OBJECTIVE CARENTAN

6 June 1944: two American airborne divisions are dropped east of the Cotentin Peninsula. One of them, the 101st Airborne Division, is tasked with clearing the beach exits for the 4th Infantry Division landing at Utah Beach, and also with securing the crossings over the Douve to the south, through the marshes, in order to reach and take Carentan — a small town at the heart of this watery terrain and a strategic crossroads enabling the link-up with the Omaha Beach bridgehead.

Taking Carentan meant linking up the American forces; failure would have dangerously isolated those who had gained a foothold in the Cotentin. The Germans were numerically outmatched, but an elite regiment — the paratroopers of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 under von der Heydte — was close at hand and moving into the line against the 101st. What followed was a fierce engagement between American paratroopers and German paratroopers, in the sector of Saint-Côme-du-Mont and then before Carentan.

The paratroopers of the 502nd PIR assault the causeway at heavy cost, then attack the Ingouf farm. Finally comes the legendary battle of the "cabbage patch". Overwhelmed in Carentan — a veritable Norman "Cassino" — von der Heydte withdraws during the night of 11–12 June, before the German counter-attack of the 13th launched with the "Götz". It fails; the battle is over. The Americans have secured the link between the two bridgeheads.
This thoroughly documented work follows these little-known operations day by day, drawing on numerous eyewitness accounts and exceptional primary source documents.