Carentan

Surrounded by marshes, Carentan is a little town on the main road (one of the few paved ones in the area) between Omaha and Utah beaches.
The Allies needed to capture the town to link up the Vth and the VIIth US Corps.
To the Germans, it represented a key crossroad between Caen, Cherbourg, Brittany and the Loire Valley area.
The allies planned to liberate it on June 7^th. The paratroopers from the 101^st Airborne Division captured the town on the 12^th. They suffered a German counterattack on the following day.
This town which was destroyed at 80% remained close to the front line until mid July.
To see now : the Ingouf farm, several monuments and some buildings that could be restored after the war.