Uncle Bill and World War II - The Battle of Cherbourg
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NOTE: My mother's brother, my Uncle Bill, participated in many of the major battles of the European theatre during World War II. This page and others reveal his experiences. For a full listing, see the bottom of this page. The photo at left is one of the rare photos I have of my uncle. It was taken after the war.
The Battle Basics: Cherbourg
The Battle of Cherbourg was a part of the Battle of Normandy, but it was after the men had cleared the beaches. The city of Cherbourg was an important port which was considered vital to the Allies' campaign in Western Europe. The Allies won it in a hard-fought, month-long campaign. 2
On 18 June the American military isolated the Cherbourg garrison which had 21,000 untrained and exhausted men. They were short of everything: food, fuel, ammunition. Despite this, the Germans rejected a surrender and began carrying out demolitions. The Americans launched an assault on 22 June. Slowly the Americans and the British persevered despite strong German resistance. The German leader was captured and the harbour fortifications and the arsenal surrendered on 29 June. 3
Bill's Experiences at Cherbourg
"The war was over. Everybody talked about getting back to the States by Christmas. What dreamers we were. We thought we’d done quite a bit.
“We were 7th corp Artillery….really written like this: VII. We didn’t belong to one specific division. We belonged to whatever division was fighting at the time. Divisions were moved in and out of the fighting as they lost men and lost their fighting strength.
"So sometimes we were with the 4th, then maybe the 29th, then maybe the 36th…we supported many divisions.
"We stayed in place…watched tired infantry move out in trucks, and new fresh infantry come in. Gosh, I was glad not to be in infantry. Since we stayed in combat all the time, this is how we got our three hundred days of continuous combat.”
This particular battle didn't leave a strong impression on Bill, but there would be others down the road which would. Check out the links listed below.
Here are the other battles that Bill experienced:
- Normandy June 6, 1944
- Battle of the Hedgerows and Battle of Saint Lo July 7-19, 1944
- Battle of the Falaise Pocket August 11-21, 1944
- Battle of the Hurtgen Forest September 19 - December 6, 1944
- The Fall of Aachen October 2-21, 1944
- Battle of the Bulge December 15, 1944 - January 25, 1945
Or return to Main Page to check out other battles, other stories.