Sainte-Mère-Eglise : D-Day for the US paras

Sainte-Mère-Église

6th June 1944 in the Cotentin peninsula. Thousands of huge white petals opened amidst the dark of night. Thirteen thousand American paratroops were dropped in the sector to the west of the Normandy landing zone. However, many fell far from their targets. It took several hours for some of them to finally connect with a buddy or an army group, that was equally astray. Nevertheless, all the missions entrusted to the parachute units were successfully accomplished. The 101st Airborne Division managed to cover the area inland of Utah Beach, whilst the 82nd Airborne Division controlled Sainte-Mère-Église and the surrounding area. Yet, the American positions remained extremely fragile, in particular at the La Fière bridge. Welcome reinforcements were landed on Utah as from 6:30am. Then the US paras embarked on a month and a half of deadly combat amidst the marshes and the Normandy Bocage.