A key engagement near Carentan in June 1944 where the 101st Airborne repelled a German counterattack, helping secure the Allied foothold in Normandy.
Key Facts
- Date
- June 13, 1944
- Location
- ~1 mile SW of Carentan, Normandy, France
- US units engaged
- 501st, 502nd, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division
- German units engaged
- 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, 6th Fallschirmjäger Rgt
- US reinforcements
- Elements of 2nd Armored and 29th Infantry Divisions
- Name origin
- Nicknamed after a location in film Destry Rides Again
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following the capture of Carentan by the 101st Airborne Division during the Normandy invasion, German forces sought to retake the town. The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division and 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment launched a counterattack southwest of Carentan, threatening the recently established American position near the Manoir de Donville, also designated Hill 30 by U.S. Army planners.
On June 13, 1944, American parachute infantry regiments of the 101st Airborne Division engaged German forces along a road past the Manoir de Donville, which served as the German headquarters. The fighting was intense enough that American soldiers nicknamed the road 'Bloody Gulch,' after a place referenced in the western film Destry Rides Again. U.S. forces were reinforced by elements of the 2nd Armored Division and 29th Infantry Division.
The American forces successfully defended their position near Carentan against the German counterattack. Holding this ground helped consolidate the Allied beachhead in Normandy, linking Utah and Omaha beaches and preventing the Germans from exploiting the gap between those sectors in the critical days following the initial D-Day landings.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent