Sainte-Mère-Église (Sainte-Mère-Église)

Sainte-Mère-Église
local community	Sainte-Mère-Église
region	Normandy
Department	Some
Arrondissement	Cherbourg
Coordinates	49 ° 25 ′ N , 1 ° 19 ′ W Coordinates: 49 ° 25 ′ N , 1 ° 19 ′ W
Post Code	50480
Former INSEE code	50523
Website	www.saintemereeglise.fr
	; Church of Sainte-Mère-Église

Sainte-Mere-Eglise is a village and a former French commune with 1,597 inhabitants (as of January 1 2017) in the department of Manche in the region of Normandy . It belonged to the Arrondissement of Cherbourg and the Canton of Carentan . The inhabitants are called Sainte-Mère-Églisais .

With effect from January 1, 2016, the former municipalities of Sainte-Mère-Église , Beuzeville-au-Plain , Chef-du-Pont , Écoquenéauville and Foucarville were merged to form the Commune nouvelle Sainte-Mère-Église of the same name and have the status in the new municipality a commune déléguée . The administrative seat is in Sainte-Mère-Église.

With effect from January 1, 2019, the municipalities of Carquebut and Ravenoville were also integrated into the Commune nouvelle. These also have the status of Commune déléguée.

Toponymy

The original meaning of the place name is "Church of St. Mary". In the Middle Ages the community was called Sancte Marie ecclesia . The first name Marie finally became mère (French for "mother").

Geography, infrastructure

Sainte-Mère-Église is located on the Cotentin peninsula , in the Plain countryside , between Valognes and Carentan .

Sainte-Mère-Église is served by the Manéo No. 1 bus line operated by the Manche department ( Saint-Lô - Carentan - Valognes - Cherbourg bus line ). The nearest stop on the Paris-Cherbourg line is Carentan.

history

US aerial view of Sainte-Mère-Église in June 1944

Reminder of the failed landing

In the early morning of D-Day , June 6, 1944, 14,000 (according to other sources 15,000) Allied paratroopers of the US 82nd Airborne Division ( 82nd Airborne ) landed in the hinterland of the Utah Beach beach section as part of Operation Overlord located city. The site was supposed to be taken over by the 82nd US Airborne Division; in fact, many paratroopers from the 101st US Airborne Division also took part due to a dropping error .

The place became famous through the mishap of the American paratrooper John Steele of the 505th Paratrooper Regiment of the 82nd US Airborne Division. He got stuck with his parachute on one of the corner towers of the church tower and was then unable to free himself because the church square was fiercely contested. Besides him, another soldier, 17-year-old Ken Russell, got stuck at the church. From up there they had to watch their comrades fall in battle. Russell later reported that Sergeant John Ray was trying to save her when he noticed a German soldier was targeting her. The German soldier shot Ray in the stomach who, when he fell to the ground, shot the German soldier in the back of the head, saving the lives of the two paratroopers Steele and Russell.

The event was filmed in The Longest Day . However, only the fate of the soldier Steele is shown here. Russell does not appear in the film. The event is also incorporated into the computer game Call of Duty . Today a doll on the top of the church tower reminds of the unintended landing point of the two parachutists.

The first French place liberated by the Allies was neither Sainte-Mère-Église nor Bayeux , but on October 8, 1943 Ajaccio in Corsica .