bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Germany > ETO  > Normandy Campaign > Normandy after D-Day, updated by RAC 28 Jul '19.
This webpage outlines some major events between the D-Day invasion of 6 June and the beginning of the Normandy Breakout on 25 July.
Brief Normandy Campaign Timeline
  • 6 Jun 1944 - Operation Overloard - D-Day invasion by the Allies on five Normandy beaches and by air on the western and eastern extremities.
  • 7 Jul '44 - Bayeux liberated.
  • 18 Jun '44 - Free French leader Charles DeGaulle returns to Bayeux after four years in exile.
  • 19 Jul '44 - Artificial Mulberry Harbor off  Omaha Beach destroyed by storm. Mulberry off Arromanches heavily used through November.
  • 30 Jun '44 - Cherbourg, the first large port, siezed.
  • 7 Jul '44 - Allies bomb Caen and British and Canadians occupy north part of city.
  • 18 Jul '44 - British and Canadians begin Operation Goodwood, capturing remainder of Caen.
  • 19 Jul '44 - St. Lo, by now a destroyed city, siezed by U.S. First Army.​
  • 25 Jul 1944 - Operation Cobra begins the Normandy breakout.
Normandy Jun-Jul 1944
Normandy - Jun-Jul 1944
Elements of two Allied armies landed on D-Day:
  • Omar Bradley's First US Army on Utah and Omaha Beaches and from the air.
  • Miles Dempsey's Second British Army on Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches and from the air.
These two armies comprised the Army Group, commanded by British General Bernard Montgomery, which fought in Normandy, the Americans to the west and the Brits to the east.

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 Alllied front. The German 7th Army and elements of the 15th Army resisted their advance.
Growing the Beachhead - The Advance Through the Hedgerows
The American advance was hindered by the bocage country through which they fought. This rural landscape consisted of open fields, largely pastures, enclosed by ancient hedgerows, often with sunken lanes between the fields. As the German Army retreated hedgerow by hedgerow, American casualties grew.

Meanwhile British and Canadian forces moved south in largely open country, losing large numbers of tanks in several battles with German armor.
Normandy Hedgerow
Normandy Hedgerow
Sources for the WW II - Normandy Campaign webpage
  • The webpage header photo St. Lo 1944 is
  • The Normandy - June-July 1944  map was produced by Infobase Publishing, infobase.com, a major producer of on-line learning materials.
  • The Normandy Hedgerow diagram 
  • I found the Infobase Publishing maps mentioned above, as well as many more-detaied maps of the ETO, in the inflab area of medium.com, namely ​medium.com/@Inflab/western-front-maps-of-world-war-ii-58798ee9d792. 
Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Deaths - The Normandy Campaign after D-Day (updated 11 Aug '19)
World Wars > WW II > Pott. Co. Deaths has parental and spousal information. 
  • Aultz, Dorsey E., US Army; Co. I, 359th Inf. Regt., 90th Inf. Div.; d. 13 Jun ’44 SW of St. Mere Eglise.
  • Holst, Oscar, US Army; Battery B, 320th Gilder Field Artillery Bn., 82nd Airborne Div.; d. 18 Jun ’44  near Douve River.
  • Plagge, Harold W., US Army; 746 Tank Bn.; d. 9 Jun ’44 near Utah Beach (died of wounds).
  • Pratt, Leonard E., US Army; 8th Inf. Regt., 4th Inf. Div.; d. 10 Jul ’44.
  • Schnitker, Donald, US Army; Co. E, 134th Inf. Regt., 35th Inf. Div.; d. 17 Jul ’44 near St. Lo.
  • Shadden, Everett W., US Army; Detatchment 7, 166 Signal Photo Co.; d. 22 Jul ’44 near La Haye, Silver Star recipient.​
  • Wells, Lester W., US Army; 39th Inf. Regt., 9th Inf. Div.; d. 13 Jul ’44 NW of St. Lo.