Carentan 1944: Connecting the D-Day Beachheads

An in-depth look at the US' desperate battle to secure Carentan and support the Normandy invasion and the elite German units that sought to repel them.

Although the US Army had successfully secured both Utah and Omaha Beach on D-Day, the next tactical problem was to connect the two beachheads. Utah and Omaha were separated by the Vire River estuary. Carentan was the first major town on the river, and as such was of vital tactical importance. However, this was not lost on the Germans, who dis...