June 10th, 1944
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| Purple Heart Lane |
Rommel realised the danger to the Axis defenses should Carentan fall, for it was the link between Utah and Omaha Beach and also the key to an American drive west to cut the base of the Cotentin Peninsula. The defense of the city was in the hands of the Fallschirmjaeger-Regiment 6. Allied High Command's decision to send the 101st paratroopers in on their own, with little armor or air support, was based on expectations only to encounter scattered resistance along the causeway to Carentan. On the evening of June 10th however, all attempts to drive the Germans back with artillery had failed. Colonel Cole and his men of the 502nd PiR advanced cautiously down the Causeway to seize the hub of German resistance and eventually clear the entrance to Carentan itself...
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Ground Forces 
Stationary Weapons 
