Hitler's Last Stand (2018) s04e03 Episode Script

1
(gunfire)
NARRATOR: Not long after D-Day,
the farmhouse headquarters of an
American Airborne battalion
comes under heavy counterattack
from German Fallschirmjäger units.
(rapid gunfire)
When the Artillery Liaison Officer
tries to summon the U.S. guns
he needs to drive back them back,
he discovers the
Germans have jammed his radio.
On June 6th, 1944.
Allied forces finally
land troops in Normandy
to open the western front.
(speaking in native language)
NARRATOR: But Nazi
fanatics and diehards
continue to fight
ferociously for survival.
D-Day was a battle.
They still need to win the war.
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: June 7th, 1944.
Normandy, France.
(rapid gunfire)
Gunfire punctuates the
streets of Vierville-Sur-Mer,
a small town, on the
bluff above Omaha Beach.
As American and German soldiers
fight for control.
Not only of the shore,
but for access to a highway
that leads all the way to Paris.
The Germans must
contain the American troops to
their small foothold
after the D-Day landings,
the day before.
(rapid gunfire)
(explosion)
NARRATOR: In the house-to-house fighting,
a patrol of combat engineers
finds a dead American officer with a
briefcase chained to his wrist.
It contains documents.
PETER: When the German officer reviews
the content of the briefcase,
he quickly understands this is
something extremely important.
It shows parts of the Allied plans,
and he knows this is
part of a bigger invasion.
NARRATOR: He holds the
operational plans for all of
the American five corps.
24 hours earlier, the allies
stormed the beaches of Normandy.
They fight desperately to secure their
beachheads and move inland.
The Germans on the coast see the
massive scale of the landings,
but Hitler is not fully convinced.
PETER: There is concern in the Führer HQ
that the Normandy landings
are not the large invasion,
that there might be another
invasion coming in the area of
Calais further up in the north.
NARRATOR: But the contents of
the briefcase are undeniable,
this is the main attack.
PETER: The German intelligence officers
quickly understand that this
is a Godsent present.
They have got now the
allied plans for D-Day plus 17.
So, this would allow
them to shift their plans,
in order to
hinder an U.S. advance.
NARRATOR: Their advance
relies on consolidating
the Utah and Omaha beachheads.
To achieve this, the
Americans must seize Carentan.
Located inland from the landings,
Carentan has the bridges, highways,
and railroads to
facilitate the push of tanks
and men further into France.
Because of its obvious strategic value,
well before the landings,
the Germans flooded an area to the
northwest to protect the town.
Based on the captured documents,
German command sends the elite
sixth Fallschirmjäger Regiment
to the defense of Carentan.
PETER:
Sixth Fallschirmjäger Regiment
is the only regiment of the
division that is combat ready.
It is well trained, well led.
Has got many veterans in its ranks,
and is considered a very reliable force.
NARRATOR: A key strength
comes from the top leadership.
PETER: Friedrich Von der Heydte
is a, an officer with a
distinguished military career.
Initially, he was quite Pro-Nazi,
but became much more skeptical in the
years before the Normandy battle.
But still, he is a officer
who has got an honor and
he's also ordered to hold
Carentan to the last man.
NARRATOR: In preparation
for the American attack,
he quickly entrenches his
paratroopers in a defensive line
on the outskirts, to target
the likely avenues of approach.
Von der Heydte is assisted by the
flooded fields to the northwest,
which force attackers
to a long causeway linked by
a series of four bridges.
Advancing from that direction,
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole,
Commander Third Battalion,
American 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment
comes under immediate attack as he leads
his airborne troops
toward Carentan on June 10th.
JOHN:
Robert Cole came from Texas.
He was a, um, graduate of the
United States
Military Academy at
West Point class of 1939.
He's a pretty young man in 1944.
He's in his late 20’s, and
he's in command of a battalion.
And so, it's an incredible amount of
responsibility on a young guy.
NARRATOR: Cole discovers
that retreating Germans
destroyed the second bridge.
And the American combat engineers
assigned to replace it,
were driven off by German artillery before
they could begin construction.
Angered by the delay, Cole
grabs a few men and supplies,
and begins work on a
make-shift foot bridge himself.
JOHN: He spends the better part of
two to three hours doing that
more or less himself
with this small group.
And so, you, you kind of
see this kind of can-do,
hands-on leadership
element to, to Cole as well.
But I also think that that comes from
being a kind of a young
battalion commander,
the kind of dynamism of youth that,
that Cole has.
(explosion)
COLE: One at time! Come down!
Go! Go!
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: The paratroopers
begin to cross one by one,
targeted by German guns in the distance.
Including an ‘88 firing down the road.
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: The flooded fields
on both sides mean
the airborne troops must stay on the road.
They continue their advance,
and past bridge three.
Across the Madeleine River,
Cole’s men come under fire
from the opposite bank.
Unable to pass through a Belgian Gate.
STEVEN: The Belgian Gate was a type
of defensive obstacle that
was built in the 1930’s to
defend the Belgian Frontier,
and it's a large metal structure
about the size of a big barn door.
They would have all been linked together
to form a gigantic wall.
They were captured by the Germans in 1940,
and then they were used in the
defense of the Normandy coast.
They were oftentimes broken up
into single obstacles and used
to block road networks or walls
or other type of obstructions.
NARRATOR: The Belgian Gate causes Cole’s
paratroopers to bunch up,
and makes them vulnerable
to well sighted artillery.
(rapid gunfire)
As they pry the metal apart,
bullets ricochet in all directions.
Eventually they create a gap.
JOHN: If you can imagine, a, a
battalion of 700-some odd guys
working their way
through this Belgian Gate,
one by one, man by man,
individual by individual,
doing this.
NARRATOR: It will take
hours for them to cross over.
With a damaged bridge behind them,
Cole must keep his men moving forward.
Retreat is not an option.
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: Lieutenant
Colonel Robert Cole,
moves from soldier to soldier to prompt
the Third Battalion of the 502nd
Parachute Infantry Regiment to
provide covering fire for
their advancing comrades.
They have gotten themselves into what a
later generation will call a fatal funnel,
along that causeway,
through the Belgian Gates,
where you tend to have clumps
of people trying to negotiate
their way through.
NARRATOR: Under his direction,
the American paratroopers target
the hedgerows on the far bank with
small arms and bazooka fire.
(rapid gunfire)
(explosion)
But it is not enough.
The artillery liaison officer,
Captain Saint Julien Rosemond,
calls in artillery from the
rear to provide additional cover
to the men of the battalion.
(rapid gunfire)
Move! Move!
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: As darkness falls,
paratroopers continue to file
one-at-a-time through
the gap at the Belgian Gate.
(rapid gunfire)
Suddenly, another
German machine gun opens up,
from the swamp beside the causeway.
(rapid gunfire)
The crossfire poses a lethal threat.
Private Hans Brandt wades
into the water to take out
the machine gun with a grenade.
Another paratrooper
follows close on his heels.
But as Brandt steps into the marsh,
a German dive bomber
skims above the causeway.
(explosions)
NARRATOR: One of the bombs dropped
by the German aircraft knocks
the U.S. Private unconscious.
The Luftwaffe tried to attack
allied forces on the Normandy beaches,
but they were usually
fought off by allied fighters,
so it was very unusual
for American soldiers to be
strafed by Luftwaffe fighters during
the first few days of
the Normandy campaign.
(distant gunfire)
NARRATOR: As Brandt comes to,
a second German plane continues
the attack along the causeway.
NARRATOR: He discovers that his
partner who remains unconscious,
has slipped into the water.
Brandt picks him up and carries
him back for medical care.
The aftermath, leaves the dead and injured
strewn across the causeway.
The short attack kills or
injures 30 paratroopers from,
I company.
JOHN: To me, the,
the only miracle is that
it really wasn't even worse.
Uh, and I think the
reason it wasn't is that
the Germans didn't have more planes.
NARRATOR: The walking wounded
become stretcher bearers.
JOHN: The real
fighting hasn't even begun yet,
and yet he's diminished 20 to 25%.
So, that is definitely not
an auspicious way to go into battle.
NARRATOR: Cole decides they must press on
with the three remaining companies.
Cole’s third battalion
has been tasked with
attacking the French town of Carentan
with the goal of connecting the
beachheads at Utah and Omaha.
The battalion advances
along a narrow causeway,
passing one by one through a Belgian Gate
which blocks bridge four.
Cole and some others investigate
the far side of the Madeleine River.
NARRATOR: In the early morning light,
Private Albert Dieter
closes in on a hedgerow
that borders a farm.
(explosion)
Without warning, German rifle,
machine gun and mortar fire land
around Dieter and the
paratroopers who follow him.
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: Dieter’s left arm is
shredded by the salvo.
Others behind him, are also struck.
Cole calls for his
artillery liaison officer,
Captain Saint Julien Rosemond,
to bring down artillery.
(rapid gunfire)
Eventually American artillery
hammers the suspected German positions.
But enemy fire
remains fierce, if not heavier.
PETER: The
Germans quickly understand that
there's overwhelming allied firepower.
What is their reaction to that?
They just man the
first frontline very thinly,
so if the allies bombard the German lines,
casualties will be relatively low.
NARRATOR: This could mean,
the American artillery is
hitting the wrong targets.
The enemy fire is
coming from further back.
With his men pinned, Cole must decide.
To continue to press forward,
or to retreat and regroup.
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: Third
battalion commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole
knows they would only create
another bottleneck at the Belgian Gate if
he decides to retreat.
JOHN: It's a cliché,
but he literally is between
a rock and a hard place.
Because if they stay where they are,
they're of course vulnerable
along the, the causeway.
And you've got significant opposition
ahead of you, but, uh,
from Cole’s standpoint,
there's no point to just staying there.
He's moved his battalion ahead
for this particular mission,
so he feels there's
really none other option but
to go ahead and attack.
NARRATOR: Cole decides to
capture a farmhouse that has
been the source of heavy German fire.
With his men stretched out along the road,
they will cross the
700-foot-long field under smoke.
- Fix bayonets!
- MAN: Fix bayonets!
NARRATOR: He tells his
executive officer to prepare
the men for a bayonet charge.
NARRATOR: The bayonet charge is
a classic combat tactic.
STEVEN:
Bayonet is a military knife,
and typically, if it's used in combat,
the bayonet would be
attached to the front end
of the soldier's rifle.
NARRATOR: The goal is to plunge into
tissue to damage internal organs.
But such brutality is
difficult for most people.
STEVEN: Bayonet training is a
way of hardening civilians
to get used to the idea
of killing enemy soldiers.
It's one thing to shoot at
an enemy soldier with a rifle.
It's another thing to attack
'em face to face with a knife.
NARRATOR: In battle, the
order to fix bayonets almost
always suggests desperation.
It wasn't very
common for the U.S. Infantry
to use the bayonet in
Normandy during World War II,
but it was amongst elite units.
Paratrooper units and Ranger units would
sometimes fix bayonets
for an attack in order
to intimidate the enemy forces.
NARRATOR: Cole also has his
artillery liaison call for smoke
to be dropped to conceal their advance.
JOHN: Now, it's time for the
adrenaline to kick in of what
the soldiers perceive as the main attack.
You're waiting to, to jump off,
probably with that kind of
tinged mixture of excitement,
and trepidation, and dread.
NARRATOR: Satisfied
with the smoke screen,
he instructs Rosemond to redirect
artillery fire past the farmhouse.
Cole initiates the
bayonet charge with his whistle
and wields his colt .45.
Charge!
NARRATOR: Halfway across,
he glances back.
His heart sinks at what he sees.
JOHN: From
Cole’s point of view, now,
this is the moment to attack,
and he's got his pistol ready,
and his bravado ready.
And he figures the whole
battalion is going to be out
there with him, and it's only a few guys.
NARRATOR: Most had not
heard the order to charge.
JOHN: And it was like, "Did
they just go forward?
Did they, what happened here?
Are we charging or are we not?
What's happening?"
And it all looked
kind of pathetic to them.
NARRATOR: As German bullets
clip the grass around Cole,
the message sinks in.
JOHN: "Oh, I guess
we're supposed to follow him."
And it's like, "All right, I guess he
must know what he's doing."
And so, in this
kind of misbegotten way, uh,
arguably one of the most legendary moments
in the entire history of the
U.S. Airborne begins right then.
NARRATOR: Even as
the charge picks up,
his men follow one another in a line.
JOHN: Here
they've come down the causeway.
That's been your single file advance.
Now, you're going to have to
spread out more horizontally in
order to attack this objective,
and that's a lot easier said than done.
So, they're transitioning to that,
and they're tending to just
follow the guy in front of them.
NARRATOR: Cole waves his arms,
motioning for them to spread out.
They misinterpret the
signal and hit the dirt.
Cole must get them moving.
He circles back.
JOHN: So, he's firing his pistol at
the Germans and he's like,
"I don't even know what I’m shooting at,
but I just know I’m
supposed to go here."
He just looks like this sort
of crazy man out there in the,
in the, in the open, firing at the enemy,
trying to inspire.
And I, I think all that adds up to,
to creating a little bit more action to,
to get out there and support Cole,
and make sure that this crazy
battalion commander doesn't get
killed right out there on his own.
NARRATOR: The
momentum finally builds.
Go!
NARRATOR: Even as paratroopers
around him are struck,
Cole nears the farmhouse
that is their objective.
At a full run, he hurtles
into a water-filled ditch.
NARRATOR: As the charge continues,
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole
is uninjured from his dip in the ditch.
But the Artillery Liaison’s
Radio Operator also
lands in the water.
Other paratroopers push past
them towards the farmhouse.
Some divert to clear the structure.
Second Lieutenant Edward Provost
leads another group along
the edge of the property.
(explosions)
(rapid gunfire)
Only to come under heavy fire from
a concealed machine gun nest.
Several of his men are shot.
NARRATOR: But Provost and four others
close in on the machine gun nest
with firing lines toward the farmhouse.
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: American Technician
Fifth Grade James Brune pulls
the pin on a grenade and
tosses it over the hedge.
STEVEN: Hedgerows are a natural
defensive structure.
Usually, they edge
all four sides of a field
designed to protect farm fields
against the harsh coastal winds.
And so, these hedgerows were
built up over the centuries.
And they're very, very substantial.
They could be six, ten feet high.
Combinations of rock and soil.
NARRATOR: The hedgerows can
be so thick they prove immune
to many weapons, including tanks.
They create countless
small battlefields which negate
large coordinated attacks.
And the Germans have had
a lot of time to prepare.
PETER: They have trained there for month
in these hedgerows, the bocage.
In every corner of this hedgerows,
there could be a German machine gun,
and they can also move
their troops in concealment,
and it makes it very difficult
for the Americans to advance.
NARRATOR: Often, the
enemy presence is detected
only when it is too late.
(explosion)
Fortunately, the grenade thrown
over the hedge by James Brune
stuns the German soldiers
occupying the position.
JOHN: Provost is of the mindset that
he has to preserve bullets.
That's what he's telling his people
to stick them with bayonets rather than
shoot bullets in 'em.
And that's a rather extraordinary
order in modern combat.
NARRATOR: With
the bayonet charge,
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole
captures the objective.
The farmhouse is secure.
The battalion quickly sets
up their command post there.
With a foothold on the south
side of the Madeleine River,
Cole’s men hope to continue
their attack towards Carentan.
As early as June 7th, Eisenhower
himself ordered the drive to
close the gap between
Omaha and Utah beaches.
And Carentan is the key.
NARRATOR: From the town,
Major Friedrich Von der Heydte
positions his crack Fallschirmjäger troops
against the coming American attack.
He has been ordered
to hold to the last man.
Meanwhile the 17th SS Panzer Division
rumbles slowly toward Carentan.
PETER: The tank reinforcement
at Carentan is delayed because
the Germans can move their
troops only during nighttime.
During daytime, the skies
are full of allied airplanes.
NARRATOR: Throughout June 10th,
re-supply also remains hampered.
PETER: There's still a lot of
chaos in the German response.
It is difficult to
bring in reinforcements and
also to supply their troops,
so the Germans are
running out of ammunition.
NARRATOR: Nevertheless
Von der Heydte
follows standard German
military doctrine and
orders a counterattack before
the Americans can
consolidate their position.
Cover that hedge over here.
NARRATOR: As they secure the
area around the farmhouse
Could be more of them!
NARRATOR: Second Lieutenant Edward Provost
encounters more Germans.
(rapid gunfire)
During the fight, he tries
to pull the pin from a grenade,
and he is struck by a German bullet.
Bleeding, the Lieutenant
retreats to the command post
at the farmhouse.
NARRATOR: In the yard, Cole
moves between soldiers.
He has established a makeshift
aid station where he treats
the wounded Americans who pour into
the courtyard from the battle.
JOHN:
In normal combat,
Cole would have a battalion
command post behind the lines.
He would have his medical
people there doing their thing.
But in this instance,
he's at this spear point with
whomever happens to be there with him.
And there's not many medics,
but there are wounded.
NARRATOR: Without proper supplies,
Cole improvises.
He finds a pickax handle
to stabilize a broken leg.
Cole looks up to see a young private
removing his boot.
JOHN: What Cole
really wants to impress upon him
is how vulnerable he is, how
he probably ought to move and
put himself in a better circumstance.
This is a hot spot!
Get outta here!
NARRATOR: The young soldier
brushes off Cole’s concerns.
Private! Now!
NARRATOR: And continues
to treat his minor wound.
(explosion)
At that moment, a German round
hits the careless paratrooper.
JOHN: The Germans
knew the ground, they knew
which buildings were
likely to be a command post or
where Americans were likely to cluster,
because of course, they
had themselves had done
much the same thing.
It's a, it’s a pretty obvious target.
NARRATOR: As the
Germans close in,
Cole is in dire need of his
own accurate artillery to stop
the German counterattack.
Communication is critical.
But their Artillery Liaison Officer,
is unable to use his radio after it landed
in the water earlier in the day.
He cannot update the
batteries to the rear.
JOHN: You want to at least be
able to provide them with
a basic sense of where you are,
so that they can fire beyond
that line of where you are
to where they know you're not.
NARRATOR: Fortunately,
just before noon,
a resupply breaks
through to the farmhouse,
with a new radio.
But it still needs to be set up.
Rosemond has two options,
go through a procedure to find the
right frequency on the new set.
Or, to switch crystals from the old radio,
to match the frequency
of the artillery batteries.
JOHN: He understands
that time is of the essence,
so in a way, he cannibalizes
the parts to use in a radio
that he thinks probably will work.
NARRATOR: American defensive
positions around the farmhouse
begin to crumble.
In the firefight, Sergeant William Grant
is struck in the arm, and
withdraws to get first aid.
JOHN: His
guys are watching him,
they don't see him really get hit.
They just see him start to run back.
So, in their minds, that means,
"Oh, we're withdrawing,"
and nobody wants to be left behind.
Retreat!
NARRATOR: Other paratroopers join them
and head toward the bridge.
NARRATOR: Cole can’t see this movement,
but senses something is wrong.
JOHN: He knows
how hard his guys have fought.
He knows they've been
through a rough night,
and he knows the most
likely explanation is that
they're starting to run out of
steam and maybe run out of ammo.
And so, that puts them on the wrong side
in the, the fire superiority equation.
It's probably dawning on him,
he's starting to
lose control of this battle,
and that is never a good feeling at all.
Rosemond!
NARRATOR: Cole demands
more artillery support.
Rosemond continues
to work intently on the radio.
Come on!
NARRATOR: Meanwhile, a few
American paratroopers retreating
soon becomes a flood of men running back
toward the
bridge yelling, “Withdraw.”
It has the makings of a rout.
As Rosemond works to transfer
the crystals to the new radio,
Cole receives a message
from Regimental Command
with the order to cease fire.
(rapid gunfire)
NARRATOR: As groups of
American Paratroopers retreat
to the bridge from the battle.
A U.S. Jeep approaches the
German held city of Carentan
under a red cross flag.
Major General Maxwell Taylor,
Commander of the 101st Airborne
sends an emissary to
Major Friedrich Von der Heydte
accompanied by
two German prisoners of war.
Von der Heydte defends the
French city of Carentan which
the Americans want to capture
to link Utah and Omaha beaches.
This is not an American surrender.
Instead, they offer the German Major
an honorable capitulation,
to save the lives of his men
and the civilians of Carentan.
Von der Heydte declines.
He doesn't surrender
because surrendering is against
the sense of duty of the
German officers of this time.
And it's also a danger for him,
his career and also his family.
When Von der Heydte receives
the offer to capitulate,
he just answers, "Would you capitulate
in the same situation?"
JOHN: Maybe
I look at it too much from
the German point of view
that it's so absurd.
The battle for the town
has really kind of just begun.
It's almost analogous to someone
getting a foot in your door and saying,
"Okay, when are you going to
turn your house over to me?"
NARRATOR: But the
cease fire helps the Americans
to stabilize their line.
JOHN: Their
lead unit is in crisis.
They are not particularly well-supplied.
So, any kind of truce like this, I think,
is much likely to help them
much more so than the Germans.
NARRATOR: Von der Heydte
also takes advantage of the ceasefire.
German Artillery Observers use
the opportunity to crawl closer
to the American command post.
They can now radio back
more accurate information.
As soon as the truce expires,
Von der Heydte orders a heavy bombardment
of the American positions.
PETER: Von der Heydte does what
almost any commander would do in
the similar situation
during the ceasefire.
He reorganizes his men,
reinforces their position,
with a message,
“We’re not going anywhere.”
NARRATOR: But the Americans have their own
artillery observer back online.
Rosemond uses his new radio
to relay updated targets
to the American batteries.
But the hedgerows mean he
can’t really confirm where
the artillery lands.
JOHN: In this case he may be able
to, to get a little sense
of where explosions occur by blasts,
or some smoke here and there.
But that's really
nowhere near as good as your,
as your eyes on.
And he's relying on sound,
which is very problematic, too,
in the context of a battle,
where there's probably a decent number of
weapons cooking off.
NARRATOR: The Germans move along
the tree line before slipping to
the flank on the inside of the hedgerow.
They have moved in under
the American artillery screen
invisible to the defending paratroopers,
until they start to shoot.
As their need for supporting
artillery fire increases,
Rosemond gets dealt another blow.
What did I just say!
(radio static)
NARRATOR: The
Germans jammed his radio.
(radio static)
JOHN: Basically,
your communications are out,
they are jammed.
And so now, you're going to have
to figure out a way around that.
And it's just kind of one
more headache that you have,
and one that could
be fatal, in this instance.
So, uh, it is a matter of
tremendous importance that
those radios come back online.
NARRATOR: As the
Fallschirmjäger close in,
the paratroopers start
to run low on ammunition.
Without resupply, it will
be impossible to hold off
the German attack.
MAN: I need more ammo!
MAN 2: Last one! Make it count!
NARRATOR: The farmhouse command post sits
at the south end of a long causeway,
connected by bridges and
obstructed by a Belgian Gate.
Vehicle traffic to
bring ammunition forward
is virtually impossible.
The causeway is still a dangerous place.
Uh, the Germans can still target it.
NARRATOR: Wounded soldiers
also clog the route.
(explosions)
Even individual ammo runners
find it difficult to advance.
They decide to use the traffic jam along
the ditches to their advantage,
they create a human conveyor belt.
JOHN: There's lines
of wounded waiting to get out,
people taking cover, whatever it is.
And so, they just pass the ammo,
in the direction of what they know is the
front-line positions.
And so, once again, this is improvised.
NARRATOR: Ammo boxes and belts
pass through hundreds of hands
to resupply the American
main line of resistance.
Major Friedrich Von der Heydte of
the German Sixth Fallschirmjäger Regiment
faces similar challenges of his own.
PETER: It may not seem to Cole,
but Von der Heydte is
running out of ammunition.
So, for him, this barrage
is a kind of last-ditch effort
to keep the Americans at bay.
NARRATOR: Von der Heydte
throws everything he has
into the counterattack.
NARRATOR: Under the acute pressure,
Cole’s men succumb to wave after
wave of intense enemy fire.
The American defenses give way,
and the Germans push in even closer.
(distant gunfire)
(explosions)
NARRATOR: Lieutenant
Colonel Robert Cole
joins his artillery liaison.
The two men can hear and see a change.
Cole would later
describe it as a dying rattle.
JOHN: The term dying rattle I
think is really quite poignant,
because it sort of
equates to death rattle.
That would happen
with an individual dying.
What he's telling you
with that term is that,
"My unit is dying if
this continues much longer."
NARRATOR: Cole believes
that his line has been cracked.
He must start preparations for a retreat.
Rosemond remains determined.
If he can just make contact
with the artillery batteries,
American firepower could
hold off the German onslaught.
(radio static)
With his radio still jammed,
he keeps changing frequencies,
hoping to get his message out.
STEVEN: The
problem is during World War II,
the radios are not especially reliable.
The Germans know what frequency
the U.S. radios are on and
so they will use jammers,
which are oftentimes just
a radio tuned to that particular channel,
and then you just broadcast noise on it.
Do you copy?
Sir! We’re through!
NARRATOR: Captain Rosemond finally breaks
through on a different channel.
He calls for a barrage dangerously
close to the farmhouse.
JOHN: If you are willing to call
down fire on your position,
what military circles
are called, “Danger close,”
it means basically that you're willing to
take some friendly casualties in order
to save the larger unit,
and break up the enemy attack,
and destroy the Germans here.
NARRATOR: But the artillery officer
on the line says they have no ammunition.
Rosemond is out of options.
He needs the officer to find something to
fire at the Germans.
Cole prepares for the worst-case scenario.
JOHN: He thinks
he's going to have to actually
leave his wounded behind
for the care of the Germans.
And that tells you how desperate
he perceived the situation to be
if he was willing to
leave his wounded behind.
So, this was the last option,
but it was one that he
was actually contemplating.
NARRATOR: In a turn of luck,
the batteries finally
receive their shipment.
Load up!
NARRATOR: The American guns
let loose, all of them.
Where Rosemond previously had support from
two battalions of artillery,
this call receives every gun.
JOHN: To have every gun within
command supporting this battle,
it certainly tells you that
it's a desperate situation.
NARRATOR: With a
critical objective.
The artillery barrage
devastates the German attackers.
Unfortunately, the barrage
is so close to the farmhouse,
that it likely strikes some
American defenders as well.
JOHN: But, uh, pretty much
everyone who was there
later said it was necessary,
that it had to be done this way.
As they put it, "We lost some good men,
but we needed that barrage."
NARRATOR: Major Von der Heydte
pulls his men back to
the southwest edge of
Carentan for a last stand.
PETER: He knows
he's running out of ammunition.
He had suffered heavy casualties.
So, in the end, he decides to do
what any responsible commander
would do in the similar situation.
He orders his troops to retreat.
NARRATOR: Cole’s
men have won the day,
at a heavy cost.
JOHN: The scale
of losses is just staggering.
You start out with about 700 guys.
And by the time the fighting is over,
you end up with 132.
The Third Battalion,
502nd Cole’s battalion,
is rendered almost combat
ineffective for most of the rest
of the battle in Normandy.
NARRATOR: But, they have
opened the door to Carentan.
Von der Heydte holds out for
six days but without ammunition,
he can no longer wait
for their SS reinforcements.
He orders a retreat from the town and
the Americans seize the precious hub.
PETER: For the SS,
Von der Heydte is the scapegoat
for the defeat at Carentan.
However, Von der Heydte is covered by
Senior Army and Para Officers
so that he's not being court-martialed.
And in contrast, he gets even nicknamed,
"The Lion of Carentan."
NARRATOR: Captain Saint Julien Rosemond
earns the distinguished service cross
for repeatedly moving forward
in the face of enemy fire to
hold his position to direct artillery.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole
is celebrated for the heroic fight.
COLE: Go!
COLE (over TV): Of course,
coming across this field,
we were exposed to these men
over here in the hedgerows,
here all the time.
And they had us perfectly covered.
So it was simply a matter of
getting across the open ground
as quickly as possible
and getting in amongst them.
NARRATOR: He earns the
highest battlefield award,
The Congressional Medal of Honor.
But Cole is killed by a sniper
at Operation Market Garden
before receiving word.
The capture of Carentan
springboards the Americans off
the beaches of Normandy and
consolidates the allied gains.
But the delay has allowed more
German reinforcements to close
in on the beaches.
The allies face stiff opposition
for every inch of French soil.
The war in Europe will rage
for nearly 11 more months.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.