Today, 27 June, 1944, Cherbourg surrendered. The first major objective in the Allied campaign in Northwest Europe is now complete. The German defenders inflicted great damage on the port facilities. Time will tell the extent to which the Allies will be able to restore the port of Cherbourg and begin funneling the men and material needed to expand the beach head and bring the war home to the Germans.
The 313th left Cherbourg and moved to an assembly area near La Glaceriea. Tomorrow, 28 June, 1944, the 313th will move to Le Valdecie. There, they will have almost a week to recover, regroup, and prepare for the next phase of the campaign. Their story will pick up again 2 July, 1944.
Additional Reading:
- U.S. Army – Utah Beach to Cherbourg. The maps and much of the detailed combat descriptions in this blog journal came from this source.
- Stephen Ambrose’s Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany is not about the grand strategy and geo-political context of the war. Rather, Ambrose provides an excellent narrative of what the war was like from the point-of-view of the infantrymen who fought in it.
- Stephen Ambrose’s D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II is similarly about the experience of the infantryman and tells the story of the invasion of Europe from the point-of-view of the soldiers who fought the battle.
