Cherbourg

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CHERBOURG

CHERBOURG. The capture of this French city during World War II by American forces three weeks after the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944 gave the Allies their first great port in northwestern Europe. Cherbourg had been held by the Germans since June 1940. General J. Lawton Collins's U.S. Seventh Corps, a part of General Omar N. Bradley's First U.S. Army, drove west from Utah Beach, cut the Cotentin Peninsula to isolate Cherbourg, and turned north against the well-fortified city. The Germans fought stubbornly, demolished the port, and blocked the harbor channels, but finally surrendered on 26 June. A vast rehabilitation program put the port back into working condition several weeks later.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Breuer, William B. Hitler's Fortress Cherbourg: The Conquest of a Bastion. New York: Stein and Day, 1984.

Ruppenthal, Roland G. Utah Beach to Cherbourg (6 June–27 June 1944). Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Department of the Army, 1948. Reprinted 1984.

MartinBlumenson/a. r.

See alsoD Day ; Normandy Invasion ; Saint-Lô .

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