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feet. The general feeling was that this would be a struggle surpassing even the last ditch stand of the
heroic Alamo defenders. Higher Headquarters evidently had a clearer picture of the situation, however,
as the Battalion was ordered to attack at daybreak. In this assault one enemy halftrack was knocked out.
The rest of the noise which the troops believed to be tanks turned out to be the trucks and halftracks used
to bring supplies to the enemy. They had all pulled back to the rear before morning.
On the 11th the assaulting companies succeeded in gaining several hedgerows. At the same time
the Germans hit the 2nd Bn. on our right with a vicious counterattack and for a long while it looked as
though this Battalion would be surrounded.
The attack on the 12th was making very slow progress when Regiment, late in the afternoon,
ordered us to hold up while the 1st and 2nd Bns. passed through to attack PONT L'ABBE. Just prior to
the attack, P47's gave the town a working over. This was followed by a withering artillery barrage that
lasted well over thirty minutes. Following all this preparation the two Battalions moved into town with
little opposition. Here they found Germans sitting in foxholes, too stunned from the concussions to hold
their rifles or even speak.
On the 13th the Battalion moved up on the North of PONT L'ABBE in Regimental reserve. No
enemy were encountered on this day. Then with I and K in the assault the Battalion attacked early on
the 14th against the German line west of PONT L'ABBE. Following a savage all-day battle in which the
Battalion suffered very high losses, the German line was cracked decisively. Elements of the 82nd
Airborne passed through us at dusk and pursued the rapidly retreating Krauts. All companies pulled
back into an assembly area. That night the Battalion moved 5 miles by motor and de-trucked in an
assembly area north of GOURBESVILLE just in time to see the sun rise.
The Battalion attacked once more on the 15th and made rather slow progress until about 1500
when the assault finally broke through the German line and advanced about one-fourth of a mile. It was
in this engagement that Captain Turner of Company L was wounded. The Krauts pulled another of their
withdrawals during the night and consequently when the Battalion attacked on the 16th the resistance
was negligible. By afternoon, the assaulting companies had just reached LE CALAIS in spite of
gradually stiffening resistance when the Jerries opened up with an intense artillery and mortar barrage.
Captain Morris, I Company commander, was wounded here.
From LE CALAIS the attack continued in a northwesterly direction with the Battalion chasing
rapidly retreating Germans. The troops were halted just short of the large town of COLOMBY by order
of higher Headquarters and dug in. Here all Companies remained on the 18th.
By the 19th of June, the enemy resistance in front of the Division had decreased perceptively and
so the entire Division went into a defensive line across the base of the Cotentin peninsula while
Cherbourg was being taken. This Battalion moved by motor across the Douve river at BEUZEVILLE
LA BASTILLE and set up a defensive line along the Madeleine river between BAUPTE and
APPEVILLE. Here the Battalion remained for thirteen reasonably quiet days. During this period
intensive patrolling was conducted as far as five miles behind enemy lines and for as long as forty-eight
hours.
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