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Walk Where They Fought: La Fière, 82d Airborne Division, D-Day 1944Martin K. A. Morgan | May 10, 2006 | 6 comments | Print | E-mail The western side of the La Fière manor was mainly pasture, and on its eastern side were orchards and earthen mounds. Most important, a vast network of crisscrossing hedgerows dominated the manor’s eastern approaches – the area through which the 82d would have to fight. After moving only a short distance, Schwartzwalder’s group came under fire from one of the same machine guns that had stopped Dolan’s 505th paratroopers earlier that morning. At about the same time, the 508th’s regimental commander, Colonel Roy Lindquist, arrived on the scene with a group of troopers that included men from C Company/505th PIR. These units continued to converge on the objective until elements of the 505th and the 508th began to enter the manor grounds through its backyard. Sporadic shots continued briefly and then one of Dolan’s men fired an M-1A1 “bazooka” into the stoutly built stone house. Shortly thereafter, a 508th PIR sergeant darted through the front door and emptied a full magazine from his M-1A1 Thompson submachine gun up through the floorboards of the second story. What was left of the German force immediately surrendered, and the battle for the Leroux manor at La Fière was over.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the causeway, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Timmes, commanding the 2d Battalion of the 507th, was in a difficult position. He was on the correct side of the river with a group of troopers, but was unable to establish communications with his regiment or his division. Rather than moving his force over to the east bank of the Merderet, Timmes placed his men in defensive positions at an apple orchard northeast of Le Motey. He knew that his responsibility was to occupy the western end of the La Fière causeway, so he ordered Lieutenant Louis Levy to take 10 men and outpost the village of Cauquigny . When Levy’s patrol arrived there around noon , they found Cauquigny to be clear of the enemy. With La Fière, Cauquigny, and the roadway between them in the hands of the 82d Airborne Division, Captain Schwartzwalder led his 507th troopers across the causeway. When they reached the west bank, Schwartzwalder left Lieutenant Levy and eight men to guard Cauquigny and then moved out to locate Lieutenant Colonel Timmes. At La Fière, paratroopers of the 505th began digging in and preparing to defend the manor. Two Bazooka teams positioned themselves near the bridge, and a 57 mm anti-tank gun was positioned at the bend in the road above the manor overlooking the causeway.
Aware of just what was at stake at the La Fière crossing of the Merderet inundated area, the Germans had already dispatched forces of the 91st Luftland Division on the west bank to counterattack toward Cauquigny and the American bridgehead beyond. This force consisted of a rifle company and elements of the 100th Panzer Ausbildungs und Ersatz Abteilung – an armored training battalion equipped with French-made Renault and Hotchkiss light tanks. The German tanks and infantry quickly overran Lieutenant Levy’s force that was guarding Cauquigny, and then pushed onward across the causeway. The full weight of the armored counterattack fell on paratroopers of Lieutenant Dolan’s A/505th in their positions around the bridge at La Fière at approximately 5:30 p.m. In the savage combat that followed, the Americans used their M-1A1 bazookas and the lone 57 mm anti-tank gun to knock out two of the tanks. Then, concentrated fire from the paratroopers’ M-1 rifles and .30-caliber machine guns viciously tore into the German infantry exposed on the open road, decimating them. Soon the energy of the assault had been expended and the Germans withdrew, having sustained heavy casualties. The next morning (June 7, D+1), the Germans threw another assault at the paratroopers defending La Fière manor. This time, however, the thrust was preceded by fire from mortars and artillery brought in overnight. Like the day before, the attack advanced as far as the outermost American defensive positions before grinding to a halt. After the 57 mm anti-tank gun knocked out the lead tank, German infantrymen swarmed forward. At the foot of the bridge, the men of Dolan’s A Company/505th were exposed to the full weight of the German assault as the combat reached a ferocious level of intensity. But then the German infantry who had advanced almost to the bridge melted back toward Cauquigny in a fighting withdrawal. Although the paratroopers had survived another German onslaught, the situation at the causeway remained a stalemate.
The paratroopers at La Fière remained under constant artillery and mortar fire throughout the day of June 8 (D+2), but the Germans made no further attempts to get vehicles or infantry across the causeway. Later that day, it was decided that to break the deadlock, elements of the division would cross the inundated area just to the north of La Fière. [continued on next page] Pages: 1 2 3 4Help Armchair General by bookmarking to
           
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6 Comments to “Walk Where They Fought: La Fière, 82d Airborne Division, D-Day 1944”
Several years ago I accidently came upon the Fiere battlefield, as me and my brother were taking an independent personal WWII history tour of the Normandy area. Not knowing about the severity of the battle I was greatly moved being there. This article gives me much more information on the site. I live in Texas, USA and if I ever get to go back, I will make sure I get to this area again. I am 77 years old and missed the war by a few years but have always been interested in WWII. Thanks for this article.
By Bob Cason on Aug 22, 2008 at 4:00 pm
In June of 2007, I had the privelege of visiting and spending several days behind Utah beach studying the troop movements of the 82nd A/B. I spent an entire day at the La Fiere bridgehead. It never dawned on me how strategicaly important that battle was. I learned more by being there than I could ever learn reading about it. When you see, hear, touch and smell the little battlefield, it all comes in perspective.Had it not been for those brave men, the war would have surely turned on a differant course. The actions and bravery of those men will live forever in our hearts and minds. Thank you for posting such a wonderfull and insightful webpage.and a veyy special thanks to the men of the 82nd airborn.
By BRIAN BOWMAN on Sep 3, 2008 at 5:49 pm
In June of 2007, I had the privelege of visiting and spending several days behind Utah beach studying the troop movements of the 82nd A/B. I spent an entire day at the La Fiere bridgehead. It never dawned on me how strategicaly important that battle was. I learned more by being there than I could ever learn reading about it. When you see, hear, touch and smell the little battlefield, it all comes in perspective.Had it not been for those brave men, the war would have surely turned on a differant course. The actions and bravery of those men will live forever in our hearts and minds. Thank you for posting such a wonderfull and insightful webpage.and a veyy special thanks to the men of the 82nd airborn.
By BRIAN BOWMAN on Sep 3, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I first became aware of the LaFiere history in preparation for my first visit to Normandy in 1984. At the time, I was a Captain stationed in Giebelstadt, West Germany. My Aeroscout Platoon provided direct support to the 3ID’s Cav Sqdn (3/7 Cav) which had planned an Officer Professional Development (OPD) trip for the 40th Anniversary of DDay. The Army paid for bus transportation and each of us paid our own food/board and adult beverages. It was not all fun and games though, our group leader was LTC Shinseki the Sqdn Commander (later became the Chief of Staff of the Army) who expected each person to teach a class on site. While most of his personnel were tankers and were assigned various aspects of the assault and the breakout/pursuit, us aviators were assigned classes on the airborne operations. I had read SLA Marshall’s “Night Drop” and the LaFiere fight sounded interesting with many professional teaching points. I had always been interested in DDay since my Dad landed on Omaha beach on D+3 with an Ordnance unit assigned to 1st Army. He seldom talked about it, but my Mom (who was English) always talked about knowing something was happening when all the troops started convoying out, or were confined and the massive number of Airplanes departing the night before. Anyway back to 1984, the day prior to the class the bus parked in Ste. Mere Eglise and the four of us that were presenting the class hiked out to the Manoir. Along the way we talked to a Vet that was a pathfinder on DDay. He was climbing a gate into an orchard to show a magizine reporter where he had landed. We told him we were US Officers stationed in Germany and he said it was great to see young Americans interested in military history. He asked us to tag along so we climbed over with him. He had been back several times over the years and knew exactly which tree he landed in. He told us about hearing guys dropping into the water and yelling and gunfire seemed to be in all directions. He showed us were he crawled through the hedgerow to move toward the Manoir house. The best part of this experience was the day of the class we took everyone there and parked the bus on the side road where the Iron Mike is today (it wasn’t there in 84). Using charts, diagrams and map boards we presented a pretty thorough review of the battle and were able to point out many lessons learned focused on the principles of war. I read specific passages from various resource books and pointed out each location as we walked the area. After completing our part, I and another Captain were standing behind the group on the right side of the road facing the Merderet while one of the Lieutenants briefed his part. We spotted an elderly man at the house with several escort personnel that turned out to be from the Embassy and a French reporter. He was wearing an 82nd Association baseball hat, so we approached him to say Hi and he introduced himself as COL John Marr retired. I said, Sir are you the Lt Marr mentioned in SLA Marshall’s book and he said Yes!! We explained who we were (since we were in civies) and asked if he would tell us a little about his experience. From that point our class went out the window while we were all treated to a step by step (literally following his DDay footsteps) account of the taking of the Manoir, actions at the bridge, his excursion to contact Timmes and the crossing of the causeway. Our class went well over the time allotted but nobody minded. Since then I have been back twice and took my Dad in 2000 and 2004. I would highly recommend that any American visiting the area stop and see LaFiere, read-up on it first. I have been to Yorktown and Gettysburg, and this location will haunt you just the same. MAJ (Ret) D.E. Laack
By David Laack on Mar 6, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Thank God for the Late Syracuse Coach
Captain Floyd “Ben ” Swartzwalder
By Mike Hayden on May 8, 2009 at 11:49 am
My father served in the 82nd airborne 505 company B Lt Weinberg’s platoon. He would occasionally discuss the war including D-day, the parachute drop, and the action in Ste Mere Eglise.
His only comment about La Fiere was when he moved out to the position at the bridge ; he stated, “and then it began”.
It was too painful for him to remember. He had 4 combat jumps. In addition to D-Day, he fought in Sicily, Italy, Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, across the Siegfried line into Germany. He was one of the few of the original men in his company to survive the war.
I have read a number of descriptions of the battle at La Fiere bridge and it must have been terrible for the paratroopers. Low on ammo and supplies, facing large numbers of well equipped German troops supported by armor. My dad had a photo of the his company boarding a boat after their 30 some days of action in Normandy , and his company had about 2 dozen survivors.
By david jones on Oct 30, 2009 at 10:40 pm