St Mere Eglise

[Jim]

St Mere Eglise is just off the N13, the main road from Caen/Bayeux to Cherbourg. Following the road signs directing you to the town drive into the town square (called Place du 6 June) along Rue du D.D. Eisenhower and park your car in the car park adjacent to the church. Walk across to the southeast side of the square, opposite the church entrance, and stand next to the green railings facing the church. Look closely at the railings to see evidence of the fighting that took place here. On the church tower (during the summer months) you will see a mannequin of a paratrooper hanging from a stone buttress which represents Private John Steele. To your right, along the tree-lined road which leads down the side of the church, there is an old hand-powered water pump which was used by the villagers to extract water to help put out a house fire back in 1944, the house where the Airborne Museum is now located.

Bullet marks still evident today in St Mere Eglise

The 82nd Airborne Division's Commanding officer, Major-General Matthew B. Ridgeway, and his head-quarters staff were to land alongside the men of the 505th PIR, and elements of the 456th PFAB, on Drop Zone "O". The 505th PIR were tasked with taking St Mere Eglise and the area to the north, around Neuville-au-Plain, and east, at la Fiere Bridge over the River Merderet. Though the 505th experienced the most successful drop of all the parachute regiments, with thirty-one of the 118 sticks landing on the drop-zone, others were dropped up to fourteen miles away.1° Amongst those descending outside their drop zone area were some of the men of a mortar platoon, 'F' Company, 3/505th PIR, and some men of the 2/505th PIR, who found themselves heading towards the town square in the centre of St Mere Eglise. On this night the local villagers had been allowed to break curfew in order to help put out a house fire next to the square. The church bells tolled, announcing to the villagers that help was needed in the square. Under the watchful gaze of the German troops from the local garrison, the villagers formed a human chain at a nearby water pump and began passing buckets of water along towards the firemen that were tackling the raging fire. At the same time wave upon wave of Dakotas were flying overhead and began dropping their loads of paratroopers. As the men of F Company began dropping in the square the German sentries instantly opened fire. Instinctively the villagers began running for cover. As the stick of paratroopers landed in the town square the Germans began shooting them before they could release themselves from their parachute harness. As Private John Steele came down to earth, the air was thick with f lak and tracer fire from which he received a wound to his foot. Unable to control his decent he found himself swinging in his parachute harness and heading directly for the church steeple. There, on the central tower of the church, his parachute snagged on a stone pinnacle and Private John Steele found himself hanging, unable to move, from the church tower. Beneath him the Germans continued to slaughter the paratroopers that were landing all around them. A second paratrooper, Private Ken Russel, also landed on the church but slid down the roof before his parachute lines became snagged.

Water Pump

"Almost immediately a Nazi soldier came running from the back side of the church shooting at everything. Sergeant John Ray had landed in the church yard, almost directly below Steele. The Nazi shot him in the stomach while he was still in his chute."
Private Ken Russel, F Company, 3/505th PIR, 82nd A/B Div.

Before the German was able to cast his attention to Private Russel, the Sergeant, despite his mortal wound, managed to draw his pistol from its holster and shoot the German in the back of the head. Retrieving his fighting knife Private Russel wasted no time and sliced his way through his parachute lines and fell, uninjured, to the ground. Quickly freeing and loading his rifle the trooper then made off away from the open square to the relatively safe shadows of the nearby streets and buildings trying to find more of his comrades. Others were less fortunate. Private First Class Alfred J. van Holsbeck's descent carried him towards the roaring flames of the burning building. The heat of the fire appeared to draw the parachute towards it and the paratrooper descended into the inferno. Another trooper, Sergeant Edward White, also met with the same fate. The ammunition they were carrying served to fuel the flames and made the fire burn even more intensely. During this time other paratroopers became snagged on power line poles or in tree branches as they descended. Amongst those killed while still in their parachute harness were Second-Lieutenant Harold Cadish, Private Charles Blankenship and Private Ladislaw Tlapa; Private H. T. Bryant Jr was also killed in the town square. Private John Steele was desperate not to meet a similar fate as he watched the horrors below him. Suspended in his parachute harness he was unable free himself and so decided to feign death by hanging motionless, hoping that no Germans would bother to waste any bullets on his seemingly lifeless body. During the carnage in the square a machine gun mounted in the belfry of the church fired down towards the ground. Also in the belfry were two German sentries on look-out, who were watching the paratroopers descending from the night sky.

Private John Steele

"Through an opening I saw a parachutist had fallen on the steeple, hanging by the ropes. He appeared to be dead, but after a moment I heard his voice. There were two of us at the post, and my companion wanted to shoot him."
Obergefreiter Rudolph May, 919th Grenadier Regiment, 709th Infantry Division.

Private John Steele was not shot however, and instead the German sentries freed him from his parachute and made him a prisoner-of-war. Elsewhere, in the meantime, the 82nd Airborne Division were beginning to organize themselves into fighting units. Within a couple of hours Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Krause, 3/505 PIR, had gathered 180 men and had advanced towards St Mere Eglise. Splitting his force up into six sections, one to block each of the five roads into the town and another to clear the centre of St Mere Eglise, Lt-Col Krause then made his way into the centre of the town, guided by a local Frenchman who had offered to help.

St Mere Eglise Church showing the mannequin of John Steele

Taking and holding St Mere Eglise was, tactically, the most important mission for the 82nd Airborne Division on D-Day. Lt-Col Krause issued an order to his men that no firearms were to be used, until daylight, during their attack in the town. Grenades, knives and bayonets were the only weapons to be used during the fight. Any small arms fire therefore was to be considered hostile and dealt with accordingly. At 04.30hrs Lt-Col Krause raised the Stars and Stripes above the town hall at St Mere Eglise (the same flag that the regiment had raised in the city of Naples in Italy back in October 1943). By 06.00 hrs the town had been secured, the Americans having killed 41 of the German troops and taken another thirty prisoner. Lt-Col Krause had sent two messages to Colonel William E. Ekman, commanding officer of the 505th PIR, in the past two hours. The first confirming that he had entered the town, the second confirming its capture, however, for some unknown reason neither message reached the Colonel, though the second message did reach the Divisional Commander Maj-Gen Ridgeway. Unaware of Lt-Col Krause's success and concerned over what was happening in St Mere Eglise, Colonel Ekman ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin H. Vandervoort, who was to secure the northern village of Neuville-au-Plain and the area to the east around Baudienville with his 2/505th PIR, to stop his advance. Two hours later a further order was received ordering his battalion to attack St Mere Eglise. Lt-Col Vandervoort had been injured during his landing sustaining a fractured ankle and at the time he received his new orders he was being transported around in a small ammunition cart that had been appropriated for his use. Some 575 men of the 2nd Battalion had assembled out of the 630 that had jumped.17 So, despite the orders to take St Mere Eglise, Lt-Col Vandervoort decided also to continue with his original objective. He then sent a platoon, led by Lieutenant Turner Turnbull with forty-one men, towards Neuville-au-Plain with orders to clear the village and set up a road-block. This platoon found the village already clear of Germans and so were able to establish their defences without any initial interference from the Germans.

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Krause, 3/505 PIR

In the meantime Lt-Col Vandervoort had made his way into St Mere Eglise and soon became aware that the town had already been secured by Lt-Col Krause. After a discussion the two commanders decided that Lt-Col Vandervoort's 2nd Battalion would take over the defence positions in the northern part of the town thereby giving Lt-Col Krause more men to defend the rest of St Mere Eglise. The extra men were soon to be needed. By 09.00 hrs German troops from the 795th Georgian Battalion had counter attacked from Hill 20, at Fauville, south-east of St Mere Eglise. Supported by three tanks, two selfpropelled guns and mortars, the Germans attempted to crush the 3rd Battalion's defences by putting their attack down either side of the road leading from Fauville to St Mere Eglise (Route 13). However, the defences held and the Germans withdrew back to Hill 20. A counter-attack on Hill 20 by 'I' company of the 3/505th PIR proved unsuccessful and so a stalemate remained for the time being around the southern side of St Mere Eglise. To the north, Lt-Col Vandervoort had taken a ride in a Jeep to see how Lieutenant Turnbull and his men were doing at Neuville-au-Plain. In addition his jeep was also towing a 6-pounder anti-tank gun, which had been brought in by glider only a few hours earlier, to help strengthen Lieutenant Turnbull's positions. At around the same time that Turnbull arrived at Neuvilleau-Plain, a German patrol was seen coming down the road towards them. In advance of the column was a Frenchman, riding a bicycle, who assured the Americans that the Germans were prisoners being escorted by American troops.

Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin H. Vandervoort

However, Lt-Col Vandervoort suspected a ruse when Lieutenant Turner Turnbull's men saw German troops leaving the column and moving along the fields. The Frenchman had also quickly disappeared so Lieutenant Turner Turnbull's men were ordered to open fire. The fight at the road-block continued throughout the rest of the morning until by mid afternoon the Germans had nearly managed to surround the American paratroopers. With nearly half of his men killed or wounded Lieutenant Turnbull gave the order to withdraw to St Mere Eglise. At St Mere Eglise the Germans were held back by the stronger forces. But the sacrifice of Lieutenant Turnbull's men had not been in vain, in holding the position at Neuville-au-Plain they had successfully protected the northern flank of the area where much of the 101st Airborne Division had landed. Unfortunately Lieutenant Turnbull was killed the following morning during a mortar attack.

Source: Carl Shilleto