Thursday, June 22, 1944
The days that marked the Battle of Normandy
The weather has improved significantly in the English Channel and in Normandy. The major repairs began in the artificial ports at Arromanches and Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. But bad news reached the Allied high command: the port of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer is out of use. Repairs do not allow re-use. The Allies decided to abandon the use of the Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer harbor and ordered the military engineers to do their utmost to repair and restore that of Arromanches.
The capture of the deep-water port of Cherbourg is becoming more and more urgent for the Allies.
US forces from the 22nd Infantry Regiment infiltrate Cherbourg from several locations and the fighting in the streets of the city continues. Strongly entrenched behind their lines of defense, they oppose a fierce resistance to the assailants. The Americans stop their progression and resume the bombing of the city, from the air with the bombers of the 8th and 9th Air Force, and from the sea with the artillery embarked on the ships off Cherbourg.
In the Bois de Bretel region, north of Saint-Lô, the 115th US infantry regiment’s “punch” operations continued at night against German defensive positions.
To the north and north-west of Caen, the fighting continues. Commonwealth forces are regrouping to begin operation Epsom to break the front line, once supplies from the artificial port of Arromanches can be transported to the front.
