Piaf
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Massacre at Graignes.
Went on a ride (8 miles) to the village of Graignes where during World War 2 a little known massacre took place.
About 200 men, of the 82nd Airborne were dropped over 20 miles from their target (Sainte Mere Eglise), in the flooded marshlands between Graignes and Tribehou, which are situated south and southwest of Carentan.
This was worst miss-drop of any airborne unit on June 6, 1944. Although close in walking distance perspective (maybe 10 miles), the towns were in the flooded zone that was created by the Germans opening the locks and flooding the fields in the lower Cotentin area.
Moving to Carentan by road would have been too risky due to the presence of German soldiers, and crossing the flooded area was very difficult. In fact, many of the paratroopers who landed in the flooded zones never made it out of their harnesses and drowned. The additional equipment bundles of the soldiers also ended up in the water.
They decided to fortify, as best they could, the area around Graignes.
During a meeting of the locals, which was held in the XIIth century church, an appeal was made to the citizens of Graignes to place all the resources of the village at the disposal of the Americans. The plea was successful because at the meeting’s conclusion, there was a unanimous decision to help the paratroopers. This decision was not entered into lightly though, as it carried grave implications. They all knew that if the Germans caught them assisting the Americans, the punishment would be swift and harsh.
Eventually when the Germans had captured the village, something terrible happened. Elements of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division had conducted the final assault on Graignes. When the 17th attacked, it was with a regimental sized force of approximately 2,000. The odds were literally ten to one in the Germans’ favour.
Despite those odds though, the 182 paratroopers defending Graignes inflicted an estimated five hundred killed and seven hundred wounded on the Germans during the course of the fighting on the 10th and 11th.
The stubborn and determined American defence that gave the 17th such high losses brought on a vicious and brutal reprisal.
At the end of the June 11th battle, the 17th SS stormed the church and found Capt. Sophian’s aid station.
They promptly forced the Captain and all of the wounded outside where they were made to line-up against a wall. The men were then divided into two groups and marched away from the church.
One group (nine troopers) was marched off to the south and the other group (five troopers) was marched down to the edge of a shallow pond behind Madame Boursier’s café. At the edge of the pond, the SS bayoneted the wounded men and threw them into the water one on top of the other.
The other group of 507th paratroopers was forced to march four kilometers to the south to a field near the village of Le Mesnil Angot. There, the nine wounded men were forced to dig a pit. As soon as the pit was complete, the SS shot each one of them in the back of the head and dumped their bodies in the pit one on top of the other.
Sadly, the murder of the paratroopers was only the beginning of the atrocity at Graignes. While one group of the Germans led the Americans off to execution, other Germans began systematically rounding-up French civilians suspected of assisting them. At about the same time, a group of SS men proceeded to the church rectory seeking revenge. They knew that the church’s belfry had been used throughout the battle as an observation point. They knew that the accurate and devastating mortar fire that had been controlled by the observers in that belfry had killed and wounded hundreds of their comrades. Consequently, they sought to make an example out of the people at the church whose interaction with the Americans had permitted those casualties to happen. The Germans burst into the rectory, dragged Father Leblastier and Father Lebarbanchon into the courtyard and shot them both.
The Germans then discovered Madeleine Pezeril and eighty-year-old Eugenie DuJardin. Overwhelmed with fear, the two ladies had been cowering in their quarters ever since the beginning of the final assault. The Germans shot and killed both women in their beds. Meanwhile, a total of forty-four villagers had been rounded up and were under interrogation by the Germans as being suspected of collaborating and giving aid to the American soldiers.
Sources
Wikipedia
Went on a ride (8 miles) to the village of Graignes where during World War 2 a little known massacre took place.
About 200 men, of the 82nd Airborne were dropped over 20 miles from their target (Sainte Mere Eglise), in the flooded marshlands between Graignes and Tribehou, which are situated south and southwest of Carentan.
This was worst miss-drop of any airborne unit on June 6, 1944. Although close in walking distance perspective (maybe 10 miles), the towns were in the flooded zone that was created by the Germans opening the locks and flooding the fields in the lower Cotentin area.
Moving to Carentan by road would have been too risky due to the presence of German soldiers, and crossing the flooded area was very difficult. In fact, many of the paratroopers who landed in the flooded zones never made it out of their harnesses and drowned. The additional equipment bundles of the soldiers also ended up in the water.
They decided to fortify, as best they could, the area around Graignes.
During a meeting of the locals, which was held in the XIIth century church, an appeal was made to the citizens of Graignes to place all the resources of the village at the disposal of the Americans. The plea was successful because at the meeting’s conclusion, there was a unanimous decision to help the paratroopers. This decision was not entered into lightly though, as it carried grave implications. They all knew that if the Germans caught them assisting the Americans, the punishment would be swift and harsh.
Eventually when the Germans had captured the village, something terrible happened. Elements of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division had conducted the final assault on Graignes. When the 17th attacked, it was with a regimental sized force of approximately 2,000. The odds were literally ten to one in the Germans’ favour.
Despite those odds though, the 182 paratroopers defending Graignes inflicted an estimated five hundred killed and seven hundred wounded on the Germans during the course of the fighting on the 10th and 11th.
The stubborn and determined American defence that gave the 17th such high losses brought on a vicious and brutal reprisal.
At the end of the June 11th battle, the 17th SS stormed the church and found Capt. Sophian’s aid station.
They promptly forced the Captain and all of the wounded outside where they were made to line-up against a wall. The men were then divided into two groups and marched away from the church.
One group (nine troopers) was marched off to the south and the other group (five troopers) was marched down to the edge of a shallow pond behind Madame Boursier’s café. At the edge of the pond, the SS bayoneted the wounded men and threw them into the water one on top of the other.
The other group of 507th paratroopers was forced to march four kilometers to the south to a field near the village of Le Mesnil Angot. There, the nine wounded men were forced to dig a pit. As soon as the pit was complete, the SS shot each one of them in the back of the head and dumped their bodies in the pit one on top of the other.
Sadly, the murder of the paratroopers was only the beginning of the atrocity at Graignes. While one group of the Germans led the Americans off to execution, other Germans began systematically rounding-up French civilians suspected of assisting them. At about the same time, a group of SS men proceeded to the church rectory seeking revenge. They knew that the church’s belfry had been used throughout the battle as an observation point. They knew that the accurate and devastating mortar fire that had been controlled by the observers in that belfry had killed and wounded hundreds of their comrades. Consequently, they sought to make an example out of the people at the church whose interaction with the Americans had permitted those casualties to happen. The Germans burst into the rectory, dragged Father Leblastier and Father Lebarbanchon into the courtyard and shot them both.
The Germans then discovered Madeleine Pezeril and eighty-year-old Eugenie DuJardin. Overwhelmed with fear, the two ladies had been cowering in their quarters ever since the beginning of the final assault. The Germans shot and killed both women in their beds. Meanwhile, a total of forty-four villagers had been rounded up and were under interrogation by the Germans as being suspected of collaborating and giving aid to the American soldiers.
Sources
Wikipedia
