Pott. Co.

• Co. E, 134th Infantry Regt., 35th Inf. Div., XIX Corps, assigned to Third Army, attached to First Army; KIA 17 Jul 1944 near St. Lo, Normandy, France; Battle of St. Lo - The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Shadden, Everett Willard, O-496183, US Army, Pott. Co. & Los Angeles Co., CA

• Detachment 7, 166th Signal Photo. Co.; KIA 22 Jul 1944, near La Haye, NW of St. Lo, Normandy, France; combat photographer; mortar burst while with 90th Inf. Div.; The ETO > Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.

† Wells, Lester Earl, SN 37-465-227, US Army, Pott. Co..

• 39th Inf. Regt., 9th Inf. Div., VII Corps, First Army; KIA 13 Jul 1944 NW of St. Lo, Normandy, France; The ETO > ​Normandy Campaign > After D-Day.