"Battle for the river Elle" Topic

""And now, on 11 June 1944, I was alone with two other men from another company with very little ammunition, cut off and not sure what to do. We crept like cats from place to place, hoping to find our lines or at least other Germans with a leader among them. Stray shots, bad luck or the will of God, I'll never know why, but by nightfall the others were dead. I found a place on the top of a rather high hedgerow, curled up with my machinegun and waited for something to happen. In the end I was fast asleep." Obergrenadier Martin Eichenseer of the 916. Grenadier Regiment about the battle for the Elle.

On D-day, June 6, 1944, the American 29th Infantry Division landed at Omaha Beach. The division consisted of the 115th, 116th and 175th Infantry Regiments. The 116th was the first to go ashore, followed by the 115th from 10:30. The 175th Infantry Regiment landed the next day, June 7.

Advancing to Saint-Lô, the river Elle was looming on June 7. The American military historian Joseph Balkoski says in his book, that though it may have been called a river on the maps, it was more like a stream than a big river. "A GI could practically leap over the Elle without getting his feet wet ." On this June 11, the 116th had been resting for some days and regaining strength after all the losses suffered during D-day. For the 115th it was the first day of rest in Normandy. The Elle formed the frontline, both units were located on the present D66, between Sainte-Marquerite-d'Elle and La Blanchinière….."
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand