ENGLESQUEVILLE-LA-PERCEE/ST-PIERRE-DU-MONT Calvados - 5 and 8 km east of Grancamp-Maisy Omaha Beachhead was not secured In the evening of 6 June 1944, the beachhead on Omaha is still weak. The Germans resisted in some strongpoints and shelled troops and equipments brought ashore continuously. General Gerhardt, who commanded the 29th Infantry Division, arrived at the end of the day and settled his headquarter at the exit of Vierville-sur-Mer beach. In the morning of 7 June, he ordered a taskforce - 1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment, units of the 2nd and 5th Rangers, and tanks of the 743rd Tank Battalion - to move toward la Pointe du Hoc, where Colonel Rudder's Rangers are beleaguered. But the 5th Rangers had to push back a German counter-attack in Vierville-sur-Mer. The taskforce started the progression toward la Pointe du Hoc. Around 11 a.m. Saint-Pierre-du-Mont is reached, but the Americans were stopped by artillery concentration within two kilometers of the objective. A second taskforce - 175th Infantry Regiment and tanks support - liberated Englesqueville-la-Percée on 8 June around 2 a.m.. The building of the A1 airfield started the next day.
A1 airfield Stele commemorating the building in the area of the advanced airfield A1 by the 834th Air Engineers Battalion. The 366th Fighter Group of the 9th US Air Force was operational from 17 June to 24 August 1944 on A1. Situation : coming from Vierville-sur-Mer by the D514 road, take a lane to the right before the crossroad of the D126 road toward Englesqueville-la-Percée, the stele stands on the left 150 meters away
ROAD MAP			INTERESTING WEB SITES Television and Radio National Institute web site – News extracts about D-day http://www.ina.fr/extraits/recherche_theme.php Association web site of the 29th US Infantry Division http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/bunker/2629/index1.html US Army official web site about the technical units of D-day http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/Normandy/TS/index.htm Page of US Army official web site about the assault units of D-day http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/normandy/UnitList.htm   All rights of photos, texts, maps and graphics design are reserved