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PAGE TWO
THE BRIDGEHEAR SENTINEL 
OCTOBER, 1944

ONE DAY OF BATTLE-THE STORY OF COMPANY 'L'

This is the story of a First Division Infantry Regiment which, on D-Day, "turned threatened catastrophe into a glorious victory for the American Army," winning for itself a citation for the War Department Distinguished Unit Citation.

Though the citation covered only one regiment, it vividly describes the determination and valor, the blood and sweat of every soldier who took part in the mightiest feat in military history. The record printed here could have been the story of your outfit-or your buddy's. 

This is the citation:

"On the morning of 6 June, 1944, the -th Infantry Regiment, under the most adverse conditions, assaulted the coast of France ...against a long prepared, determined and powerfully emplaced enemy. While moving inshore in assault craft violent seas swamped the regiment's supporting weapons and hurled men and boats into the intricate and almost impenetrable barriers of mine-capped underwater obstacles.

"From commanding and numerous reinforced concrete pillboxes, machinegun emplacements and snipers' nests imbedded in cliffsides impregnable to the violent air and naval bombardments preceding the assault came a withering hail of artillery and small arms fire that struck down hundreds as they struggled through shoulder-deep water toward the beach.

"Within a few hours almost a third of the assault strength were casualties. Men dragged themselves shoreward leaderless and scattered by the loss of key personnel. Blocked from advancing by minefields, pinned down by annihilating fire, wave after wave piled up on a seven-yard beachhead until thousands of men lay huddled on the fire-swept shore.

"In the face of an apparently hopeless situation the --th infantry began its reorganization. Officers and men gathered the remnants of their units together and slowly, with groups being cut down almost as soon as formed, began to develop from a confused, hurt mass into a cohesive, determined fighting force.