Carentan () is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the Gu ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

in north-western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, with a population of about 6,000. It is a former commune in the

Manche Manche (, ; Norman language, Norman: ) is a coastal Departments of France, French ''département'' in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy on the English Channel, which is known as , literally "the sleeve", in French. Manche is bordered by ...

department. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Carentan-les-Marais. The town was a strategic early goal of the World War II landings as capturing the town was necessary to link the

lodgement A lodgement or lodgment is an enclave, taken and defended by force of arms against determined opposition, made by increasing the size of a bridgehead, beachhead, or airhead into a substantial defended area, at least the rear parts of which ...

s at

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and

Omaha beach Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors of the amphibious assault component of Operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies of World War II, Allies invaded German military administration in occupied Fra ...

es which were divided by the

Douve The Douve () or Ouve is a river, in length, which rises in the commune of Tollevast, near Cherbourg in the department of Manche. ''Ouve'' is considered its old name (''Unva'' in ancient texts): Ouve appears to have been misspelled over the cours ...

river estuary (nearby fields were flooded by the Germans up to the town's outskirts). The town was also needed as an intermediate staging position for the capture of the cities of

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

and Octeville, with the critically important port facilities in Cherbourg.

History

Carentan is close to the site of the medieval

Battle of Formigny The Battle of Formigny, fought on 15 April 1450, took place towards the end of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. It was a decisive French victory that destroyed the last significant English field army in Normandy, and paved th ...

, fought in 1450 during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

. The town is also likely the site of the historical references to the ancient Gallic port of Crociatonum (documented by Roman sources), a possession of the

Unelli The Venellī or Unellī (Gaulish: *''Uenellī/Wenellī'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling on the Cotentin peninsula, in the northwest of modern Normandy, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. In 57 BC, they capitulated to Caesar's legate Publiu ...

(or Veneli or also Venelli) tribe (Greek: Οὐένελοι) situated on the river

slightly inland from the beaches at Normandy. The gently sloping terrain in the nearby river valley was excellent for boat construction.

World War II

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the U.S. 82nd Airborne and

101st Airborne The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...

divisions landed at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula. Although the landings were scattered, they nevertheless secured most of the routes by which the U.S. VII Corps would advance from Utah Beach, the right (west) flank of the Allied forces separated from the landings at Omaha and the other beachheads by the river Douve. The U.S. 4th Infantry Division landed on Utah Beach shortly after dawn with few casualties, and began staging for a move against Cherbourg, a fortified port critical to future Allied operations. In the immediate aftermath of the landings, the priority for the Allies at Utah Beach was to link up with the Allied landings further east. This job was assigned to the 101st Airborne, who had landed in the area and had been both conducting raids against inland targets (such as artillery emplacements) and securing and cutting off the area from German reinforcements. By June 9, the 101st Airborne had reorganized sufficiently from the haphazard scattering of its units. It managed to cross the flooded

using a few causeways across the flooded fields. The next day Carentan fell to the 101st in the

Battle of Carentan The Battle of Carentan was an engagement in World War II between airborne forces of the United States Army and the German Wehrmacht during the Operation Overlord, Battle of Normandy. The battle took place from 10 to 14 June 1944, on the approach ...

. Beginning with a dawn assault, it was an all-day, hard-fought, house-to-house battle against German troops embedded in strongly prepared positions. The capture of the town gave the Allies a continuous front joining

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

to Utah Beach and the other three lodgments to the east of Omaha. US forces maintained possession of the town despite a German armor-reinforced counterattack on June 13 just to the southwest of town known as the

Battle of Bloody Gulch The Battle of Bloody Gulch took place around the Manoir de Donville or Hill 30 (U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the Unit ...

. On 15 June, engineers of the

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint D ...

IX Engineering Command began construction on a combat advanced landing ground for fighter aircraft south of the town. Declared operational on 25 June, the airfield was designated, "

A-10 The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 19 ...

". It was used by

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

s of the 50th Fighter Group until mid-August, then as a support airfield for supplies and evacuation of wounded personnel until its closure in November. Today, a small private airfield is located on part of the wartime facility.

101st Airborne March

The "101st Airborne March" was composed by Daniel Bourdelès, a Norman composer, for the celebration of the liberation of Carentan, in June 1944. This march created in Carentan is extracted from the CD "Carentan, the sky memory" (1994), produced by the town. It is regularly used as a musical illustration for the Normandy liberation films on France3 regional TV.

Heraldry

Sister cities

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United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

* Waldfischbach-Burgalben,

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Hopkinsville Hopkinsville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2020 census was 31,180. History Early years The area of present-day Hopkinsville was initially claimed in 1796 ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

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(since 2019)

References