Sainte Marie du Mont

This small town behind Utah Beach was an important strategic point for the 101st Airborne to capture. The Germans occupying the town had a perfect view from the church steeple of the troops landing on Utah Beach. But, confronted with widely scattered landing of the Paratroopers in the hours preceding dawn, the Americans only succeeded in capturing the town during the afternoon of June 6th.
Today you can see :
– The French WWI monument in the village depicted in a famous photo of some of the members of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, made famous in the HBO series ‘Band of Brothers’- The water pump behind which a paratrooper took up position to defend against the Germans forces coming to reinforce the village.
– The village square around the church which remains almost unchanged since 1944.