Carentan

Lore & Background

Carentan is close to the site of the medieval Battle of Formigny, fought in 1450 during the Hundred Years' War. The town is also likely the site of the historical references to the ancient Gallic port of Crociatonum, a possession of the Unelli tribe situated on the river Douve slightly inland from the beaches at Normandy. The gently sloping terrain in the nearby river valley was excellent for boat construction.

In Their Own Story

The dust hasn't settled on the main street. Your squad moves in a low crouch behind a collapsed wall, the smell of cordite and wet plaster thick in the air. Somewhere ahead, a MG42 chatters in short, angry bursts, the sound bouncing off the broken facades of what used to be shops and homes. The sergeant taps your shoulder, points to the alley on the left. You squeeze through a gap in a shattered brick wall, boots crunching on glass and splintered timber. A German soldier rounds the corner, rifle raised—your shot is faster. The echo rings down the empty street. Ahead, the church steeple still stands, a jagged silhouette against the grey Normandy sky. You keep moving. Carentan is not going to give itself up.

Reader's Guide

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the U.S. 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne divisions landed at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula. By June 9, the 101st Airborne had reorganized sufficiently and managed to cross the flooded Douve using a few causeways. The next day Carentan fell to the 101st in the Battle of Carentan, an all-day, hard-fought, house-to-house battle. The capture gave the Allies a continuous front joining Omaha to Utah Beach. US forces maintained possession despite a German armor-reinforced counterattack on June 13 just southwest of town known as the Battle of Bloody Gulch. On 15 June, engineers of the Ninth Air Force IX Engineering Command began construction on a combat advanced landing ground south of the town, declared operational on 25 June and designated A-10. It was used by P-47 Thunderbolts of the 50th Fighter Group until mid-August, then as a support airfield until its closure in November. Today, a small private airfield is located on part of the wartime facility.

Did You Know?

• The '101st Airborne March' was composed by Daniel Bourdelès for the celebration of the liberation of Carentan in June 1944.
• Carentan has sister cities Selby, United Kingdom; Waldfischbach-Burgalben, Germany; and Hopkinsville, Kentucky, United States (since 2019).