J. D. Salinger_ A Life - Kenneth Slawenski [50]
At dawn on June 7, it became clear to the men of the 12th that the Germans had concentrated at a point just west of Beuzeville-au-Plain. Hedgerows or not, this pocket blocked their advance and would have to be dealt with. At 6 A.M., they engaged the German forces, who, shocked by the assault, eventually abandoned their positions. The regiment then pushed north in pursuit of the retreating Germans.
Salinger and his division were designated to fight their way north and take the port city of Cherbourg. Without control of the port, supplies and men could not be discharged to the extent needed to support the Allied invasion. If Cherbourg was not taken, the entire operation would be in danger of collapse. Yet it would take far longer for the 12th to accomplish its primary missions. After advancing five miles on D-Day, they continued to advance at rapid speed, unaware that they would soon be measuring their progress not in miles but in yards.
All three regiments of the 4th Infantry Division (the 4th, 8th, and 22nd) had pursued the enemy to a line running roughly 8,000 yards across the Cotentin Peninsula. Along this line the Germans had constructed a series of gun batteries. Here, they halted their retreat and turned to face their hunters. The 12th suddenly found itself in a terrible position between an enemy strongpoint at the village of Émondeville and the guns of the fortress of Azeville.5 Wedged into this position with no room to maneuver, the regiment experienced its first true taste of combat.
Bombarded constantly by mortar fire from Émondeville and the heavy guns of Azeville, the 12th fought for two days and nights. Recognizing the severity of their situation, division commanders called upon all surrounding regiments to focus on the Azeville fortress and relieve the 12th’s flank, allowing it to concentrate on Émondeville, where the regiment was outnumbered two to one and pinned down under heavy bombardment. There it had assaulted the German position, gaining only a few feet at terrible cost. After scrambling to collect the dead and wounded, it stormed the position yet again, gaining only a small plot of dirt at the price of more human lives. Time after time that day, the 12th Regiment hurled itself against the enemy until the Germans silently withdrew and Émondeville was taken.6 When the assault was finally over, the magnitude of the slaughter became evident. The 12th had lost 300 men. They had sacrificed one in ten of their own to take a village whose entire population numbered fewer than 100. Salinger’s whereabouts during the battle are uncertain, but the experience scorched itself into the psyches of the men with whom he served.
It was not until June 11 that the regiment reached its initial D-Day objective northeast of Montebourg. Energized by its success at Émondeville, the 12th Regiment pushed forward at an amazing speed. As it turned out, it moved too quickly. It was now a mile ahead of the rest of the division and in danger of being cut off. With Montebourg in its sights, it was ordered to withdraw until the 8th Regiment could catch up. As it did so, regrouped German forces who had retreated from the gun batteries replaced the regiment around the town, occupying the very area it had just vacated.7 It has since been estimated that Montebourg was held by no more than 200 Germans, a fraction of the force that assaulted it. Their superior position enabled them to hold off both the 12th and 8th regiments for more than a week. With soldiers of the 12th in the forefront, the division finally retook the town on the night of June 19, after struggling to regain ground it had occupied and intended to hold eight days before.
On June 12, Sergeant Salinger scrawled a three-sentence postcard to Whit Burnett whose very