LA CROIX-AU-PELLETIER Manche - 7 km south of Bricquebec
The onrush of the 9th Infantry Division
On 16 August the 82nd American Airborne Division liberated Saint Sauveur-le-Vicomte, and the 9th Infantry Division spanned the River Douve near Sainte-Colombe, halfway from the Cotentin peninsula west coast. The next day the 60th Infantry Regiment was the spearhead of the attack. The Americans entered Néhou and moved on toward Barneville facing delaying actions. There was no more front line opposite the 60th Regiment. At the end of the afternoon the 1st and 2nd Battalions progressed toward Saint Pierre-d’Arthéglise, while the 39th Infantry Regiment 1st Battalion assembled in Saint Jacques-de-Néhou. General Eddy ordered to carry on during the night. In the dark an armoured column - infantry of the 60th Regiment 3rd Battalion, tanks of the 746th Tank Battalion B Company and the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion A Company - reached the crossroads of La Croix-au-Pelletier and pushed to Barneville. The lead Sherman was stopped by a German anti tank gun, then the Americans moved ahead. The column crossed Saint Maurice-en-Cotentin, and on 18 August around 5 a.m. Barneville was in sight.
  
     
   
 
 

9th Infantry Division monument
Monument in memory of the officers and soldiers of the 9th American Infantry Division killed in this place on 17 June 1944.
Situation : about 3 km west of La Croix-au-Pelletier croosroads, at the edge of the D42 road toward Saint Maurice-en-Cotentin
   
 
ROAD MAP
 
INTERESTING WEB SITES
Personal web site about US Army in Europe
http://www.lonesentry.com/index.html
 Manche departmental tourism office web site
http://www.manchetourisme.com/
 France 5 TV website about the Second World War
http://www.france5.fr/2gm/
Encyclopaedia Britannica web site about D-day
http://www.britannica.com/dday
 
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