Sunday, June 11, 1944
The days that marked the Battle of Normandy
US forces disembarked at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach converge on the Carentan crossroads. The city is defended by Major Von Heydte and his parachutists who have orders to hold the city and not abandon anything to the enemy. The 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division approaches Carentan in the north and skirts the city by the east. Soldiers on foot must seize the city in order to allow the tanks of the US 29th Infantry Division to pass through it without being disturbed by the snipers.
The British attack from Tilly-sur-Seulles towards Villers-Bocage on the road from Caen to Vire. Their progress was virtually halted by the first German Tiger tanks arriving in Normandy: S.S. Panzerbataillon 101. German counter-attacks were, however, ineffective because of Allied air superiority.
The Canadians of the 6th Armored Regiment must also stop their progress against the superiority of German tanks southwest of the village of Mesnil-Patry. The soldiers of the 51st Highlanders, along with the 6th Airborne Division, defend their positions of German counter-attacks since the previous day. The front seems to stabilize and no longer to evolve in this region.
Northwest of Caen, the 6th battalion of the Green Howards seized the village of Ducy-Sainte-Marguerite. To the south of this locality, three other villages are still in the hands of the German forces of the Panzer Lehr: Chouain in the south-west, Brouay and Audrieu in the south-east. The 7th battalion of the Green Howards attempted to break through to the south-west but could not cross the defensive line set up by the Panzer Lehr men (who had regrouped the day before). They inflicted very heavy losses on the British, who were obliged to retreat to the outskirts of the coast.
Commonwealth troops advance south of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer towards the village of Cairon, in the Mue Valley. The men of the 46 Royal Marines Commando liberated the city after furious fighting against the fanatical German soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. In the wake, they seize the villages of Lasson, Rots and Rosel.
This day, the Gooseberry 1 is up off Utah Beach.
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