#Story
Battle in the bocage
A standout feature of the Normandy countryside in this area is the Bocage. The Bocage is the traditional boundaries within fields that landowners used to divide their land with. This would become a nightmare for the US soldiers trying to fight their way through.
The town of Saint-Lo was critical for the American forces following their breakout from the Omaha beach area, pushing south and inland. Following the landings on 6 June 1944, the American forces had suffered considerable losses on that first day.
On 12 June 1944, the US 29th Infantry Division started to move southwards towards Sainte-Lo. By 13 June, the Division reached the area north of Couvains. This is three kilometres north east of the town of Saint-Lo. A week later, they had made a small advance, the frontline extending to the north of Villers Fossart and south of Couvains.
The Germans, following the landings on 6 June, had managed to regroup and bring up reinforcements. They defended this new frontline that stopped the Americans from advancing to the town of Saint-Lo. They began to use the bocage to deadly effect.
The attrition of casualties amassed for the Americans during this battle of the hedgerows. New tactics needed to be implemented to advance through the German lines, plus trying to limit the amount of casualties that were being taken.
Firstly, armoured support was of great benefit for advancing infantry and engineers. The Sherman tank had been adapted in some cases and was referred to as ‘Rhinos’. This was a design by Sergeant Curtis Culin, who had welded sections of German beach defences onto the front of the tanks. The ‘Culin cutter’ would dig into the earth banks below the bocage and remove sections. This allows armour, infantry and engineers to quickly break through.
The infantry would use the tanks as protection to advance through the fields surrounded by bocage and would be supported by engineers. The engineers would target stronger German defensive positions with explosives. Slowly, field by field, hedgerow by hedgerow, was cleared as the advance continued towards Sainte-Lo.
The advantage of the bocage lay with the defender as it offered ideal concealment for infantry. Well-sited and placed machine guns could have wide fields of fire across the open fields. German infantry with Panzerfausts (Hollow charge projectile) would also exploit this advantage to target American armour that advanced through the bocage and fields.
No definitive figure for casualties sustained during the fighting of the bocage is known; however, it is estimated that tens of thousands of US soldiers were wounded, with thousands killed. The US 29th Infantry Division suffered high casualties during this period in the bocage as they advanced from Omaha Beach to liberate Saint-Lo.