Jean Paul Pallud

In developing plans for the Allied invasion of France, from the very beginning, SHAEF planners considered the vital need to secure deepwater ports to bring in all the supplies needed to support an army of hundreds of thousands of troops. Cherbourg, at the tip of the Cotentin Peninsula, was the closest to the landing beaches chosen for Operation ‘Overlord’. The planners therefore decided to land forces at the base on the peninsula, in order to enable the rapid capture of Cherbourg, and also to widen the front of the landing. The First US Army was tasked to capture it as quickly as possible. In the early hours of June 6, paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed inland from Utah Beach to capture the beach exits, and secure the crossings over the Douve River at Carentan. On June 10, the 101st Airborne Division captured Carentan, thus liaising with the Omaha beachhead and ensuring the Allies a continuous front. This success allowed VII Corps to advance westward to isolate the Cotentin Peninsula. On June 18, the 9th Infantry Division reached the west coast of the peninsula, and within 24 hours, the 4th, 9th, and 79th Infantry Divisions advanced northward. Within two days, they were within striking distance of Cherbourg, but the German commander, Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben, rejected a summons to surrender and began demolitions of the port. The VII Corps launched a general assault on June 22. Resistance was initially strong, but the Americans gradually drove the German defenders from their bunkers and pillboxes. Allied warships and cruisers bombarded the defences on the 25th, and the 79th Division captured Fort du Roule, which dominated Cherbourg and its defences, on the 26th. General von Schlieben surrendered the same day, and the port and arsenal capitulated on the 27th. Fregattenkapitän Witt, the port commander, escaped by boat to the Fort de l’Ouest, a bastion on the breakwater, and took command of the small forces holding this fort and the Fort du Centre. After two days of artillery hammering and several bombing raids, the two strongholds surrendered on June 29. The Battle of Cherbourg was over. In the battle for the Cotentin and Cherbourg, VII Corps had suffered over 22,000 casualties, while the Germans had lost 39,000 men taken prisoner, in addition to an unknown number killed. The early capture of Cherbourg was a major defeat for the Germans. In their plan to deny the Allies access to French ports, the German high command had anticipated that Cherbourg could hold out for several weeks (as Brest was soon to do). The capitulation of the Festung came much earlier than expected, and Hitler’s inner circle considered the fortress’s commander, General von Schlieben, a very poor commander. However, his engineers had carried out intensive demolition of the port, which was so thoroughly destroyed and mined that it was only put back into very limited use by mid-August. This, then, is the story of the capture of Cherbourg, the first Allied victory in Normandy, told through more than a hundred ‘Then and Now’ comparison photographs, which really bring history to life. You will thus be able to walk precisely in the footsteps of the heroes of this great moment in history.

In a swift campaign the Third US Army conquered the Brittany peninsula in August 1944. The German forces in Brittany had been herded into Lorient, St Nazaire, and Brest, where they could only await American siege operations. Despite these achievements, the Brittany campaign had not yet secured the basic strategic objectives that had motivated it: the capture of harbours. St Malo was destroyed beyond hope of immediate repair and Nantes was demolished as well. At the end of the month, as the VIII Corps gathered its forces for a mighty effort to take Brest, the development of the breakout in Normandy and the pursuit beyond the Seine made the logistical planners start to look elsewhere for major ports of entry. The VIII Corps faced a dogged defence at Brest and it took six weeks of fighting to obtain the final surrender of Generalleutnant Ramcke on September 19. American casualties in the Battle of Brittany totalled 9,831; prisoners and the taken numbered 38,000, of whom more than 20,000 were combat troops. On September 13, after the extent of the reconstruction and works necessary to rehabilitate the harbour at Brest had been looked at, it was decided to abandon all repair work there. The serious Allied problem of port capacity persisted until November, when the Antwerp facilities became available. The charge was later made that the employment of three divisions and valuable transports and supplies to defeat the German garrison at Brest adversely affected pursuit operations beyond the Seine. However, it should be noted that the resources used at Brest were quite small compared to the main effort and could hardly have changed the development of the advance towards the Seine and beyond. Told through more than a hundred ‘Then and Now’ comparison photographs that bring history to life, this book tells the story of the long siege of Festung Brest. By pinpointing for the first time, the locations where so many photographs were taken, this book will allow the reader to walk in the footsteps of the heroes of this great moment in history.

At the end of July, Operation ''Cobra'' broke through the German defences and the American leaders rushed through Coutances and Avranches, and took the Pontaubault bridge on the 31st. On August 1, the VIII Corps had three crossing sites over the Sée River and four over the Sélune, the routes to enter Brittany were open.That day, as the 4th Armored Division thrust from Pontaubault toward Rennes, Lieutenant Georges S. Patton''s Third US Army became operational.To secure Brittany, Patton''s plan was to unleash armoured columns in the peninsula, the 4th Armored Division to drive through Rennes to Quiberon, and the 6th Armored Division to rush all the way to Brest. A third column, Task Force A, was to secure the vital railroad that ran along the north shore.The 4th Armored Division reached Nantes on August 6, to find the port facilities in ruins. On the northern shore of the peninsula, Task Force A encountered fierce resistance at Saint-Malo. While the task force continued westwards, the 83rd Division took on the siege and it took four weeks of repeated attacks, and the engagement of strong artillery forces and several heavy air raids, to obtain the surrender of the German fortress.The Americans faced a similar dogged defence at Brest and it took six weeks of fighting to obtain the surrender of Generalleutnant Hermann Ramcke on September 19. The Americans lost 10,000 killed and wounded in the battle, but Brest, as well as its harbour facilities, were destroyed.On September 13, after the extent of the reconstruction and works necessary to rehabilitate the harbour had been looked at, it was decided to abandon all repair work there. The serious Allied problem of port capacity persisted until November, when the Antwerp facilities became available.The charge was later made that the employment of three divisions and valuable transports and supplies to defeat the German garrison at Brest but the resources used there, quite small when compared to the total effort, could hardly have altered the pattern of the quick advance eastwards.

The Wehrmacht won a quick victory in the West in 1940, the Netherlands and Belgium capitulated in May, and France signed an armistice on June 22.Heeresgruppe A remained in France and Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt and his staff established themselves at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and they soon worked on drawing up provisional instructions for Operation ''Seelöwe'', the invasion of Great Britain. In October, von Rundstedt was appointed Commander-in-Chief West (Oberbefehlshaber West or Ob. West for short) and made responsible for all the German-occupied territory in western Europe.In April 1941, he and his staff were secretly moved to the East to take command of the right wing of the offensive against Russia and the function of Ob. West was taken over by Generalfeldmarschall Erwin von Witzleben. In March 1942 von Witzleben took leave of his command due to ill health and from the 8th, von Rundstedt returned as Commander-in-Chief in the West.It was from Saint-Germain that the Ob. West, von Rundstedt, faced the Allied landing in Normandy in June 1944, the invasion as the Germans called it. The German forces were unable to stop the Allied operation, Hitler found fault with the local commanders and decided to relieve von Rundstedt of his command. Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge was then appointed Ob. West and it was a grim situation that he inherited upon his arrival at Saint-Germain on July 3.Saint-Germain thus saw four of the most important Field Marshals of the Third Reich successively assuming command of the Ob. West, and a fifth, the famous Erwin Rommel, was also part of the story. Of these five Generalfeldmarschalls, three died for their involvement in the plot to eliminate Hitler, or for their sympathy with the conspiracy: von Witzleben was executed after an express judgment, and von Kluge and Rommel committed suicide.The Ob. West has left Saint-Germain with some remarkable constructions, most of which are still visible today, nestled in the city, witnesses to this strange episode in the history of the city.