By 1245 on 8 June the marching parties of Companies A, B and H & S had waded ashore and
were on the march to the first bivouac area ¼ mile west of Adouville-la-Hubert and near the town of Ste
Mere Eglise.
The battalion aid station was established with the CP and the aid men were integrated into the
platoons of the lettered companies where they were to perform heroic services during all of the battles,
which lay ahead. Vehicles were unloaded on top of the lighter craft and shuttled to the beach where the
drivers waded them ashore, performed essential de-waterproofing and drove them into the beach to join
their units. The reassembly mission was practically complete when the first field order was received
from division on 9 June.
The 90th Division will attack! This phrase, which was to be heard over and over again during the
next eleven months of combat, signaled the beginning of the pay off for which more than two years of
preparation had been made.
Initially the companies were attached to their respective combat team regiments. Company B
saw its first concentrated enemy action on 10 June in an ill fated attempt to destroy a bridge over the
Douve River on the division's left flank. After advancing practically unopposed for about one mile west
of Chef du Pont, the 1st platoon, with a platoon of the 358th Infantry emerged from the walled
protection of the high root-reinforced, earth-banked hedgerows on to a causeway over the inundated
flood plain of the river. At the south end of this fill lay the kraut held village of Beuzeville la Bastille,
and just short of the village was the masonry bridge to be destroyed. Boldly the troops advanced in the
bright sunlight and all seemed unusually quiet until suddenly a flare was fired from a building followed
by the crack of a kraut sniper’s bullet and then a barrage of heavy machine gun fire. The position on the
causeway was untenable in face of the Wermacht firmly emplaced in the stone walled buildings
overlooking the bridge. Efforts to place our artillery fire on the defenders failed when the observer's
radio was shot out. The men lay prone in the grass and water as fire raked the area and Company B
suffered its first combat casualties. Slowly, as on the infiltration course at Barkeley, the men recoiled
from the shock of the withering blast. Gradually, under the continuing heavy fire, the men crawled to the
shelter of the hedgerows. There, the mission was changed and the platoon dug in, emplacing its machine
guns and bazookas to repulse any enemy attack.
Meanwhile, in other portions of the division sector, other units of the battalion were clearing
mines, [Figure 5-5] constructing access roads for the infantry supply vehicles, dragging burned out
vehicles and dead animals from the roads and breaching hedgerows so that tanks and tactical vehicles
could move from one tiny field to another. The headquarters reconnaissance teams were engaged in
charting the roads, trails and bridges in searches for clear routes for the advance. The S-2 and ADE
sections procured and distributed 42,000 maps. Three water supply points were operated. The S-4
Section built an improvised shower unit at Chef du Pont and opened it for use by all troops in the area.
The S-3Section prepared and distributed information bulletins on new types of German mines, which
were being found. The motor section manufactured 2400 mine signs. Division forward CP's were dug in
by bulldozers before occupancy. Houses to be used as CP's were checked for booby traps and
throughout the division zone camouflage discipline was checked and corrective measures recommended.
During these days dawn came about 0400 and darkness seldom settled over the damp clammy
countryside before 2300. The nights seemed to be only short interludes during which the German
reconnaissance planes could roam. The one, which always came over just after dark, was dubbed "Bed
Check Charlie". The unsynchronized moan of his motors was unmistakable and drew the fire of every
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