PONTAUBAULT Manche - 5 km sud d’Avranches
Fortune smiled on General Patton
On 30 July 1944 the 6th Armoured Division liberated Avranches evacuated by the Germans. The gate of Brittany was cracked open. General Patton's powerful 3rd Army - VIIIth, XIIth, XVth and XXth Army corps - became operationnal. Several kilometers to the south an American spearhead unit captured an intact bridge on the river Selune at Pontaubault. The Germans launched counter-attacks, in a last attempt a kampgruppe commanded by Colonel Bacherer was kept in check. On 31 July in the evening General Patton did not hesitate, he rushed forward his divisions through Pontaubault bridge and fanned them out in Brittany and toward the river Loire.
  
     
 
 
 
 
Aubaud bridge and Patton Plaque
Two plaques remember the strategic importance of Pontaubault (or Aubaud) bridge over the river Sélune, The bridge was heavily bombed but could not be destroyed. It enabled General Patton to advance in Brittany on 1st and 2nd August 1944, and then to reach Paris and thrust into Germany.
Situation : at the edge of the D43 road, at the gate of the town coming from Avranches
 
   
   
ROAD MAP
 
INTERESTING WEB SITES

Personal web site about the 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/
Personal web site about the German Army (in German)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/inhaltsverzeichnis1.htm
Personal web site about the Second World War tanks
http://www.chars-francais.net/de1942a1945.htm

 
All rights of photos, texts, maps and graphics design are reserved