Dead Man's Corner
Coordinates: 49 ° 19'43.4 " N , 1 ° 16'7.4" W.
Dead Man's Corner is a street crossing about 70 kilometers northwest of the city of Caen in French Normandy . It wasmintedafter the Battle of Carentan . The name was adapted for the museum of the same name that reminds of it.
Historical basis
On the morning of June 6, 1944, 13,000 paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division and the 82nd Airborne Division jumped over Normandy. Due to bad weather conditions and shelling by German air defense , however, the jumpers were dropped inaccurately.
By the morning of June 7, 1944, the soldiers coming from Saint-Côme-du-Mont had reached the city of Carentan . When the first tank, a Light Tank M5 of the 70th Panzer Battalion, tried to cross the intersection, it was shot down by soldiers from the German 6th Parachute Regiment. A turret hit put the vehicle out of action and killed the tank commander. The man's body remained hanging in the turret of the tank for several days. The American paratroopers initially spoke of the "corner with the dead man in the tank" ("The corner with the dead man in the tank"), but it quickly became "Dead Man's Corner" .
Aftermath
The house, which is almost unchanged today, was used again and again by the soldiers of the German 6th Parachute Regiment as a command post and collecting point for the wounded. Today it contains the "Paratrooper Museum and Memorial".
In the miniseries Band of Brothers - We were like brothers , the location appears in the third episode Carentan . In addition, the location is referenced in several video games.
literature
- Donald R. Burgett: Currahee! A Screaming Eagle at Normandy. Dell, New York 1967.
Web links
- Dead Man's Corner Museum and Memorial (English and French)
- The Battle of Carentan (8-15 June) (English)
- Page image of the destroyed tank (English)