Carentan

Coordinates: 49°18′N 1°15′W / 49.30°N 1.25°W / 49.30; -1.25
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the
Carentan (Sanctuary)
.
Carentan
Delegated commune of Carentan-les-Marais
Port
Port
Location of Carentan
Map
Carentan
CommuneCarentan-les-Marais
Area
1
15.66 km2 (6.05 sq mi)
Population
 (2019)[1]
5,841
 • Density370/km2 (970/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal code
50500
Elevation0–30 m (0–98 ft)
(avg. 6 m or 20 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Carentan (French pronunciation:

Octeville
, with the critically important port facilities in Cherbourg.

History

Carentan is close to the sites of the medieval

Unelli (or Veneli or also Venelli) tribe (Greek: Οὐένελοι) situated on the river Douve slightly inland from the beaches at Normandy. The gently sloping terrain in the nearby river valley was excellent for boat construction.[4]

Carentan church

World War II

Main article: Battle of Carentan

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the U.S.

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

French civilians erected this silent tribute to an American soldier who fell in the effort to liberate France from German occupation, June 17, 1944

On 15 June, engineers 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.[5][6]

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

Arms of Carentan
Arms of Carentan
 The arms of Carentan are blazoned :
Argent, an eagle displayed within 9 billets in orle gules, on a chief azure, 3 fleurs de lys Or.



Sister cities

See also

References

  1. ^ Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2019, INSEE
  2. ^ Arrêté préfectoral 23 December 2015 (in French)
  3. ISBN 0-691-03169-X
    ), Map 7 & notes.
  4. ^ Anthropological inference, the slight damming of the river created a succession of shallow flooded fields (ponds)—such flats are excellent for setting up wooden boats.
  5. ^ Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
  6. ISBN 0-89201-092-4
    .
  7. ^ "Twin town visit nears". The Press. 30 August 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Aux Etats-Unis, une rue d'Hopkinsville baptisée 'Carentan Way'" [United States: road in Hopkinsville renamed 'Carentan Way']. La Presse de la Manche (in French). Feb 10, 2021.
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