some little green men come down from the sky !?

This small town became world famous thanks to the movie “The Longest Day” that sets the misfortune experienced American John Steel. Parachuted during the night between June 5th and 6th, the winds directed him to the market square, in the center of which stands the parish church.

Just when he was about to touch down, the canopy caught on this last-mentionned. The paratrooper remained hanging up along the church wall, while around him the Germans were shooting the men down during their descent. Sainte-Mère-Eglise is located on the highway N13 in the heart of the airborne operations over the west flank of the front assault. The town constituted a key place, vital to the Allies in order to stop the German reinforcements on the way to Utah Beach.

Copyright : CRT Normandie (JPEG, 124.7 kb)

The town was rapidly under control in spite of the hazardous droppings that dispersed the 13,000 paratroopers (of the 2 airborne divisions) above vast zones. Their scattering has nevertheless sown the confusion and the panic in the German defence system of the Cotentin Peninsula.