D-Day and the Normandy Campaign
While in Calvados it is impossible to miss evidence of the epic struggle that took place here in 1944.
Rather than the campaign being a very bloody, but equally brief, affair, D-Day was just the start of a battle that took several months. In some areas the loss of life, in percentage terms, was as high as some of the bloodiest battles on the Somme in the First World War.
Cormolain was liberated on 10th June by the 16th Regiment of the 1st US Army. They stayed here for a little over a month, regrouping in preparation for Operation Cobra (the capture of St Lô and beyond). Caumont-L'Eventé wasn't liberated until a few days later and the fortified summit of Mont Pinçon, just a further ten miles further south, wasn't captured until Operation Bluecoat early August.
The British moved into the sector around Cormolain on 26th July, as the Americans swept westwards and south to form the lower jaws of the pincers that encircled the German army around Falaise.
This isn't the first time war has reached Cormolain. Although there are no signs of it now, Edward III also marched through on his way to the Battle of Crécy in July 1346
German gun close to Arromanches
Ration box still in use at la Basse-Cour!
