Watery Wednesday

Joining Watery Wednesday this week for the first time

and also

Outdoor Wednesday with A Southern Daydreamer.

I took these shots recently as we walked along the banks of the River Vire in Saint Fromond, a small sleepy Normandy village, typical of this area.

This village is about a 5 minute drive away from our home and we often stop here to take our dogs, Ben & Fleur, for a walk along the river bank en route to Carentan or St Lo.

67 years ago during the invasion of Normandy, as part of the "Avranches breakthrough", this is what was happening in this exact spot.

SAINT-FROMOND/AIREL Manche - 17 km north of Saint-Lô
The 30th Infantry Division seized a bridgehead on the river Vire
At the beginning of July 1944 the battle seemed endless for the Americans in the Norman bocage. On the left wing of the front line they reached the river Vire. On 6 July Airel is liberated. The following day on 7 July American artillery opened fire on the western bank of the river Vire. It is a preliminary to the assault of the 30th Infantry Division under General Hobbs who must cross the river Vire in Saint-Fromond. At 4:20 a. m. boats carried out the first assault wave, then the second under heavy German shelling. Infantry climbed the opposite bank and pushed back a German kampfgruppe. The engineers started to prop up the old stone bridge, and at 12:30 p. m. the first tanks crossed the river; a floating bridge allowed the passage of light vehicles. Saint-Fromond was liberated. North of the town the Americans spanned the canal Vire-Taute in front of Saint-Jean-de-Daye. On 11 July a German counter-attack of the Panzer-Lehr Division failed to drive back the bridgehead.

Source: 1944 The Battle of Normandy - The Memory

 with heartfelt thanks and gratitude

for those who fought for our freedom.

Lest we forget.