Battle of Bloody Gulch

Part of Battle of Carentan, Battle of Normandy

Battle of Carentan

Date	June 13, 1944
Location	Manoir de Donville, Méautis, Normandy, France 49°17′40″N 1°16′50″W / 49.29444°N 1.28056°W / 49.29444; -1.28056Coordinates: 49°17′40″N 1°16′50″W / 49.29444°N 1.28056°W / 49.29444; -1.28056
Result	U.S. victory

Belligerents

101st Airborne Division

2nd Armored Division

29th Infantry Division

17th SS Panzergrenadier Division

6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment

Commanders and leaders

Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor (101st Airborne)

Col. Howard R. Johnson (501st PIR)

Col. John H. Michaelis (502nd PIR)

Col. Robert F. Sink (506th PIR)

Col. Friedrich von der Heydte

Strength

3 parachute infantry regiments
60 tanks (2nd Armored Div.)

1 parachute infantry battalion
12 tanks

Casualties and losses

32 dead
73 wounded

43 dead
89 wounded
2 tanks

The Battle of Bloody Gulch took place around the Manoir de Donville or Hill 30 (U.S. Army designation), approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Carentan in Normandy, France, on June 13, 1944.

It involved elements of the German 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division and 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, and the American 501st, 502nd and 506th, Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR) of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, reinforced by elements of the U.S. 2nd Armored Division.

During the battle, the manor house of Manoir de Donville was the headquarters of the German forces. American soldiers nicknamed the road running past the manor "Bloody Gulch", after a place mentioned in a popular western movie.

When the 101st Airborne entered the town of Carentan on June 12, 1944 (D-Day + 6) after heavy fighting on the two previous days, they met relatively light resistance. The bulk of the surviving German defenders (from the 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment) had withdrawn to the southwest the previous night after a heavy Allied naval and artillery bombardment. Both sides realized the importance of the town: for the Americans, it was a link between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach, and would provide a base for further attacks deeper into German-occupied France. For the Germans, recapturing Carentan would be the first step towards driving a wedge between the two U.S. landing beaches, severely disrupting and possibly even destroying the Allied invasion.

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Wikipedia