Dead Man's Corner Museum - France
They had a Rendez-vous with destiny.
Dead Man's Corner Museum.
"On one of the most famous historical site of the 101 st Airborne "
Shortly after sunrise on Tuesday, June 6th, 1944, thousands of Allied troops stormed ashore in
Normandy to begin the greatest amphibious assault in history. Earlier that morning, however,
paratroopers and glidermen of the 82nd and 101 st Airborne Divisions had been landed behind
the German beach defenses, their mission to take and hold strategic points inland and to contain
any counterattacks aimed at driving the invaders back into the sea. Starting at 00:15, in the
pre-dawn darkness of D-Day Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor's paratroopers of the 101 st Airborne
Division became the first Allied soldiers to set foot on French soil, and for 33 consecutive days
they carried the fight to the enemy. This was the beginning of their "Airborne Trail through
Nazi-occupied Europe"
The 101st had been assigned the mission of capturing the key Norman city of Carentan. The
last village before Carentan on the main road (N-13) was ST.Come-du-Mont, defended by a well
entrenched, crack outfit - the Fallschirmjagers of the Luftwaffe - the famed German
parachutists.
It was here that the troopers of the 101st were to be committed in the large first-scale
attack launched by the Division. The Germans had been issued orders to hold Carentan at all
costs. For the Americans it was vital to capture the city as soon as possible and so the
paratroopers visited only for the supporting light tanks landing on the Utah Beach, to move
inland before jumping off. Only one road was open to the tankers. This one road led from the
beach, passed from Ste.Marie-du-Mont, and terminated ,at a crossroad later designated as the
Dead Man's Corner.
The house, which has changed little since it stood there since 1944, served successfully as HQ
and an aid station for the German's paras of the 6th FJ Reg't, before being captured and used in
turn by American paratroops.
Address: 2, Village de l'Amont
50500 Saint-C0me-du-Mont
France
email: carentan.101@orange.fr
Website: www.paratrooper-museum.org
Dead Man's Corner Museum.
"On one of the most famous historical site of the 101 st Airborne "
Shortly after sunrise on Tuesday, June 6th, 1944, thousands of Allied troops stormed ashore in
Normandy to begin the greatest amphibious assault in history. Earlier that morning, however,
paratroopers and glidermen of the 82nd and 101 st Airborne Divisions had been landed behind
the German beach defenses, their mission to take and hold strategic points inland and to contain
any counterattacks aimed at driving the invaders back into the sea. Starting at 00:15, in the
pre-dawn darkness of D-Day Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor's paratroopers of the 101 st Airborne
Division became the first Allied soldiers to set foot on French soil, and for 33 consecutive days
they carried the fight to the enemy. This was the beginning of their "Airborne Trail through
Nazi-occupied Europe"
The 101st had been assigned the mission of capturing the key Norman city of Carentan. The
last village before Carentan on the main road (N-13) was ST.Come-du-Mont, defended by a well
entrenched, crack outfit - the Fallschirmjagers of the Luftwaffe - the famed German
parachutists.
It was here that the troopers of the 101st were to be committed in the large first-scale
attack launched by the Division. The Germans had been issued orders to hold Carentan at all
costs. For the Americans it was vital to capture the city as soon as possible and so the
paratroopers visited only for the supporting light tanks landing on the Utah Beach, to move
inland before jumping off. Only one road was open to the tankers. This one road led from the
beach, passed from Ste.Marie-du-Mont, and terminated ,at a crossroad later designated as the
Dead Man's Corner.
The house, which has changed little since it stood there since 1944, served successfully as HQ
and an aid station for the German's paras of the 6th FJ Reg't, before being captured and used in
turn by American paratroops.
Address: 2, Village de l'Amont
50500 Saint-C0me-du-Mont
France
email: carentan.101@orange.fr
Website: www.paratrooper-museum.org
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