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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 Major Teddy Sanford’s 1st Battalion/325th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR) drew the mission. The 325th had arrived by glider beginning at 7 a.m. on June 7, and had not as of yet been committed to heavy action. According to the plan, the men of the 1st/325th would attempt to reinforce the paratroopers isolated at Timmes’ Orchard and attack south toward the western terminus of the La Fière causeway at Cauquigny. They crossed the flooded Merderet and began their assault just before first light, despite drawing fire from German soldiers in the famous Grey Chateau. Moving south from Timmes’ Orchard, the battalion at first advanced steadily against sporadic resistance, but as the sun began to rise, the defenders quickly organized. The German counterattack that followed overwhelmed the glidermen. With concentrated automatic weapons fire directed at them, the 325th were unable to maintain the momentum of the advance and thus began withdrawing toward Timmes’ Orchard in an effort to avoid a disaster.
When word reached General Ridgway that the attack on the west bank had failed, he ordered a direct assault across the La Fière causeway and appointed his 37-year-old assistant division commander, Brigadier General James M. Gavin, to coordinate the attack. Gavin selected the 3d Battalion/325th GIR to serve as the spearhead of the effort and designated a composite company of 507th paratroopers to serve as the reserve force in the event things turned ugly for the glidermen. Leading this composite force was Captain Robert D. Rae of Service Company/507th. At 10:30 a.m. on June 9 (D+3), the plan was set in motion when six 155 mm howitzers of the 345th Field Artillery Battalion commenced a preliminary bombardment that pounded German positions on the west bank of the Merderet. The barrage ended after 15 minutes, and then the infantry charged in. Leading the way was Captain John Sauls’ G Company/325th, which jumped off from a low stone wall running along the south side of the road at a perpendicular angle to the bridge and causeway. Sauls and his men ran out onto the bridge and started down the 500-yard open roadway to Cauquigny. As soon as the preliminary bombardment lifted, the Germans began pouring small-arms fire at the exposed and vulnerable glidermen. Despite enemy fire, Captain Sauls and a group of about 30 men made it all the way to Cauquigny. Others, however, were not so fortunate. Lacking cover, the men of E Company/325th and then F Company/325th began to fall. The causeway was soon littered with dead, dying and wounded troopers. The German machine-gun fire was of such murderous intensity that many of the men threw themselves down on the edges of the elevated road where they found at least some measure of protection. As the glidermen of G Company stumbled forward, stepping over the casualties scattered along the road, the assault bogged down and lost its momentum.
Back at La Fière, General Gavin could only assess the situation based on what he could see – which was not encouraging. Soldiers crouched along the sides of the road embankment in search of cover and dozens of dead and wounded men lay sprawled out in the middle of the causeway. To Gavin, it appeared that the 3d/325th GIR’s attack had stalled and that the entire battalion was about to retreat. That’s when he turned to Bob Rae and said, “All right, you’ve got to go.” With that, Captain Rae led his men out onto the La Fière causeway. The Company streamed across the bridge in two columns with Rae in the lead. As the 507th troopers passed glidermen, they shouted for them to follow, and many of them did. Although Rae’s men suffered casualties, most of them made it all the way across and joined the 325th troopers struggling in the hedgerows at Cauquigny. The sudden arrival of Rae Company 507th and additional 325th troopers turned the tide of the battle. Soon, the Germans were pulling back from Cauquigny in a fighting retreat toward Le Motey and Amfreville. The causeway now belonged to the 82d Airborne Division and the battle of La Fière was won. The Tour Today, La Fière isn’t much different than it was in June 1944, and it can be an exciting visit for any military history enthusiast. Reaching the manor is a drive of only a few miles from Ste. Mère-Église on the D-15 west toward the village of Pont-L ‘Abbé. (See La Fiere Battlefield Tour map.) Tour Point 1 – Railroad Embankment : On the way to the manor, the first stop of any tour of the La Fière battlefield is the point where the D-15 crosses over the Carentan/ Cherbourg railroad line. As hundreds of 82d Airborne Division paratroopers slogged their way out of the Merderet River inundated area during the predawn hours of D-Day, they moved south along the railroad tracks until they reached this spot. They then climbed up to the road and turned west to approach La Fière manor. It was here that 82d paratroopers took their first cautious steps toward the enemy before dawn on June 6, 1944.
Tour Point 2 – Gavin’s Foxhole : Several hundred yards southwest of the railroad crossing, the D-15 makes a sharp bend to the right just before La Fière manor. Beyond the bend on the left (south) side of the road, is a shallow pit that is identified as General Gavin’s foxhole (see tip of red arrow for Tour Point 2). Although the 37-year-old brigadier general was in this immediate area for the first three days of the invasion, many people remain skeptical that Gavin used this little depression in the ground as his foxhole. Tour Point 3 – The Manor : Arriving at La Fière manor is fairly obvious even to a first-time visitor because the hedgerows that flank the D-15 give way to the Merderet River basin , an open pasture area that the French call marais . While the Merderet is only a few yards wide and a few feet deep here, during the summer of 1944 this entire expanse of pastureland was effectively a large shallow lake. La Fière manor is a cluster of seven stone buildings on the south side of the road. With a barn, stable, mill, tractor shed and château, the manor has all of the structures needed for an autonomous farm. Today La Fière is owned by Yves and Chantal Poisson, who operate it as a dairy farm and chambres d’hôte, or guesthouse.
Tour Point 4 – Iron Mike Statue : Immediately across the D-15 from the manor is the airborne monument known as Iron Mike. From the statue at the monument, visitors can take in the best view of the entire La Fière battlefield. [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