Sainte-Mère-Église
Encyclopedia
Sainte-Mère-Église is a commune
in the Manche
department in Normandy
in north-western France
.
as well as the Wars of Religion
.
The town's main claim to fame is that it played a significant part in the World War II
Normandy landings because this village stood right in the middle of route N13, which the Germans would have most likely used on any significant counterattack on the troops landing on Utah
and Omaha Beach
es. In the early morning of 6 June 1944 mixed units of the U.S. 82nd Airborne
and U.S. 101st Airborne
Divisions occupied the town in Operation Boston
, giving it the claim to be one of the first towns liberated in the invasion.
s. Some buildings in town were on fire that night, and they illuminated the sky, making easy targets of the descending men. Some were sucked into the fire. Many hanging from trees and utility poles were shot before they could cut loose. The German defenders were alerted.
A famous incident involved paratrooper John Steele
of the 505th PIR, whose parachute
caught on the spire of the town church, and could only observe the fighting going on below. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner. Steele later escaped from the Germans and rejoined his division when US troops of the 3rd Battalion, 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment attacked the village, capturing thirty Germans and killing another eleven. The incident was portrayed in the movie The Longest Day
by actor Red Buttons.
Later that morning, about 0500, a force led by Lt. Colonel Edward C. Krause of the 505th PIR took the town with little resistance. Apparently the German garrison was confused and had retired for the rest of the night. However, heavy German counterattacks began later in the day and into the next. The lightly armed troops held the town until reinforced by tanks from nearby Utah Beach in the afternoon of 7 June. Other notable soldiers in the Allied assault on the town:
Krause and Vandervoort both received the Distinguished Service Cross
for their actions in the capture of the town. Tullidge received the Bronze Star, and it is noted that a collection of Bible verses and of his letters home, A Paratrooper's Faith, was distributed throughout the 82nd Airborne by his parents following his death until the 1990s.
Henry Langrehr was also involved in the capture of Sainte-Mère-Église. He crashed through a greenhouse
roof, as retold in the movie The Longest Day
. On 6 November 2007 he received, along with five other men, the Legion of Honor medal from the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy
.
This village is depicted in the game Call of Duty
; the first battle is fought in this village by the player's character.
) and World War II-related giftshops and eating places. A dummy paratrooper hangs from the church spire, commemorating the story of John Steele.
Behind the church is a spring
, believed by pilgrim
s to have healing powers, dedicated to Saint Mewan (Saint Méen).
Also of note is that Sainte-Mère-Église is twinned with the English village Sturminster Marshall
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Manche
Manche
Manche is a French department in Normandy named after La Manche , which is the French name for the English Channel.- History :Manche is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
department in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
in north-western France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
History
Founded in the eleventh Century, the earliest records (1080–1082) include the name Sancte Marie Ecclesia, Latin for "Church of St. Mary", while a later document written in Norman-French (1317) mentions Saincte Mariglise. The current French form of the name is ambiguous, with the additional meaning, "Holy Mother Church". The town was significantly involved in the Hundred Years' WarHundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
as well as the Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
.
The town's main claim to fame is that it played a significant part in the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Normandy landings because this village stood right in the middle of route N13, which the Germans would have most likely used on any significant counterattack on the troops landing on Utah
Utah Beach
Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944...
and Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...
es. In the early morning of 6 June 1944 mixed units of the U.S. 82nd Airborne
U.S. 82nd Airborne Division
The 82nd Airborne Division is an active airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute landing operations. Based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the 82nd Airborne Division is the primary fighting arm of the XVIII Airborne Corps....
and U.S. 101st Airborne
101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
Divisions occupied the town in Operation Boston
Mission Boston
Mission Boston was a parachute combat assault at night by the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, part of the American airborne landings in Normandy. Boston was a component of Operation Neptune, the assault portion of the Allied invasion of France, Operation Overlord...
, giving it the claim to be one of the first towns liberated in the invasion.
D-Day battle
The early landings, at about 0140 directly on the town, resulted in heavy casualties for the paratrooperParatrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
s. Some buildings in town were on fire that night, and they illuminated the sky, making easy targets of the descending men. Some were sucked into the fire. Many hanging from trees and utility poles were shot before they could cut loose. The German defenders were alerted.
A famous incident involved paratrooper John Steele
John Steele (paratrooper)
Private John M. Steele was the American paratrooper made famous in the movie, The Longest Day who landed in Sainte-Mère-Église, the first village in Normandy liberated by the Americans on D-Day, June 6, 1944....
of the 505th PIR, whose parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
caught on the spire of the town church, and could only observe the fighting going on below. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner. Steele later escaped from the Germans and rejoined his division when US troops of the 3rd Battalion, 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment attacked the village, capturing thirty Germans and killing another eleven. The incident was portrayed in the movie The Longest Day
The Longest Day (film)
The Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
by actor Red Buttons.
Later that morning, about 0500, a force led by Lt. Colonel Edward C. Krause of the 505th PIR took the town with little resistance. Apparently the German garrison was confused and had retired for the rest of the night. However, heavy German counterattacks began later in the day and into the next. The lightly armed troops held the town until reinforced by tanks from nearby Utah Beach in the afternoon of 7 June. Other notable soldiers in the Allied assault on the town:
- Lt. Colonel Benjamin H. VandervoortBenjamin H. VandervoortBenjamin Hayes "Vandy" Vandervoort was a Colonel in the United States Army, who fought in World War II. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross...
- Lt. Turner B. Turnbull
- Capt. Ben SchwartzwalderBen SchwartzwalderFloyd B. "Ben" Schwartzwalder was a Hall of Fame football coach at Syracuse University, where he trained such future National Football League stars as Jim Brown, as well as the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy, Ernie Davis.Schwartzwalder played center at West Virginia University,...
- Cpl. Edward A. Slavin, Sr.
- Sgt. George Bowler Tullidge III.
Krause and Vandervoort both received the Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree...
for their actions in the capture of the town. Tullidge received the Bronze Star, and it is noted that a collection of Bible verses and of his letters home, A Paratrooper's Faith, was distributed throughout the 82nd Airborne by his parents following his death until the 1990s.
Henry Langrehr was also involved in the capture of Sainte-Mère-Église. He crashed through a greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
roof, as retold in the movie The Longest Day
The Longest Day (film)
The Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
. On 6 November 2007 he received, along with five other men, the Legion of Honor medal from the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
.
This village is depicted in the game Call of Duty
Call of Duty
Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in 2003. It is the first game in a series with the same name. The game simulates the infantry and combined arms warfare of World War II. The game is based on the Quake III: Team Arena engine...
; the first battle is fought in this village by the player's character.
Heraldry
Sights
Tourism in Sainte-Mère-Église today centers on its role in the D-Day invasion. There are many small museums (such as the Airborne MuseumAirborne Museum (Sainte-Mère-Église)
The Airborne Museum is a museum in Sainte-Mère-Église, La Manche, France. It is dedicated to the memory of the troops of 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division who landed in the town by parachute or glider on the night of 5–6 June 1944, hours before the Allied landings in Normandy...
) and World War II-related giftshops and eating places. A dummy paratrooper hangs from the church spire, commemorating the story of John Steele.
Behind the church is a spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
, believed by pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
s to have healing powers, dedicated to Saint Mewan (Saint Méen).
See also
- Communes of the Manche department
Also of note is that Sainte-Mère-Église is twinned with the English village Sturminster Marshall
Sturminster Marshall
Sturminster Marshall is a village and civil parish in east Dorset in England, situated on the River Stour between Blandford Forum and Poole. The parish has a population of 1,895 , and includes the village of Almer west of Sturminster Marshall, near Winterborne Zelston and the hamlet of Henbury to...